Matt Lyon, president and CEO of HydraPak LLC, spoke with SGB Executive about the ever-evolving and trendy hydration opportunity, including his company’s two-pronged approach to the category as both an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) supporting over 120 brands and a direct-to-consumer (DTC) brand with HydraPak.
After starting his career in finance working for Drexel Burnham Lambert in Beverly Hills, CA and at Shamrock Holdings, Lyon moved into the outdoor space roughly three decades ago with leadership roles at Marin Mountain Bikes and Atlas Snowshoes before acquiring HydraPak in 2001, when the brand was in its fifth year and largely known for hydration backpacks. Lyon also serves as the Board chair of the California Outdoor Recreation Partnership.
SGB: How did you get involved with HydraPak? What attracted you to the company?
Matt Lyon: After working for ten years and finishing grad school in business and product design, I found myself in the summer of 2001 ready to take the entrepreneurial plunge and start my own business. In my last position, I ran a mountain bike company, and one of the sales reps let me know that Bell/Giro was selling the HydraPak hydration backpack line. I saw starting HydraPak as a stand-alone business as an opportunity to combine my interest in business with product design and also my love for hiking/running/biking.
I started in September 2001, with a lot of enthusiasm, not realizing how much the events of 9/11 would influence the first few years. While our initial line was hydration backpacks, within five years, our slow start left me feeling we needed a new direction and that we would be better off focusing just on hydration (plumbing) and partnering with larger players in the backpack category, which led to our entry into original equipment sales. It was not an easy decision to walk away from backpacks, but it was a great move for us in retrospect.
SGB: What is your current OEM business strategy? Your website claims that HydraPak is the world’s number one OEM manufacturer of reservoirs and soft flasks.
Matt Lyon: Yes, we still believe we are the leading OEM supplier to the premium reservoir and running flask markets. Our strategy has been to pursue both OEM and branded business simultaneously, and the business is roughly split between the two. I believe we are somewhat unique in finding this balance. This is a strength for us — design and production strength — from supporting over 120 brands and consumer and marketplace insights by serving the performance athletic markets directly with a broad range of products. Our goal is to bring consumer-recognized value to both sides of the equation.
Our OEM production volumes depend on the market, as we work across many activity channels. Outdoor was the hit during COVID, but trail running has been the hot ticket for the last year. Our production is flexible, and we can easily move between reservoirs and flasks. We also sell squeeze bottles to a limited number of OEM customers and are launching a new line of products this year in response to customer and athlete feedback.
SGB: How does the OEM side work? What’s been key to HydraPak’s success there?
Matt Lyon: Specialization is a major component of OEM success. We are focused on hydration, and we add value by being the hydration experts. We understand market direction, are constantly exploring new products and materials, rigorously monitor quality and delivery schedules, and support consumers through warranty and neutral event support. We are a brand, not just a factory, and we try to bring everything to the table to help our customers succeed. We have studied other successful OEM companies such as Shimano and SRAM as benchmarks.
SGB: HydraPak acquired Polar Bottle in 2018 with ambitious growth plans but decided to sunset the Polar Bottle brand by 2024 and launch a plastic bottle range under the HydraPak name. What drove that decision?
Matt Lyon: The Polar Bottle acquisition was a great chance for us to expand our product offering to include squeeze bottles. Our customers were using these products in their most demanding applications, and we wanted to make them part of our offering. After a few years, it became clear that Polar Bottle was more associated with price-point selling, while HydraPak was current and where innovation was happening. As we moved to invest in new bottle designs and functions, we thought it would be easier for the market to recognize innovation as coming from the HydraPak brand, and that a price-based brand no longer had a place in the line-up.
SGB: Polar Bottle products are still being sold online at places like Ascent Outdoors and Sports Basement? Is the brand still around?
Matt Lyon: We continue to use the Polar designation as a model name on our insulated bottles as a nod to the original product.
SGB: HydraPak has invested in television commercials. What’s behind the push?
Matt Lyon: Ultimately, our products speak for themselves, but I believe our mission of helping athletes reach their peak performance guides everything we do. I honestly believe it keeps us closest to the end consumer. Working with athletes and OEM customers puts us in a unique position to see where the market is headed. Ensuring athletes know it’s a HydraPak in their pack, fueling their adventures, is important. It is important for consumers to make an emotional connection to our products and understand our “why.” Run, Pack Hydration, Integrated Filtration (and later this year, Nutrition) are the categories that are most dynamic today and where we see opportunity. Most athletes participate across categories.
