Local Canadian Company Pillowpacker Travel Pillows Celebrates 15 Years in Business - Our Story

April 18, 2025

Fifteen years ago this May we launched Pillowpacker Pillows, offering comfortable yet compact home-style inflatable travel pillows to discerning travellers all over the world. As frequent travellers ourselves, we knew that Canada had its own cachet and insisted our pillows be Canadian-made.

We have been making them in Canada from the beginning, long before the current reawakening of Canadian pride! The idea for an inflatable down travel pillow came from personal experience because we used to bring their bedroom pillows with us wherever we travelled.

Daily kayaking excursions launched from the Akademik Ioffe in the Canadian High Arctic, August 2008.

But preparing for a 2008 kayaking expedition in Canada’s High Arctic, with its strict luggage allowances, forced us to choose between our down pillows or our parkas. We chose our parkas! However, while our days were spent paddling the amazing pristine Arctic waters, our nights were spent tossing and turning in berths on a refurbished research vessel with pillows barely as thick as a double-folded napkin. Over drinks in the ship’s lounge, fellow expeditioners encouraged Beth’s idea to develop an inflatable down travel pillow that would replicate the comfort of their home pillows. 

Design and development began as soon as we returned home. Suffering from neck issues, Beth wanted an adjustable, inflatable inner pillow contoured to the neck and head. She also wanted washable home-style pillowcases in an assortment of colours. Everything had to be light-weight, compressible, and fit in a travel sack and luckily we were able to find a bedding manufacturer in Ottawa that could manufacture to our strict specifications. We wanted people to get a really high-quality product that we can stand behind, and if they're made here, we have total control of the quality and design.

Pillowpacker Pillows offer sleep experiences of a full-size home pillows

Several prototypes and many test sleeps later, Pillowpackers launched two pillow models – one in Canadian duck down and the other microfibre. Picked up by travel editors, the Pillowpacker Pillow was an instant success. Orders came in from across Canada, the United States, England, France, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa and many are repeat customers. 

Over the years, Pillowpackers has shifted to an online marketplace, weathered a decline in sales during COVID, and now faces uncertainties of U.S. tariffs. Through it all, we remain committed to our local, Made in Canada roots and to delivering travel comfort to discerning travellers everywhere.Our tagline says it all. “Wherever you roam, with a Pillowpacker Pillow, it’s like sleeping at home!"

Pillowpacker Pillow components with a selection of pillowcases

Today Pillowpacker Inflatable Travel Pillows come in a choice of the original Canadian duck down and two premium grades of Hutterite white duck and goose downs, as well as an eco-friendly down-alternative microfibre filling. In addition to the luxurious outer pillow, each pillow set includes an inflatable inner pillow, a pillowcase from a variety of fashion colours, and its own custom stuff sack. Optional home-style pillow protector and extra pillowcases are available for purchase.  

Garry runs the day-to-day operations and provides the personal touch on every order. We’ve sold almost 1,800 pillows in the last fifteen years and he's packed every single one. He describes the great satisfaction he gets from the work, saying “It's been fun and rewarding because I know that people are using them and loving them. Last week, a repeat customer gave us a five-star rating saying she bought her Pillowpacker Pillow for travel but now it's her bedroom pillow and she sleeps on it every night. And that's my reward!” 

Anchors Away fabric commemorates the origins of  Pillowpacker travel pillow abord the Akademik Ioffe in 2008 and our product launch at the Britannia Yacht Club in 2010

To celebrate the anniversary of the launch of Pillowpacker Pillows at the Britannia Yacht Club in May 2010, we have added a special “Anchors Away” design to our selection of pillowcases.

Furthermore, we are also offering a 15% discount on all purchases of $125 or more from today until the end of May using discount code PPP15 at time of checkout. 

Buying local has many other benefits as well. We charges no tax, offer curbside pickup saving shipping costs, accept credit cards, and best of all, you can visit “Pillowpacker Pillows World Headquarters” in Britannia Village and leave with your pillows under your arm. 

Visit www.pillowpackers.com to place your order now

For customer testimonials, visit www.pillowpackers.com/pages/customer-testimonials

For specific technical questions, email Garry Logue at garry@pillowpackers.com

 

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