The company was originally named Scumbags, but founder Honeycutt changed the name to Timbuk2 Designs in 1990. The name Timbuk2 was inspired in part by the American rock band Timbuk3 and the company's swirl logo was designed by Honeycutt and is meant to mimic the rotation of a bike wheel. Timbuk2 is owned by private equity firms VMG Equity Partners and Capital Logic Partners.