Bushwalk Australia

I recently sewed a backpack and while I struggled at times sourcing the materials I eventually found what I needed -- with one exception. For the hip belt I want to use 2" flat nylon webbing of an appropriate grade, the same grade as on my old backpack.

I already have two lengths of different 2 inch webbings but they are too thick and heavy for the application:

63 g/m - 2 inch "seat belt" webbing
70 g/m - 2 inch "flat nylon" webbing (thickness 0.070-0.075 inches) from strapworks.com

I have several other backpacks, day packs, etc, so I have a pretty good idea of the type of webbing I want. I suspect it is something between 1/2 and 2/3 the weight/thickness of the webbings that I have. I've even found a supplier, but they only sell by the roll.

Does anyone know where to obtain 2 inch webbing of a "typical" weight for backpacks?

I live in the U.S. but at this point I might be willing to ship it from Mars if I could source it.

Not sure of the specs but OWFINC in the US may have something suitable - http://www.owfinc.com/hardware.html - the webbing is under Notions.

Sorry for the Quest plug again.http://www.questoutfitters.com/narrow_r ... N_WEBBING_

2inch Polypropylene seems to be half your quoted weights.http://www.dutchwaregear.com/myg/rolled ... g.html?p=1

I'd only be using the older weight webbing if you have older style buckles; the new buckles work best with the newer LW webbing in my experience

Thanks you guys. I was hoping one of you had first person experience with one of the available webbings.

I had already contacted Quest. The person there believed that their webbing would be too heavy for me. I asked if they could weigh a piece of it but they didn't respond to that.

Another place has just today offered to mail me a small sample. Hopefully they have what I want.

OWF has webbing? I looked before and couldn't find anything. Why do they put it under "notions"?
I'll have to call them and see what they say. They're a good place.


This is the reason I never really wanted to make a backpack: the sourcing of the materials. I spent money on fabric I never used. I had to order from a number of different places so shipping costs really added up. And I ended buying numerous different types of foam as that is also a tricky material for getting exactly what you want. Although I used only a small amount of foam in the backpack I think it was what I spent the most money on! I have a lot of foam now. Even with all of that I still couldn't source one particular type. So I took a 30 year old piece of 3 inch foam I happen to have and hack sawed it down to a 1 inch thickness for the small lumbar pad. It looked a little ugly but it worked!

Orion the 50mm polyester webbing we sell is Australian made and it weighs 50g/m and the thickness is 1.4mm just for your reference.

As to the notions question, I understood it to mean anything that wasn't fabric or thread was a notion, so buttons, zips, hooks, ribbon, lace... all that stuff. might be a north american term, I spent lots of time in notions shops with my grandmothers as a wee lad.

Sure, notions is just a catch-all for "other stuff". But they already have a category entitled "webbing and narrow goods". That's where I looked, in the webbing category, although I can't say I know what a narrow good is supposed to be.

simonm wrote:Orion the 50mm polyester webbing we sell is Australian made and it weighs 50g/m and the thickness is 1.4mm just for your reference.

Simon, that could be what I want, although it's polyester instead of nylon. I don't know if it's truth or fiction but I had previously read that nylon webbing is superior to polyester when it comes to straps in buckles. Weave and texture vary even between otherwise identical webbing types. That's one of the difficult things about ordering online. I have two orders of 1 inch flat nylon, same weight, same thickness but slightly different weaves. They have noticeably different feels with one supple and the other kind of stiff.

See here: https://backpackinglight.com/forums/topic/39286/

Orion wrote:Simon, that could be what I want, although it's polyester instead of nylon. I don't know if it's truth or fiction but I had previously read that nylon webbing is superior to polyester when it comes to straps in buckles. Weave and texture vary even between otherwise identical webbing types. That's one of the difficult things about ordering online. I have two orders of 1 inch flat nylon, same weight, same thickness but slightly different weaves. They have noticeably different feels with one supple and the other kind of stiff.

See here: https://backpackinglight.com/forums/topic/39286/

I know of at least two Australian pack manufacturers who use this webbing or an almost identical webbing from another Australian webbing manufacturer. I would describe this webbing as kind of stiff - we use it for hammock suspension, trees straps etc.

Interesting. The BPL guys must be talking about specific webbings they've encountered rather than a definitive difference between the materials.

If I can't find something suitable locally I'll order some of that webbing from you. I'm sure the shipping from Austrailia won't be inexpensive, but less than ordering from Mars.

Orion wrote:Interesting. The BPL guys must be talking about specific webbings they've encountered rather than a definitive difference between the materials.

If I can't find something suitable locally I'll order some of that webbing from you. I'm sure the shipping from Austrailia won't be inexpensive, but less than ordering from Mars.

It will definitely be cheaper getting it over there. My point was don't discount polyester webbing, as long as its good quality.

Shipping from Tasmania may be fairly equivalent to Mars .

I actually prefer polyester webbing and tape for use in packs because of the lack of stretch. I prefer nylon for tarps because it has the stretch to absorb some shock but I use polyester for everything because that is what I have the most of

How much does a hip belt or shoulder strap really stretch? I was originally thinking I'd want polyester for the UV resistance but looking at the 20 year old straps on my old pack I don't think it's really an issue. The main thing is the weight, durability, feel and how well it holds in buckles. Those last two are harder to quantify.


Meanwhile, the person at Quest actually weighed a piece of webbing for me and even used a gauge to measure the thickness. I couldn't believe it. And I just got an email saying that a sample is being mailed to me by the other place. So hopefully I'll be in business sewing my hipbelt in a few weeks. All of this ordering and reordering and waiting... I started this project in February!


Anyway, thanks for the help you guys. I really appreciate it!