SGB: What trends do you see in the hydration category?
Matt Lyon: One trend we are seeing is trail-running gear influencing many other categories, including outdoor. Our new PackFlask shows that water isn’t just staying in the backpack’s reservoirs; it is quickly moving onto the shoulder straps, like in running vests. We are now calling the category Pack Hydration to reflect multiple hydration alternatives.
A second trend is nutrition/supplements, with an incredible diversity of innovation driving athlete performance. We are working with several nutrition brands to make sure athletes have the means to carry and consume what they need for training and competition. Our new product range will launch later in 2026, featuring focused solutions for gels, powders, chews, and natural snacks.
SGB: What do you think of the ups and downs in the vacuum stainless-steel space?
Matt Lyon: We’ve had some amazing marketing in this space over the last few years with Hydroflask, Stanley and Yeti. More power to them. I believe we’ll see a return to a wider variety of bottles over time as function and price reassert their normal influence.
SGB: What other HydraPak innovations are you excited about?
Matt Lyon: In addition to the above, we have also added many new products for Run and Integrated Filtration. On the run side, our hand-held Skyflask and Tempo bottles have become common sights among endurance and new-to-sport runners, and our SpeedCup has launched a whole movement away from single-use cups during races. We have also introduced integrated filtration for hikers, campers, bikers, and runners over the last few years. Think of this category as high-flow filters combined with activity-specific vessels, such as a bike water bottles or a running vest flasks. Consumers see the benefit of both parts of the product being designed together and sold as a bundle.
SGB: Can you update us on HydraPak’s sustainability initiatives?
Matt Lyon: We have two main sustainability projects right now. The first is to move all running events away from single-use disposable cups. Our idea is “carry your own,” which captures the spirit coming from trail running. We started with a Sustainable Racing program where any race can sign up and commit to moving away from disposables, and in exchange, we provide them with products and tools to make it a success. Over 100 races participated in the program in 2025. We are also working with leaders such as athlete Tina Muir and crowd scientist Marcel Altenburg to help the major marathons adopt a new model in which marathons provide refill stations to accommodate runners who want to carry their own hydration (vests, belts, handhelds). We are proud to be providing cups for the Schneider Electric Paris Marathon in April 2026, which will be the first major city marathon to eliminate disposable cups.
Our second initiative is Re-Pak, where we collect post-consumer squeeze bottles and deliver them to a manufacturer that converts them into building products. We are tackling the “reverse logistics” of getting these bottles back from consumers and into a form that will keep them out of landfills. We distributed over 100 collection boxes to retailers in 2025, aiming to collect 10 percent of what we sell annually. We are not there yet, but we are learning and expanding each year.
SGB: How’s business?
Matt Lyon: HydraPak was well-positioned for some of 2025’s trends and saw double-digit growth, resulting in record revenue. Profitability was solid, and we remain debt-free. We are in the process of filling several new positions to keep up with new opportunities. From our perspective, Outdoor and Bike are generally flat, and Run is globally growing, but it is innovation and fresh thinking that is driving business for both HydraPak and our OEM partners in all categories.
SGB: What’s your outlook for the coming year, either for HydraPak or the key channels you serve?
Matt Lyon: I see the trends of 2025 continuing, with Outdoor and Bike recovering or consolidating, and Run hitting new participation levels. I am very excited by the data I saw recently showing that the average runner is getting younger, not older — a change from what we were seeing over the last decade in so many categories.
Leading HydraPak is as exciting as ever for me. We are focused on our connection to athletes and our purpose, “helping athletes reach peak performance.” We intentionally restrict our view to performance and hydration on the move, and the harder we look, the more opportunities we find. We have averaged 15 percent growth over the last decade, and that remains our goal moving forward. Finding solutions for athletes is what really drives me, and I don’t see an end to that quest.
SGB: You were one of the founding members of the California Outdoor Recreation Partnership (CORP) in 2017 and have been board chair for the last five years. Why did you get involved? What have you learned?
Matt Lyon: I got involved with California state politics through OIA as they pushed for the establishment of Outdoor Recreation offices around ten years ago. For me, it was a way to give back to the positive and supportive outdoor industry that has given me so much. I contributed in the way I know how by organizing the group and helping channel people’s energy towards consistent, constructive goals. It was a shock at first to feel real negative energy in Sacramento towards for-profit companies, but we have made ourselves known over time, found allies, and are now an accepted and effective presence in the state. CORP recently elected an exciting new group of leaders, and I am confident they will move the ball forward by increasing access and participation.
Images courtesy HydraPak
