Choosing the Right Fabric
Wondering which outer fabric you should choose? Read on for a deep dive into our fabric choices! Or jump to our quick guide HERE if you're in a hurry.
When we started back in 2016, we only used one exterior fabric - 1000D Cordura Nylon. This decision was based on decades of real-world use that showed its flexibility, resistance to abrasion, and strength under tension. Cordura is also still being produced by a few mills in the United States in a fairly wide range of colors, something we wanted to bring to a market that at the time was dominated by black and grey packs.
Fast forward a few years, and we wondered how 15oz waxed canvas would perform in a technical application. We had experience with the fabric in canoe packs, totes, etc, but hadn’t yet tried using it for one of our packs with nylon webbing, foam stiffeners, and a nylon liner. Well, we were pleasantly surprised how well everything meshed together, and even more pleased with how it developed patina over time while remaining durable and water resistant. Fast forward a few more years and we now have it available as an option for all our packs in 7 different colors!
Dimension Polyant, the manufacturer of X-pac, has been busy designing new fabrics and launched RX30 X-pac a couple years ago, a laminated fabric which uses polyester in all three layers. We got our hands on some and started testing. Lo and behold, we haven’t experienced any delamination issues like we’d seen with similar fabric we tested years ago, and we've been really happy with its balance of light weight and durability in our applications. This fabric is also produced using 100% post-consumer recycled polyester and is climate neutral certified to boot. We loved it enough to roll it into our full lineup of packs in 8 different colors.
X11 X-pac is the newest addition to our fabric offerings. Also made by Dimension Polyant, it combines the classic texture, durability, and vibe of 10oz cotton duck with the waterproofness and stability of the same X-ply and polyester film backing as RX30. It’s just slightly heavier than 1000D Cordura nylon but lighter than 15oz waxed canvas. Plus, it just looks and feels wonderful - modern and classic combined.
All our fabric color options can be found here.
Here’s a handy reference for selecting a fabric:
