A few weeks back, we popped up to see Lowe Alpine in Kendal
as part of an LA press offensive designed to explain to the outdoors
media just what's happening with the company.
Why should that be necessary? Well, by Lowe's own admission, the
past few years have seen significant changes at alll sorts of levels
and they haven't always been great about telling either journos or
the public what's been going on.
For the customer, the most fundamental change has been the shift
from Triplepoint Ceramic - TPC - to first eVENT and then Gore-Tex for
its waterproof shell clothing, which means that a company which once
aggressively marketed itself as the alternative to Gore-Tex is now
'just another' Gore-Tex using brand.
There have been big changes behind the scenes too. In November
2002 the company was bought out by two Italian brothers who also own
the Asolo boot brand, which meant significant changes at Lowe
in Kendal.
The most obvious is that while the Lowe Alpine pack range is still
designed in Kendal by a British team, the clothing design team is now
based in northern Italy, which has a terrific tradition in clothing
design. The packs stayed in the UK, frankly because Italians aren't
as good at packs as we are. So there you go.
It was a fascinating day and we won't bore you with everything we
learned and saw, but here are a few highlights that give an idea of
what Lowe Alpine is about in 2006.
Part One - Packs
Lowe Alpine has a great tradition in packs and it's pretty clear
from a tour of the pack design workshop that they have no intention
of letting up. The pack team includes Martin Hurn, the man behind the
Craghoppers packs from a few years back and Tim Fish, one of the main
movers behind the radical Berghaus Bioflex packs.
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Martin Hurn holding his
balls - the company is pressing for a universal pack
volume
measurement standard using these little spheres to measure
the internal size of
packs. Currently volume standards vary
massively.
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The adjective that comes to mind here is 'thorough'. There's a huge
pile of packs from the competitition in one corner, which the team
have been assessing. There are designs and prototypes everywhere and
rigs for testing the abrasion resistance of pack materials, the
strength o buckles and so on. Right now the guys are very excited by
a new lightweight material that's actually tougher than traditional,
full-weight fabrics, which you can expect to see on their packs
soon.
The Basics
One thing Lowe Alpine stresses is the basic build quality of all
their packs. All Lowe sacs, from humble dap packs through to
expedition load haulers get double stitched seams which are then
bound over with an extra line of stitching. Stressed areas are
bar-tacked with a minimum of five lines of stitching plus all fabrics
and buckles are tested for strength and durability.
That goes for day packs too because, as Martin Hurn points out, a
sac used on a daily basis arguably gets more a of a trashing than a
backpacking rig.
The Now
We had a quick whisk through the current highlights of the pack
range. We won't go into exhaustive detail, but a couple of things
really struck home. One was the new Air Gap back system. You know
those 'trampolene-style' ventilated backs? Well, Lowe's pack
department calculates that some 57 per-cent of the mesh used is
actually solid.
A graphic demonstration using a fan and streamers underlined the
point. The solution is what they call the Pure Air back
system, which uses pads to hold most of the pack about one inch away
from the wearer's back for maximum venting. A T6 allow frame gives
the back system strength but, like the Osprey Atmos, also twists with
the wearer -above. The lower and upper pads hold the pack away from
the wearer creating an air gap.
The other current highlight are Lowe's alloy Loadlocker buckles -
made for them by DMM and tested by the likes of Andy Cave, they're
designed to allow use with heavy mitts and are much stronger and
lighter than standard buckles. Watch out for them on technical
climbing packs.
The Future
We also had a peek at what's coming early next year. Highights
include a new Cantilever back system which is a side-spar
affair designed to transfer weight more efficiently to the hips and
which has been tested at Loughborough University.
Also uprated is the women's pack range. After lots of detailed
research, Lowe Alpine has totally revised its range. They've actually
changed the shape of the pack bodies after finding that women prefer
to carry weight lower than men, so you can expect shorter packs with
wider bases to allow for that rather than just a women's-specific
harness with narrower shoulders and so on, tacked onto a men's pack
body.
There are plenty of detailed developments too, all well thought
out and impressive. The Hyperlite series uses a full frame for
proper comfort and load carrying, but thanks to lightened materials,
still weighs in sub two kilos for a backpacking sac.
Then there's the new Alpine Attack climbing sac. with a removable
or replaceable hi-belt for optimum use with harnesses and a moulded
back system that won't hold snow and includes a moulded depression to
hold your ice axe steady if you slip it between your back and the
paclk. Nice.
Overall
It was hard not to be impressed with the amount of thought that's
going into Lowe's pack range and we reckon that they'll be some
interesting new stuff coming out of Kendal over the next few years.
With the team's background in active pack systems, it doesn't take a
genius to work out that something similar is probably on the
cards.
It's also the case that the basic build quality of Lowe sacs is up
there with the best in the world and it's about time they told more
people about it because stuff like triple-stitching, top quality
materials and so on aren't always obvious in the shop.
Coming soon: part two, Clothing.
More Lowe Alpine information at www.lowealpine.com
