Carryology Morale Patch Program | P01: Firefly Black

You have been asking us for these for over a decade. Until today, the only way to find a Carryology patch was to physically attend a Carryology event, meet in person at Outdoor Retailer, or score one via some other indirect impossible feat. Well, now they’re finally here. Introducing our Carryology Morale Patch Program.

Why morale patches? Well, they’re undoubtably a part of carry culture – collected, traded and Velcro’d on backpacks worldwide. And since this is our first, we wanted to share a bit on morale patches and their origins.

The History of the Morale Patch

The first “version” can be traced back to something called a “blood chit”. This is a small note or document to be carried on one’s person, which represents a future debt to be paid. The first known blood chit was given to Jean-Pierre Blanchard, a French inventor, traveler, and pioneer in the the field of hot air balloon travel. Who gave him the article? Well it was George Washington, back in 1793.

Blanchard was demonstrating his new technology in the United States and since he could not control the direction of the balloon’s path, the blood chit stated that any United States citizen who came across him was obligated to help him return to Philadelphia. This blood chit would later be carried by soldiers, sewn into or onto their uniforms to help them with safe passage, in the case of being caught behind enemy lines.

However, what we know as the modern day morale patch continued to evolve from the blood chit. Tracing back to World War I, British soldiers would wear distinct designs on their uniforms to identify them as Allies and identify which unit they belonged to. But it was the US Army who officially popularized this idea, specifically the 81st Division Wildcats of WWI.

This unit wanted to be able to quickly distinguish themselves from other units and increase the morale of the troops, via handmade cloth patches which would be sewn onto their uniforms. Shortly after 81st’s adaptation of this concept, General Pershing made a formal order for every division to create and wear their own unique design morale patch. The rest… is history.

P01: Firefly Black

Meet the P01: Firefly Black. A classic and badass start to a long line of awesomeness to come.

And, of course, there’s more to these than just being black and orange. For the upper, we opted for a long time favorite material made by a long time favorite fabric producer of ours: laser cut 500D nylon from Cordura. It’s tough, it’s tech, it’s classic.

Now the lower… we went for the real deal Diamond Grade ‘honeycomb’ DG3 Reflective made by the scientists at 3M. It’s orange in normal lighting conditions, and then explodes like a bright orange firefly when hit with a light source. A safety feature for individuals who may commute in low light environments or just a visible flex to your fellow Carryologists when you’re out exploring the world.

Limited, one-time-only runs

And yes, there will be regular beat of patch releases. We’ve been working away in the lab and have dozens of new designs prepared for the future. However, once each colorway sells out… it will never be produced again. Never. And then it will be onto the next color/pattern/material experiment to keep things exciting and fresh.

The one thing all these patches will have in common? They’re designed to boost morale and provide safe passage on all your travels and adventures.

We hope you carry them with pride!

Carry on.

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Shipping to other countries is totally possible, but will come with an extra fee.

UPDATE: SOLD OUT

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