Peak Design Collabs with Huckberry in Limited Edition Travel Backpack
Peak Design has collaborated with Huckberry to release a limited edition version of the Travel Backpack that Peak Design launched in 2018.
The backpack shares a lot in common with the original Travel Backpack with one major notable exception: the exterior. The collaboration backpack is available in one color — a yellow called “coyote” — and is made from what the two brands describe as premium DWR-coated X-Pac material, which is supposedly extremely durable and waterproof.
X-Pac is a lightweight fabric that is made with several layers that are laminated together into one sheet: nylon fabric, polyester mesh (called X-ply, hence the X-Pac name), and a waterproof film. As described by the manufacturer Dimension-Polyant, the resulting material is designed to be both rugged and comes from a business aimed at sustainability.
The use of X-Pac means that the exterior of the Peak Design and Huckberry collaboration bag is waterproof — not water resistant. While the bag cannot be submerged and stay totally dry on the inside (the water-resistant zippers have a limit to how much water they prevent from seeping through), the bag will often not require the typical rain cover other backpacks need for a majority of wet weather scenarios.
While X-Pac does not stretch, the bag is designed to expand and compress between a 27L capacity to a 33L capacity as needed, which is typical of Peak Design bags and is a capability of the original Travel Backpack.
“The weatherproof 200D X-Pac VX21 Ripstop fabric is iconic in the bag world for its ideal balance of tear-resistance, compressibility, and durability. The ‘X-Pac’ name nods to the material’s subtle 22-degree crosshatch pattern, created by an embedded black polyester ripstop mesh that improves tensile strength, prevents tears, and adds a technical aesthetic,” Peak Design says.
In addition to the X-Pac shell, the only other difference between it and Peak Design’s standard Travel Backpack is a custom interior screenprint.
Like the original, the collaboration backpack has dedicated laptop and tablet sleeves, has padded shoulder straps that pack away, grab handles at multiple locations on the bag, and fits under an airline seat or in the overhead compartment. It is also built sustainably with a carbon-neutral, Fair Trade Certified manufacturing process.
The Huckberry and Peak Design X-Pac Travel Backpack is available directly from Huckberry (limited one per person) for $260, which is $30 more than the standard $230 30L Travel Backpack.
