You know us: we get geeked about fabric. If you do too, read The Full Story. If you don't, here's the gist:
- In late March/early April, we will officially change the name of the fabric we've been calling "Dyneema/nylon" to "Halcyon."
- At our request, our fabric mill in Japan has developed a version of our heavier-weight 400d Dyneema/nylon fabric with a black grid, as opposed to the white grid we're all accustomed to. We think that the fabric looks great on the exterior of our bags.
- We've been testing an Aeronaut 30 and a Synapse 19 (photos below) made out of the fabric for the past nine months. On a beach hike with our new black-gridded Synapse 19, we saw a kingfisher fly past, inspiring us to choose the name "Halcyon."
- We expect to have the Synapse 19, Synapse 25, Aeronaut 30, and Aeronaut 45 in both white and black grid by late April. Other bags will follow.
- "Halcyon 400d", previously known as "400d Dyneema/nylon", will now feature a black grid—or very dark grey to some eyes.
- The 200d fabric remains same; only its name is changing from "200d Dyneema/nylon" to "Halcyon 200d".
The Full Story
Since 2005, we’ve been using several different nylon fabrics that have a ripstop grid of ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene* fibers woven into them. The grid of UHMWPE adds a high degree of tear resistance to the base nylon fabric; it also enhances abrasion resistance. Because UHMWPE fibers do not take dye, they remain a natural white color after the base nylon fabric is processed, resulting in the white grid pattern to which we’ve all become accustomed.
UHMWPE fiber is manufactured by several different companies around the world; the two original brands were Spectra and Dyneema.
The UHMWPE fibers have a lower melting temperature than the surrounding nylon fibers. While this difference does not affect the utility of the resulting fabric or finished product, it makes adding a waterproof coating to the fabric a challenge: typically the urethane coating must be heat-set for it to cure properly, and dialing in a temperature that will set the coating but not melt the UHMWPE turns out to quite difficult.
The early versions of nylon fabric with a ripstop grid of UHMWPE were made here in the US, using “Spectra” brand UHMWPE. This early fabric was quite strong and beautiful, but often the coating never properly cured and remained tacky. This made the interior of a bag somewhat icky to the touch, and worse yet, if you left the bag stored for a period of time with two coated surfaces folded against each other, they would permanently glue themselves together and make the bag useless. We experimented with this Spectra / nylon ripstop, but the coating issue forced us, along with the rest of the industry, to abandon it.
To the rescue came our fabric mill in Japan. They have a way of applying urethane to nylon which does not require heat-setting—they call it “dry coating”, and that’s about all they’ll say about this proprietary process. For almost ten years now, we’ve been using this Japanese UHMWPE "Dyneema" / nylon fabric with great success. You guys love it, and we do too—in the 200 denier weight, it is an awesome fabric for the interior of bags as well as accessories.
In 2012, we approached our mill in Japan about making a heavier weight version (420 denier UHMWPE "Dyneema" and 400 denier nylon) for use on the exterior of our bags. This fabric turned out to be a great alternative to our 1050 denier U.S. high tenacity ballistic nylon for folks who want to save weight and don't mind a slightly less "indestructible" bag.
As an exterior fabric, however, we thought it would look even better if the UHMWPE fibers were black or grey as opposed to bright white, so we went back to our mill in Japan and bugged them again. In 2014 they began working with a new source of the UHMWPE fibers that were available pre-dyed dark grey, rather than their native white.
Fast-forward to 2016, and we present for your consideration, "Halcyon." It’s the same tough UHMWPE / nylon blend to which you’re accustomed, except now the heavier weight (420d/400d) version will feature a grid of very dark grey (almost black) UHMWPE yarns. We think it's the bee's knees! The 200d Halcyon fabric is indistinguishable in look, feel and performance from the old Dyneema / nylon ripstop, and will feature the same diamond ripstop pattern behind the white grid of UHMWPE: same mill, same fabric, same coating, just a new source for the UHMWPE, and hence a new name.
Moving forward we will be using Halcyon, the Japanese UHMWPE, in both grey grid and white grid. Welcome Halcyon! You'll see the website updated in late March / early April so that all references to "Dyneema" will be changed to "Halcyon."
* Abbreviated UHMWPE or UHMW, and also known as High-modulus polyethylene (HMPE) or High-performance polyethylene (HPPE).
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Originally Posted by DeBru
