Zips are out - roll top bags are in.
Why taking zips out of our British made bags helps them last longer.
Zips are a wonderful invention.
Patented in 1893, the zip was first dreamed up as a new method of fastening shoes with only one hand, replacing the hook-and-eye fastenings previously used. The zip didn’t really take off until 1923, and had started to be used on clothing by 1925. They’re now used on almost every item of clothing you can think of, both as fastenings and accessories, from boots and coats to bags, luggage and even astronauts’ suits. As the most popular type of fastener, zips are particularly common in outdoor gear, like tents and waterproof jackets.
Zips have a lot going for them. They were marketed in the 1930s as promoting independence in young children - they’re much easier to do up than buttons, laces or other traditional types of fastening as they can be moved up and down with a single hand. They can now be made air and watertight too.
So we don’t dislike zips at Wildish. Many of our waxed canvas bag designs, like the Ramsgill pouches and the Dopp Kit wash bag, use them.
When it came to our larger bags, however, zips started to pose a problem.
At Wildish, we care about how our bags are made, and how long they last. All of our waxed canvas bags are made in the UK and guaranteed for life. We want them to last as long as possible, for the sake of our buyers and the planet. And unfortunately, zips just don’t last.
Zips are the weak point of any garment or accessory. They’re the least durable component and the most likely to break; zip teeth can break or warp out of alignment, the slider can get worn or stuck, or come off completely. And once they’re broken, zips are complicated to replace and hard to recycle.
This doesn’t mean they’re impossible to replace - as part of our Wildish lifetime guarantee, if the zip on your bag breaks we’ll do our best to repair or replace it in-house - but it’s why our backpacks are zip-free.
Instead, we use a roll top design for our backpacks. Our smallest rucksack, the Gouthwaite Mini, to our largest, the Jorvik 25-30L, have the same durable structure.
The top of the bag rolls over on itself and, in the bigger bags, fastens with a COBRA® Quick Release buckle and strap. There’s no worry about a zip breaking or warping out of shape, and no danger of over-packing your backpack either, as roll top bags with adjustable top straps have an adjustable capacity. They can compress and expand depending on what you’re carrying.
Our roll top backpacks are also water-resistant, not only thanks to the organic waxed cotton canvas we make them from, but also thanks to their construction. When the water-resistant canvas is rolled over on itself, it encloses the opening of the bag within several layers of water-resistant canvas, making our backpacks perfect for a drizzly hike or a soggy commute.
Getting rid of zips also makes our backpacks more sustainable, which is an important aspect of our brand ethos. Not only does it make our British made bags more easy to repair, it also reduces the amount of plastic in them.
Obviously it isn’t always practical to get rid of zips, but we’re learning to rely on them less. And it’s a growing movement. Brands like Fjallraven, Finisterre and Eastpak have all released roll-top backpacks in the past couple of years. But as far as we can tell, we’re one of the only brands to remove zips entirely from our roll top bags. After more than five years of making bags in the uk, we can confidently say that backpacks don’t need zips.
Don’t just take our word for it. Read customer reviews of our roll top backpacks here.