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Carry Collaborations

goruck x carryology kaiden 1

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Exclusive Release | GORUCK x Carryology Kaidan Capsule

by , December 7, 2021

The ultimate travel capsule, taking icons to the next level.

Introducing: the GORUCK x Carryology Kaidan capsule.

Inspired by heroes, ancient stories, and wanderlust.

LINKS TO ORDER KAIDAN

<< ORDER ‘GR2’ NOW >>

<< ORDER ‘Bullet’ NOW >>

<< ORDER ‘Field Pocket’ NOW >>

<< ORDER ‘Complete Kaidan Bundle’ NOW >>

***

A Special Forces quality collection. Ready to combat any travel scenario. Overbuilt in VX42 and VX21. Delivered with special limited edition leather artist patches. 

In one limited edition run. 

Score yours today!

GORUCK ship internationally.



Dimensions / Specs:

GR2

Primary Material: VX42

34L Dimensions: 12.5"W x 20.5"H x 9"D

Laptop Compartment: 34L: 12"W x 18.5"H 

External Slant Pocket: 34L: 11"W x 11"H 

Internal Elastic Pocket: 34L: 12.5"W x 12"H 

Outer Compartment Mesh Pocket 1:34L: 11"W x 11.5"H 

Outer Compartment Mesh Pocket 2: 34L: 11.5"W x 12.5"H 

Outer Compartment Cordura Pocket 1: 34L: 9"W x 5.5"H 

Outer Compartment Cordura Pocket 2: 34L: 10"W x 5.5"H

 

Bullet 15L

Primary Material: VX21

Dimensions: 10"W x 18.5"H x 5.5"D

External Slant Pocket: 10.5"W x 11.5"H

Internal Mesh Pocket: 10.5"W x 11"H

Internal Cordura Pocket: 10"W x 6.75"H

Plate Pocket: 10.5"W x 11.75"H

 

GR2 Field Pocket

Primary Material: VX21

9”W x 8”H x 3”D

Capacity: 4L

 

 

Features:

GR2

Lightweight, Safety Orange 400d Cordura on the inside for interior visibility
Waterproof YKK AquaGuard exterior zippers
Includes a limited edition Leather Patch
2 leather handles on the top and bottom for quick grab and go
Opens Flat making it easier to pack and organize
YKK zippers on the interior with silent, glove friendly zipper pulls constructed from parachute 550 cord
Limited Edition Leather Patch designed by Argentina based Artist/Illustrator, Sebastián Cabrol.
Bombproof Laptop Compartment fits 17"+ laptop
A removable, hard plastic frame sheet stabilizes the laptop compartment and allows you to carry more weight comfortably
2 Compartments: Inner compartment and outer compartment with 3 pockets and a built-in field pocket
4 Rows of Exterior MOLLE on the front only
4 rows of internal MOLLE webbing let you customize GR2 how you want
Built in the USA

Bullet 15L

Quick Access Zippered Pocket
Lightweight, Safety Orange 400d Cordura on the inside for interior visibility
Waterproof YKK AquaGuard exterior zippers
YKK zippers on the interior with silent, glove friendly zipper pulls constructed from parachute 550 cord
Limited Edition Leather Patch designed by New York City based Artist/Illustrator, Celia Calle
Opens Flat making it easier to pack and organize
3 Rows of Exterior MOLLE on the front only
Built in the USA

GR2 Field Pocket

Lightweight, Safety Orange 400d Cordura on the inside for interior visibility
Waterproof YKK AquaGuard exterior zippers
Exterior grab handle
3 interior pockets: 1 large mesh zip pocket, 1 Large zip pocket, and 1 mesh pouch pocket
YKK zippers on the interior with silent, glove friendly zipper pulls constructed from parachute 550 cord
Built in the USA


THE ICON THAT IS THE GR2

To look to the future, we often refer to the past Carry Awards winners for inspiration. And this one was easy. One of our favorite and one of the most iconic travel packs of all time, the GORUCK GR2. Like its little brother, the GR1, they both have a cult-like following. For great reason. Back in 2013, the GR2 won 1st place in The Carry Awards for “Best Carry On” for its perfect balance of utility and ruggedness, and has been carried and loved by our team all over the world. 

