All products on this page are a labor of love. They are all made by my own hands from start to finish in small batches. There is no mass production involved here...

Backpacks such as "The DirtBag" are specifically made for long distance hiking. The design is informed by my own experience hiking The Pacific Crest trail as well as thousands of miles beyond.

The materials and construction methods are informed by my experience as a Smokejumper, where we designed and constructed our own equipment and used it under the most demanding conditions.

Materials:
The primary material used in the majority of my packs is 500d Cordura nylon. Why? because it works. Cordura was specifically designed for outdoor gear, and in my opinion remains one of the most appropriate for the job. While newer fabrics such as VX-07 and Dyneema boast impressive tensile strength, that is not what ends the life of a pack. what does? Abrasion... and this is where Cordura is King. On the fire-line we tested a variety of these materials and ran into durability problems with the laminates. My Cordura fire pack has at least 10 seasons of harsh fire fighting and has been thrown out of a plane at least a hundred times... still it is going strong. I have tried to bring this same durability to HutchMade Packs.