Where Did the Nalgene Come From?

I was searching for some articles about the latest and greatest WOM products when I realized there was one that I have often pondered long before WOM became my twice a week reporting habit, the Nalgene bottle.

Maybe it’s because I hang out with an outdoor oriented crowd or maybe it’s because I live in the EMS/ Birkenstock/ Hiking capital of New York, Ithaca. But just about everyone I know has a Nalgene. I have three. Two small ones, and a large Ithaca College one. We use these containers for everything from working out to shaking cocktails. However, they have NO traditional advertising. No magazine prints, television ads, radio spots, nothing. So where/when/ who/ how did we all come to have Nalgenes? They aren’t that perfect of a container. They don’t keep things cold or hot. They say they’re unbreakable, but that has only set us out to prove that that isn’t true what so ever. The video below shows just how unbreakable they aren’t.



Nalgene has a great website located here. When you search through it the realization of the depth they have taken containers to is pretty crazy. What I thought would be a simple wide mouth or small mouth designed bottle is really a number of options ranging everywhere from flasks to baby sip cups. The site tells about the rise of Nalgenes and how they came to be. They were actually developed by Emanuel Goldberg who lived in Rochester, NY, which really isn’t far from Ithaca. He developed the Nalge company that was later turned into Nalgene by Marsh Hyman who quoted, upon his discovery of Nalgenes, “Spread the word to outdoorspeople all over! Tell them about this new line of high-quality camping equipment.” A true buzz marketer right there. And it looks like he really knew what he was talking about.