A lot of bags claim to be versatile. But with BA gear, they really mean it. Versatility is a key design element in their carry, which aims to deftly straddle the outdoor/urban divide.
When you start telling people that you’re working on a backpack brand, the first question you usually get is something like“What kind of product is it?”or“What’s the market you’re after?” or “What’s going to be your angle?” Basically people want to know what established backpack genre your product will fit into, and what (if anything) you think will make your bag stand out from the ocean of bags already on the shelf.
These are good questions, and ones that deserve answers if you’re making backpacks.
At its essence, this outdoor urban backpack is general-purpose gear that’s intended to work well across a variety of environments and scenarios, mainly Outdoor and Urban settings. This certainly isn’t a new idea. Plenty of brands are offering product marketed as “town-to-trail” or similar. But it has some special feature.
The outdoor urban backpack is our more city-focused pack. It’s got a tight, clean profile for denser surroundings and a boxier silhouette for hauling rectangular and cylindrical things like water bottles, notebooks and computers. There are plenty of laptop compatible backpacks, and putting the weight of a laptop right against your back makes a lot of sense from a load-carrying perspective, but it usually ends up feeling like you’re wearing a board. The laptop sleeve in this outdoor urban backpack is narrow at the bottom to stabilize the computer, and wider towards the top so that the shoulder harness can wrap the contour of the body while the laptop continues its linear course. This pocket is padded on all sides for laptop protection, but it easily accommodates a hydration bladder with low-profile tube routing over either shoulder for more active pursuits like hiking or mountain biking.