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Now that we've wrapped up our Kickstarter campaign for the Pakt Coffee Kit, we figured it's high time we gave you an update on the backpack we’ve been developing with Chase Reeves (known in some circles as the Backpakt).

Features and Must-haves Inspired by Community Input

In the early planning days of the backpack, we asked our community to answer the following questions to help inform the design process:

What are some "must have" features you need in a travel backpack? Are there some great features you love from an existing backpack or travel bag?

What’s something about a bag or backpack that you’ve used and really disliked because it was useless, unnecessary, or didn’t function well?

Do you have an idea for an awesome feature that you’ve never seen anywhere?

We were totally blown away by the response -- we got over 300 extremely thoughtful submissions. Here’s a look at some of the input that we've been testing and will probably make the cut.

Waterproof Pouch

Waterproofing + water bottle storage was one of your top concerns, so we designed the bag to feature an internal waterproof pouch. This shallow pouch will be at a top access point of the backpack and will be a nice place to store your water bottle, dopp kit, wet bathing suit, a green chile smothered burrito, etc.







Straps

The people have spoken: and they want hip + sternum straps! Except for the ones who do not! So to make everyone happy, both the hip and sternum straps on the Pakt Backpack will be removable. Fear not, hip strap enthusiasts -- we’ve made sure that they are supportive and comfortable as hell (and include some slick bonus features, to be revealed at a later date).







Chase is a big fan of load lifters, but only IF they work right, and he pushed us to add them. They are more common in trekking packs than travel packs. After a few tries we almost abandoned them on our pack but we made some changes and now they are a great addition.

(Malcolm and Chase in a tender load lifter embrace)

Zippers

Security seemed to be on many of your minds, so we will definitely be including a way to secure your zips. After experimenting with a few varieties, we’ve gone with a tried and true outer lock version (YKK, of course).

Updated Timeline*

*a more realistic estimate

September We’re still testing and making small refinements to the many features on the bag. We estimate that we’ll need two more rounds of samples.

October We’ll head to our factory in Vietnam to work directly with our manufacturing partners (and the best product manager ever, Claire). This will speed up the sampling process and get us closer to the initiation of production. It will also get us closer to banh mi.

November We’ll (hopefully) have our Golden Sample at this point, and will begin a small production run. This is an important part of the process for our manufacturing partner to work out any kinks and order the appropriate materials needed for MP (mass production).

Early 2020 Crowdfunding launch / pre-orders begin!