Para Gear

What Para Gear does

Para Gear Equipment Co. Inc., founded in 1960 and headquartered in the Chicago metropolitan area (Illinois, USA), is a privately held direct-to-consumer retailer of skydiving and parachute equipment. The company sells exclusively through its own e-commerce storefront at paragear.com and ships to customers in more than 150 countries, marketing itself as the world's largest in-stock skydiving gear superstore. Its product portfolio spans main, reserve, and military parachutes; harness/container systems; headgear including Cookie G3, G4, and G35 helmets; instruments such as the ATLAS II+ altimeter and Brilliant Pebbles wireless audible altimeter; AADs (CYPRES, Vigil, M2, FXC); rigging equipment, raw materials, and metal/plastic hardware; plus accessories like jumpsuits, gloves, gear bags, cameras, log books, and gift certificates.

The business model is straightforward transactional retail: unit-priced product sales with quantity discounts and coupon incentives (PARA5, PARA10), supplemented by distribution of the world's largest skydiving gear catalog (a 200-page publication, 184 pages in the 2021-2022 edition with 96 color pages). Customer segments are segmented across individual sport skydivers, FAA-certified parachute riggers, commercial dropzone operators, and military/government parachute units. Marketing channels include the printed catalog, email newsletter, and an active presence across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, and Google Plus. There is no public revenue disclosure, no parent company, no funding rounds, no M&A activity, and no AI or software capabilities; the company's competitive position rests on inventory breadth, catalog IP, category tenure, and global distribution reach rather than technology differentiation.

Name

Para Gear

Legal name

Para Gear Equipment Co. Inc.

Website

https://paragear.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1960

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Para Gear Equipment Co. Inc., founded in 1960, is a privately held U.S. direct-to-consumer retailer selling parachutes, harness/container systems, headgear, instruments, rigging equipment, and accessories to individual sport skydivers, certified riggers, dropzone operators, and military customers across 150+ countries through paragear.com and the world's largest skydiving gear catalog.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Skydiving Equipment

NAICS

Sporting Goods Retailers (45911)

akta.pro primary industry

Outdoor Navigation, Safety & Survival Gear Retail (CRAMAAAE)

akta.pro secondary industry

Outdoor Travel Gear (Duffels, Packs, Dry Bags) Retail (CRAMAAAI)

Keywords

• Skydiving equipment retail
• Parachute gear supply
• Skydiving accessories
• Parachute rigging equipment
• Skydiving helmets and altimeters

Headquarters

HQ city

Skokie

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Supply Chain, Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Product Sales: Para Gear generates revenue through direct product sales of skydiving equipment including parachutes, harness/containers, altimeters, headgear, rigging equipment, hardware, raw materials, accessories, and clothing. Sales are primarily one-time transactions with per-unit pricing.
2. Catalog Sales: Company publishes and distributes the world's largest skydiving gear catalog (184 pages, 96 color pages). Catalogs are provided free with orders or can be ordered separately via phone.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Para Gear retails parachutes, harness/container systems, altimeters, helmets, rigging tools, raw materials, hardware, and skydiving accessories through a direct-to-consumer e-commerce storefront. The company operates the world's largest in-stock inventory of skydiving gear and serves individual skydivers, military units, dropzone operators, and FAA-certified riggers in over 150 countries. It also publishes the world's largest skydiving gear catalog as a complementary distribution and merchandising channel.

Product overview

Para Gear is a skydiving and parachute equipment retailer offering the world's largest in-stock inventory of parachutes and skydiving gear since 1960. Their product portfolio includes core equipment such as parachutes (main, reserve, military), harness/container systems, and headgear (including Cookie G3, G4, and G35 helmets), supplemented by essential accessories like altimeters (ATLAS II+, VISO II+, audible altimeters), gloves, gear bags (S.O.F., Parasport, Akando), cameras, rigging equipment, raw materials, and hardware. They publish the world's largest skydiving gear catalog (184 pages) and serve customers in over 150 countries. The company sells physical equipment only with no software products or AI capabilities.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Parachutes Main parachutes, reserve parachutes, and military parachutes for sport and military skydiving.
• Harness/Containers Skydiving harness and container systems for parachutes.
• Headgear Skydiving helmets and headgear including Cookie G3, Cookie G4, Cookie G35, and other brands.
• Jumpsuits Skydiving jumpsuits and flight suits for sport skydivers.
• Instruments Altimeters, audible altimeters, and other skydiving instruments for altitude awareness during freefall and canopy flight.
• ATLAS II+ Altimeter Electronic altimeter usable as audible or visual instrument for skydivers, with rechargeable USB-C battery, machined aircraft-aluminum case, and 200-jump logbook.
• Brilliant Pebbles Wireless Audible Altimeter Wireless audible altimeter for skydivers, configurable via smartphone with up to 20 alarms and operating altitude of 0-30,000 ft.
• Skydiving Gloves Summer and winter skydiving gloves with leather palm for canopy handling and protection.
• Skydiving Cameras and Accessories Cameras and camera accessories for skydiving video recording.
• Rigging Equipment Professional rigging tools including packing sticks, closing devices, needles, fids, seal presses, hot knives, and fabric testing equipment for parachute maintenance.
• Raw Materials Fabric, suspension line, webbing, thread, Velcro, tubular nylon, shock cord, and ripstop tape for parachute construction and repair.
• Parachute Hardware Metal and plastic hardware including D-rings, snaps, buckles, COBRA fasteners, and quick-fit adapters for parachute harnesses.
• Automatic Activation Devices (AADs) CYPRES, Vigil, M2, and FXC automatic activation devices for automatic parachute deployment.
• Military Parachute Equipment Military-grade parachutes and equipment meeting military specifications.
• Para Gear Catalog World's largest skydiving gear catalog with 184 pages and 96 color pages, orderable separately or free with order.

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Market position

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/ParaGear
• Facebookfacebook.com/paragear
• Instagraminstagram.com/paragear
• Pinterestpinterest.com/paragear
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/paragear

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Para Gear