The GR2, a One Bagger’s dream. This pack would act as the driving inspiration for this project – a bag made for travel and adventure. After our extensive testing over several thousands of miles using the 34L and the 40L size, unanimously we found the 34L to be the perfect size (for an overhead bin) and weight (once filled) for travel. It would be the heart of this travel collaboration.


BULLET AND 2-BAG TRAVEL

Now, this term “One Bag” doesn’t necessarily mean ONLY one bag. One Bag travel is a practice, a philosophy, a challenge.
And sometimes it actually can mean more than one bag. 

Give me a moment to explain the concept. After you’ve deplaned, the immigration officer has stamped your passport, and you’ve checked into your sleeping quarters, the first thing you want to do is put down your 34L travel backpack. It’s too cumbersome to carry on daily missions. 

You don’t want to walk through the tightly crowded streets of Tokyo with the volume of 34 liters on your back or walk up snowy mountain inclines of Zermatt with the weight of 34 liters worth of gear on your back. 

The solution? Drop your large One Bag backpack onto your bed. Then, like a Matryoshka doll, pull out your 10-15L “walk around bag” that was packed flat inside your GR2 among your other gear. Toss in just your essentials and you’re off to explore with a whole lot less on your shoulders. 

So to build upon the famous GR2, we selected a finalist in the Carry Awards IV (“Active Backpack” category) and another cult classic from the GORUCK brand, the Bullet 15L. Slim, agile, rugged – the perfect day trip pack. 


BULLET 15L KAIDEN

THE FINAL PIECE – THE FIELD POCKET

The third necessary component for a proper travel capsule is an organizer pouch. For tech, for toiletries, and all your little essentials. A favorite among Carryology readers as well as the Carryology team, the GORUCK GR2 Field Pocket. It’s padded, it’s simple, it’s complex, it’s perfect. We selected the larger GR2 size to make it more versatile for changing setups and uses.  

There we had it, the ultimate travel capsule: GR2 34L, Bullet 15L, and GR2 Field Pocket. And then the real work began… how to make it special. 


KAIDEN FIELD POCKET 1


CAPSULE UPGRADES


FUNCTIONAL PALS

We normally opt for the "Slick" versions when it comes to our favorite GORUCK products. But for this particular collaboration, we wanted to provide the user with some functional lash points on the face and shoulder straps for their travels. A favorite move is tossing on a Heroclip or carabiner for those "just in case" moments that present themselves so frequently out on your travels. 

PALS 2


VX – IN TWO VARIANTS 

When studying the options for the GR2, our priorities were ruggedness and durability. This is a GORUCK after all, and its superpower had to be its bomber build to allow us to carry it anywhere. 

But waterproofness and technical innovation were important too. 

And so we chose the futuristic instant-classic: the Dimension Polyant X-Pac VX42. The face is made from 420D nylon fabric with a DWR top coat.

It might be 80D “less than” 500D, but DP laminates the X-grid to the backside via science and magic. This makes it tougher than 500D and it converts the standard Cordura from “water-resistant” to “waterproof”. Strong and lightweight, perfect for travel. Additionally, we elimianted the mesh pocket in the main compartment on the GR2 to reduce weight, complexity, and redundancy. 

For the Bullet 15L, we wanted it to be even more lightweight and packable, so we opted for VX42’s lighter cousin, DP’s VX21. Tough, light, waterproof, and takes up minimal volume in your GR2. We also carefully reduced excess foam in the Bullet to make it pack even flatter. Being an internal accessory pocket, the GR2 Field Pocket would get the same VX21 fabric treatment.

VX IN VARIANTS


WATERTIGHT 

Arguably the second most important part of a pack is the zippers/hardware. Since we’re using waterproof X-Pac fabric, we swapped the zippers to YKK’s AquaGuard water-resistant zippers, in #10 and #8 sizes. While standard YKK coil zippers handle moisture just fine, this AquaGuard zipper upgrade allowed us to remove the fabric zipper rain flaps, giving you even easier access to your contents while keeping out the wet.

