Pack guide
How much are you planning on carrying?
The range of packs I offer differ in the amount of support they provide. Choosing something to suit what you’ll be carrying is paramount. Going frameless can be tempting because of the lower weight, but overload it by more than a few kg and your tired shoulders quickly put a damper on your trip. Going for a pack with excess structure, support and padding won’t be a nearly as punishing an experience as you’ll simply be carrying a few hundred grams more.
If it’s your first ultralight pack, my recommendation is to err on the side of comfort and pick a pack that’ll keep you within the load ranges below for at least 95% of your trips. Going above on the first day when you’re fully stocked on both food and water won’t be the end of the world.
Plantain
Frameless – The simplest pack for fast and light adventures
A frameless pack offers Unrivalled weight and freedom of movement. Along with many accessible pockets, you can keep going for those long days. How much you can comfortably carry on your shoulders varies heavily. It can be limited to shorter trips, unless you have a low baseweight.
35L from 370g – both standard and custom | 40L – custom only
Morado Light
Short frame – Ultralight in comfort
The pack features twin frame stays and a padded hip belt. With proper sizing, the shoulder straps end up roughly level, pulling the pack more effeciently towards your body. This gives a simple, intuitive fit. Great for those with a low base weight that still want a load bearing hip belt to spread out the load. The compact frame means short, medium and long can be used for carry-on travel.
40L weighs from 670g – custom only
Morado
Tall frame – lightweight versatility
Extending the frame stays and adding load lifters give the ability to fine-tune the shoulder load and carry fully on the hips.
43L from 720g – custom only | 48L from 770g – both standard and custom | 55L from 800g – custom only
Sizing and Fit
The correct amount of support is important, but it won’t do you much good if the pack doesn’t fit you. In order to achieve a truly comfortable pack, I offer several sizes and shapes – 4 back lengths, 3 hip sizes, 2 hip belts shapes and 2 shoulder strap shapes. Offering every pack in 48 sizes is far off from economically viable for most manufacturers but since I make every pack from the ground up anyway and there’s nobody to stop me, here we are…
Back length
It’s measured from your C7 vertebrae to your illiac crest. It’s best to use a measuring tape or string to follow the curvature of your back. Wearing a pair of trousers at the height of your illiac crest makes it eaiser to do solo.
Short 40-44cm | Medium 44,5-48cm | Long 48,5-52cm | X-long 52,5-56cm
If you prefer to wear your hip belt above your the illiac crest, you need to subtract length accordingly for an optimal fit.
If you’re right inbetween sizes, you should generally size down. The only exception is when you’ll be using a webbing hip belt most of the time with Plantain.
If you require a shorter or longer pack, I can still make it for you. Contact me.
Hip belt
Measure around your hip at the height of your illiac crest. The sizes are an optimal fit range where you get an appropriate amount of padding wrap around your hips. They can be adjusted beyond so there’s no need to worry if you’re at the edge of a size.
Small 72-84cm | Medium 85-99cm | Large 100-125cm
The most appropriate hip belt shape can be determined by measuring 5cm above the illiac crest. If this measurement is smaller, a curved belt will wrap and rest better on your hips. If it is larger, a straight belt is better.
English
Dansk
Shoulder straps
Here a measurement or a simple female/male dichotomy is not enough as the shapes are more complex. Below is a list of prioritized factors that can help determine which one fits best. The chest and shoulders are more important than height.
S-shaped shoulder straps are better if you…
1. have a curvy or sensitive chest
2. have flatter shoulders
3. are shorter than about 180cm or use Short/Medium back length
J-shaped shoulder straps are better if you…
1. have a flatter chest
2. have a wide neck
3. have angled shoulders
4. are taller than about 175cm or use Long/X-long back length
The standard Plantain comes with a wide version of the J-shaped straps to spread out the load on your shoulders. These are also available for Morado Light. The standard Morado comes with S-shaped straps in short and medium while the long and x-long come with J-shaped straps.
Main fabrics
I’ve chosen the most suited fabrics for the standard packs. I spend a lot of time testing and evaluating the performance of these fabrics. This means most packs consist of a multitude of different fabrics, suited for different purposes and not just a single fabric for ease of manufacturing. You can read more about all the availabe fabrics if you are putting together a custom pack or simply interested here.
