Your Basic Backpack Deserves to be Military-Grade
If you’ve ever been shopping and wondered if the bag you’re into could conceivably survive a war, I have great news. (I also, understandably, have some questions.)
HAVEN, Canada’s tech-obsessed menswear brand, released a new Horizon collection featuring a backpack and a messenger bag made with CORDURA Ballistic Hollofil Air, a waterproof nylon fabric originally used in bulletproof vests and upgraded with hollow-fiber yarns to keep it lightweight. Like a magic trick that doubles as a carry-all, these seemingly super-simple bags hide some incredibly clever tech.
Ballistic nylon has come a long way from its origins as a World War II-era fiber made to protect soldiers from shrapnel; the fabric’s resistance to abrasions, tearing, and fraying has made it a perfect material for heavy-duty apparel like motorcycle jackets or, in this case, incredibly understated backpacks and messenger bags.
Sure, these bags are obviously better suited for surviving city commutes or a trail trek than a battlefield, but hey, I hear "ballistic," and my mind immediately starts playing Saving Private Ryan on loop.
The $975 Horizon Backpack is 22L and comes padded with S-curved shoulder straps and enough pockets for all your bits, while the smaller $675 Horizon Shoulder Bag is 20L but is crafted to be just as sturdy.
Putting out bags from military-grade fabric would normally sound like overkill, but these align with what HAVEN has been up to for years.
HAVEN’s range is packed with ordinary-looking pieces that secretly tout some technologically advanced trickery: it made a suit from Loro Piana's signature Storm System 3L Nylon Wool, and its covetable leather Station Jacket comes lined with a GORE-TEX WINDSTOPPER membrane.
For a brand so fixated on crafting performance utilitarian gear that pushes the boundaries of just how much tech you can pack into a product, I’m only surprised it took them this long to make a literally ballistic bag.
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