Additionally, we removed the drainage ports at the bottom of the Bullet 15L. In a rucking scenario, crawling through mud and dragging your pack through streams, you want water to drain out. But here, in a travel scenario, you want water to never get inside in the first place. A complete system sealed away from nature’s elements.


HIGH-VIS INTERIOR

High-vis interior. This is something we always do, as it’s a functional feature used to make your life easier. Bright-colored interiors make it easier to spot bag contents in low-light conditions, such as the backseat of a sketchy taxi somewhere in the outskirts of Moscow. Now, you can quickly identify what you’re looking for. And since we care about materials, we chose 420D nylon fabric for toughness and internal structure.


LEATHER HANDFEEL

Now, we clearly love X-Pac fabrics. But they can easily take on a “tech” aesthetic if not balanced out with some other elements to even it out. I had been watching an episode of Tony’s where he travels to Rome and he’s “driving” a 1966 Alfa Romeo Spider in front of a green screen. In 1966, this vehicle was the pinnacle of performance and tech, yet it was balanced with luxury and class, and timelessness via the beautiful leather interior. To luxe it up, we borrowed elements from the Alfa Romeo as well as the GR1 Heritage… adding full-grain leather to the GR2's grab handle. This buttery leather is sourced from S.B. Foot Tanning Company up in Red Wing, Minnesota. We hear this tannery provides leather to some other famous USA-made boot company in the area, but we’ll let you guess who that might be.

Oh, by the way, did I say “handle” as in singular? We meant “handles”, plural. This is a travel capsule, after all. When you’re traveling in trains, planes, boats, and automobiles, your bag gets shoved in all kinds of weird tight spaces. And pulling your bag out of these areas isn’t always the easiest. The obvious example is an overhead bin on a passenger jet. Once it’s up there, you need a handle on the bottom to pull it out of there. So we added one. And we made it leather like on the top grab handle. Because every time you grab this pack, it should be an enjoyable experience.

To keep the Bullet 15L ultra packable and lightweight, we opted for ultra heavy duty nylon webbing construction in the place of leather.


QUICK-ACCESS STORAGE

One small but absolutely awesome upgrade we included with the GRXC1 Guerrilla X collaboration was the trick quick-access pocket up near the grab handle. When you’re traveling, having an easy and fast pocket for “the thing in your hand” is critical. The GR2 is filled with plenty of organization already, so we didn't want to add too much complication to perfection. We landed on adding the same GRXC1 quick-access pocket onto the Bullet 15L to give that extra dimension of storage when you're out exploring. 


MORALE PATCHES 

It wouldn't be a GORUCK collab without patches. 

For a travel collection, we wanted subdued designs for these morale panels. But they had to tell a story, and inspire morale. So we went back to the inspiration, the thing that guides the process. In this case, the Kaidan. 

We'd find the illustrator of Anthony Bourdain's 'Hungry Ghosts' and commission special artwork. Artwork that spoke to the story. Artwork expertly done by an artist with a clear line to our travel hero.  

But wait, there are two different backpacks. So there wouldn’t be one comic book artist. No, we commisioned TWO highly decorated, experienced, and well-published comic book artists to bring our concept to life. 

Celia Calle. Based in New York City, Artist/Illustrator Celia Calle (Instagram: @CeliaCalle) created the patch artwork for the Bullet 15L. This artwork depicts a menacing Hannya face (Japanese demon mask) in the center. There is a lit candle on the top of the mask, with two extinguished candles on the left and right, these representing the “Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai” game. 

Sebastián Cabrol. Based in Paraná, Argentina. Illustrator and Comic Book Artist (Instagram: @Sebastián Cabrol) created the GR2 patch. The inspiration for Sebastián’s GR2 patch comes directly from a famous Edo-period woodblock print, “Takiyasha the Witch and the Skeleton Specter” circa 1843 to 1847. Sebastian recreated this image via ink and paintbrush on paper in simple bold lines for our patch design.  


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