Pack fabrics

[simonm]

If you were to make your own back pack and availability of fabrics was not an issue which fabrics would you choose?

[Strider]

I really like the fabric Golite use. The recycled stuff.

[wayno]

some reasonable denier nylon nailhead or dobby for the harder wearing areas specifically the base .. 200 denier?
cuben fibre for the low wear areas.

[simonm]

I really like the fabric Golite use. The recycled stuff.

I thought they used Dyneema ripstop and now Robic - do you know what the recycled stuff is called?

Edit: Don't worry found it.

[simonm]

some reasonable denier nylon nailhead or dobby for the harder wearing areas specifically the base .. 200 denier?
cuben fibre for the low wear areas.

Thanks Wayno I had to google nailhead and dobby never heard of those terms before.

[wayno]

i think dobby is the harder wearing of the two

[undercling-mike]

Quite a few cottage pack makers seem to be using the Robic fabrics now, so they must offer some advantages over the dyneema x-gridstop fabrics. The Robic fabrics don't seem to be available from the usual DIY vendors yet but it would be great to be able to access them. I think they come in 100, 210 and 420 denier at least and these would be a great combination for packmaking. Personally I would value abrasion resistance over waterproofness so would prefer a quality PU coated fabric over the dimension polyant fabrics as they are heavy for the level of abrasion resistance (despite feeling tough because they are stiff).

[simonm]

I have emailed Hyosung to see what the deal is with the Robic, it's clearly the flavour of the month with a few pack makers. They also do a recycled fabric called Regen made from discarded nylon products such as fishing nets - I wonder if that's the same as the Go-lite fabric??

[undercling-mike]

Great, let us know how you get on with them.

BTW here's a good blog on pack fabrics if you haven't seen it: http://bedrockandparadox.com/2014/01/26/pack-materials-rundown/

[simonm]

Thanks I have not seen that link, it suggests XPac certainly has its place. I have had contact with Dimension Polyant and they are sending me out some swatches of their XPac fabrics. So far they have been excellent to deal with.

[undercling-mike]

Yep, they have their place. As always it just depends on what your priorities are.