U. student creates backpack-cooler combo

(Courtesy of Andrew Blevins)


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SALT LAKE CITY — In any adventure that involves taking your own food and beverages, you are usually stuck with the choice of an awkward-to-carry cooler or a random assortment of bags that don’t insulate your food at all.

University of Utah professional MBA student Andrew Blevins has come up with a solution to the problem: to create an integrated backpack and cooler system aptly named Cold Shoulder.

The system was designed from the ground up to make it easier to get food and beverages to wherever you need them. Blevins explained that he designed the system to revolve around an inner cooler that fits into the outer bag.

The system can be used in two different ways. Either the cooler can be used inside the backpack, or the cooler and backpack can be used as stand-alone items. Blevins states that by having a system rather than stand-alone parts from different manufacturers, their functionality, durability and ease-of-use go up.

“People are always on the go. We don’t want to sit around while the world passes us by. But we still want to keep our essentials cold, so we decided to blend a backpack and a cooler,” Blevins said. “We want them to work together, but still allow us to use them separately. Our Cold Shoulder Bag blurs the lines between a traditional cooler and the everyday backpack. Our product keeps the good times going.”

After working through several prototypes, Blevins finalized his design of the Cold Shoulder system, which is capable of carrying up to 24 beverage cans. He explained that he launched a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter to begin production of Cold Shoulder bags in tan, red, and black. They surpassed their goal, raising more than $8,700 so far.


Kyle Fowers is an MBA graduate from the University of Utah PMBA program and founder of Gear Backer, a community for crowdfunding outdoor gear, taking it from an idea to an actual product. Email him at info@gearbacker.

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