Pet Hair and TB Fabrics

[Aventurera]

Fellow animal lovers,

What is your experience with the 525 Ballistic or 630 Recycled holding up to resisting animal hair? Is one better than the other?

I'm planning some future bag purchases (a Smart Alec, when they are reissued, and maybe an S25). While I don't currently live with an animal I do regularly kitty sit (and sometimes dogsit) for my friends' pets, and want to spend my energy playing with the animals, not de-furring my bags, so I have been looking for discussions of which of the different TB fabrics are less prone to collecting pet hair.

Some of the more useful informational resources I've found are:

• Tom Bihn Materials Overview
• Materials Geekery: The Hand and Structure of Various Fabrics (2021 blogpost)
• The Fur Test (2013 blogpost)

The S25 options currently posted as in stock or in production are 1000 Cordura, 525 Ballistic, 630 Recycled and 400 Halcyon.

The 2013 Fur Test shows that Cordura is prone to collecting animal hair. I'm ruling it out as an option because of that, even though I like the hand and am confident it would stand up to heavy use.

The 525 Ballistic, 630 Recycled and 400 Halcyon were not part of that test. Per the Materials Geekery blogpost, "We use a lot of smooth (also known as “filament”) nylon fabrics: all of our Ballistic nylons, Parapack, and Halcyon. We like how they don’t collect pet hair, and also how they slide easily in and out the overhead bin and other tight places." The TB Materials Overview states that the 525 Ballistic "won’t collect pet hair, sweater lint, or snow" and 630 Recycled "doesn’t tend to collect pet hair or fussels."

Have those of you with animals noticed a big difference in the 525 Ballistic and 630 Recycled when it comes to animal hair? Your insights would be much appreciated.

(Edited to remove Halcyon as an option, since the Synik Exterior Fabric comparison implies it is not as sturdy as the 525 Ballistic.)

[Aventurera]

I'm currently leaning towards Night Walk or Seapine Green for the S25, but want to be mindful about long-term practicality of the fabric, not just whether I think it's pretty.

[Surrealle]

I haven't noticed any issues with pet hair with most of TB's fabrics. It's only really a problem with the cordura, and I'll still get the Red Blend or Mayura occasionally because they're nice colors. I just need to have a lint roller handy with those.

And if it matters, I have 5 cats and 2 dogs, so if anyone's going to have a problem with pet hair it'll be me, lol.

[Aventurera]

Thank you Surrealle ! That is useful to hear.

I pulled out some of my different TB items earlier and noted that my cordura COPs had collected lint. Yes, I have a lint brush but I'd prefer not to have to use it, so I'm going to try to avoid the cordura from now on.

[Aeon]

Anecdotally from years reading the forums, Cordura is the only fabric that "attracts" pet hair. I had a Black Lab and now have a Corgi (so endless, endless pet hair) and bags in Cordura, 1050d, 525d, 210d, and 400d (sorry, no 630d recycled) and at some point, I'll find pet hair on all of them. Cordura requires a lint roller which is why I never place my Cordura bag on the ground and that greatly mitigates the pet hair issue for me; with 1050d, there is always some rogue strand of pet hair that has lodged itself into the weave that I need to pluck out by hand; and with the other fabrics, I simply brush the pet hair away with the back of my hand and keep it moving.

525d effectively replaced Cordura in large part due to its pet hair resistance and low abrasion characteristics, and the only downside to 525 is that it easily scuffs (or at least scuffs more easily than other TB fabrics) which some people do not like the aesthetics of. Overall, I'm glad TB has brought Cordura back into the materials rotation for now and I'd purchase a bag in Cordura over 525d b/c I'm hard on my bags and a bag looking good as new is more important than having pet hair on it for me. Everything I've read about 630d is that it has a similar/slightly smoother handfeel than 400d halcyon -- and I can blow pet hair off my 400d bags with my breath -- so I don't think you'll have much issue there.

[Ladyrixx]

I have both a Medium and Large cafe bags in ballistic, and one of my cats likes to perch on them. She's a calico, so there's not a colour that wouldn't show her hair. I've never seen an issue with hair. When she puked on the MCB, yes, but not from hair. (Cats are such helpful creatures...)

[Surrealle]

(Cats are such helpful creatures...)

My particular favorite is how they are, without fail, instantly nauseated by a freshly vacuumed or shampooed carpet.