Carry Materials IV

For a larger version of the image, click here.

Welcome to the fourth post in our Carry Materials series.  You’ll see from the image above that different materials fall into different categories of carry, with some overlapping.  Whenever you’re buying a bag, it’s important to check what materials it is made of in order to determine whether these materials will suit your needs.  If you’re in a store, check the label or tag of the carry product you’re interested in, which should list what construction materials are used.  Ask a store assistant for advice on whether the bag will suit your needs (if they are a carry-centered store, they should know a sufficient amount about materials to advise you!).  Online stores should advertise product materials in the details or specifications section of the product description.

Whether you’re buying online or in a physical store, take the time to find out if the carry item you want will cover your needs or whether it looks good but will end up not being used because it doesn’t serve the function you require it to.  Sure, sometimes you might not have the time to ensure the materials are right for your needs – perhaps a bag has snagged your attention in an airport shop but you have little time to spare, or you pass a fantastic shop on your travels that you’ll never come to again but you have to be somewhere else in half an hour and can’t afford an extended chinwag with an assistant.  In these circumstances you have to weigh up whether you’re willing to spend money on an item you may never end up using (no matter how great it looks in the shop window, if it’s not waterproof and you live in a place where ‘sun’ is only a word in the dictionary, your beloved beauty will soon turn into a bedraggled beast, not to mention the carry contents might get damaged).  Practicality often works out less painful for your pockets, so unless you’re after a bag specifically for its looks, determine whether it will do right by you before you buy it.

Hadrien's a carry designer, a co-founder of Carryology, and is behind most of the amazing illustrations and info-graphics you see on the site, and will never give a basic review of something – there’s always an insight or three.

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3 Responses to Carry Materials IV

  1. Joshua Dror says:

    Thank you, I am in the procesws of developing a new brand of luggage and backpacks and found this very helpful.

  2. Pingback: Week In Review ~ 21 July | Carryology

  3. Self says:

    Nice metric. I would suggest including “oxford” in the tech category. It is being used by a number of high end backpacking and hunting packs as a liner.

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