Construction and Capacity
What makes our products so special? Talk to people who own our products and one of the first things they will tell you is how well constructed everything is. They will also probably say that they are simple and not over featured. In our view it has to be this way. Any one of our pieces of equipment could end up in a situation where a failure could be potentially disastrous. How many times has a strap pulled out or a seam come undone? Not with Aiguille, we have an enviable record for product reliability. So how do we do it?
Well to start with, everything is manufactured on our premises in the English Lake District. Here we stringently monitor all processes to ensure quality at every stage of production. Every part is individually marked out and cut by hand to ensure accuracy. You may notice chalk lines on finished articles, don`t worry it easily rubs off with use.
Next is the materials that we select which will have a great influence on the performance of your rucksack and its longevity. We will only use nylon fabrics as, although more expensive than polyester, they offer greater strength and abrasion resistance. Cordura/Kevlar blends which we have also examined, in our opinion, have more negatives than they do positives. Other `fittings` such as zips, buckles, thread, webbing etc. are all selected for their quality not price, YKK zips, National Moulding Buckles, for example.
Then each part is checked again during assembly by the machinist, these people are highly skilled and have years of experience of rucksack manufacture. On our rucksacks we ensure that every main seam has a minimum of three rows of stitching with at least five rows over any stressed areas such as compression straps, wand pockets, etc. All main seams are also bound to ensure the long life of the rucksack.
Once the product is assembled, it is then hand finished and finally checked once again, only when we are completely satisfied does it leave us. After all we only want to see our products out there performing trouble free for years to come, just as you do.
People often say that our sacks are large for the stated capacity, we say they are correct. When we first produce a new design we will fill the sack with water to obtain a working capacity. This will be to a useable volume but not overstuffed. Any rucksack with an extendable lid will be listed as a` +` volume i.e. 47+10 ltrs and not included in the main volume of the rucksack. At Aiguille we believe that just calculating the volume will not give you an accurate measurement, after all, litres refers to liquid so fill it with the stuff!