Let’s be honest: the carry industry is far from being green, and ATD Supply as a company is no exception, using non biodegradable synthetic materials and singularly shipping, almost entirely internationally, most of its products.With a degree in Human Environmental Sciences and years of experience traveling in remote areas, I know what the effects of plastic related pollution are on the environment and the communities living in it. Plus, since I was a teenager, I've always been interested in the complexity of environmental topics and really conscious about what consequences on the environment consumer choices could have. The tall cliffs north of Nam Hinboun river in Laos. Picture taken by the author.That said, when I started making bags, I decided to focus...
After shipping 4th production run of ATD1 backpack, the biggest run we've done so fat, it's time to breath and think about the direction future steps should take. Let's speak about multiple drops, inevitable price increase for the ATD1 and the release of ATD2 backpack.
Our bags, including ATD1 Backpack, are made in an advanced workshop set in a secluded countryside area in Central Italy, just between the beaches of the Adriatic sea and the Apennines mountains. The setting is inspiring, surrounded by green, rounded hills and medieval towns. I like to call our production process "industrialized craftmanship". "Craftmanship" because all of them are entirely built from scratch by a single artisan and his intern, and every step is made in-house. "Industrialized" because all the bags are made one step at a time: all the cutting, all the straps, all the bottoms, and so on. It usually takes 7 to 9 weeks to fully produce a 100-pieces ATD1 backpack run from the moment we receive all the raw materials. We start...
*** NOTE: 21 Dec 2020 - Run 4 will be using X21 instead of VX21. The X-pac® fabric is exactly the same but it has a thicker film (0.5mm instead of 0.25mm) and lacks the taffeta backing. We opted for this solution since the pack is fully lined and the backing was really unnecessary, while a thicker film improves structure and water resistance. ATD1 Backpack now comes in two fabric options: for our 3rd production run we decided to play around and experiment using X-Pac® VX21 for a limited amount of packs. X-Pac® fabrics are laminated products originally developed by Dimension Polyant for sail makers and they became increasingly used in the softgoods industry. VX21 is a solid balance...
