THE CRUMPLER DIFFERENCE

FOCUS

At the beginning of the creation process of each new Crumpler bag, we still have, just like when the Crumpler story started 26 years ago: many ideas. In 1995, a group of bike couriers in Melbourne was unhappy with the quality and functionality of their bags.
The first Crumpler bag emerged from their ideas around improving their messenger bags. This pioneering sprit – discovering new things, questioning and improving things – is still the starting point and the driving force behind designing each new Crumpler bag.

When it comes to manufacturing techniques, we put our focus on the capacity to withstand stresses and on strength. After all, it doesn’t make sense to use the strongest and most durable materials if they aren’t being processed in the most sustainable and best way.

THE BAR TACK 

To make a bag really long lasting and durable, you need strong stitching in key joins. We use the so-called bar tack, a tight zigzag stitch repeated over itself in a 90° angle to ensure maximum strength so your bag can take high amounts of stress.
They are everywhere, also in spots you don’t see and make sure that our bags pass any stress test. 

BUCKLES AND CLIPS  

Unlike some outdoor brands, we don’t use any overly complex or complicated buckled or clips. Our buckles and clips have to be high quality, extremely strong and efficient so we make them out of polyamide (nylon) or polyacetal (a material that’s often used as a metal substitute). All our buckles and clips are specially made for Crumpler and constantly go through quality checks, too. 

STRAPS

Made from either nylon or polypropylene webbing, our straps are some tough stuff. The webbing we use is extremely strong and withstands a load of up to 4.500kg without tearing. The 50mm straps could even tow your car!

This is achieved by weaving many layers of high-quality fibres of varying thickness together for all our webbing. The web-like construction that results from that process gives the material its name (web = webbing).

PIPING & BINDING

We add extra piping and binding to our bags. One single binding is attached with four additional stitches, even if you can only see two of them from outside. It's not just for decoration, piping and binding also adds extra strength and stability to the sides of our bags and make the Crumpler bags even more robust. 

COATING

All Crumpler fabrics are coated and specially treated to achieve maximum water repellence and high robustness. On the back of our materials, for example, we use a PU backing and, on the front, we use a water and dirt repellent coating. These coatings make our material perform even better and, especially in complicated areas where the strength of the material is essential, more usable. The coatings protect your bag and contents from liquids, dirt and grime. 

QUALITY

Crumpler employs a team of several independent controllers who accompany the whole production process and ensure that our products are perfectly processed. The quality is being checked in each step of the production process. The sewers check each individual item while it is being sewed. With that, everyone also checks if the part of the bag they are working on right now has also been neatly processed in the previous step. Only once that’s checked, they continue working on the bag. Each individual Crumpler bag also gets thoroughly checked once again after completion, before being packed. 

PERSONALISATION

Now it’s getting personal! Many of our Crumpler bags can be personalised. You can choose from 46 letters and symbols that have been manufactured in a high-quality way. The three letters and / or symbols you’ve chosen are manually attached to your bag before we send it to you.

That makes your product something individual, unique and special.

DESIGN

“Different & better“– that’s the basis on which the whole Crumpler design lives. We are our own brand, own team, own style, own design, and we love the bags we make. By focussing on designing bags irrespective of short-lived fashion trends, we are able to design products that outlast seasonal trends. Our bags are made to last for decades. Of course, that means that our design must not look as if it was from the last season. Our products have already won several international design awards. 

MANUAL WORK

We put a lot of time into developing new complex patterns, until all ideas are realised and they are then used as patterns for one of the expressive and high-quality bags which the name Crumpler stands for. Just like with the very first Crumpler bag, all our bags are manufactured manually. We don’t have any automated sewing processes. 

For our Track Jack Board Case for example, that means that we integrate 186 individual components, 389.2m yarn, 21.3m webbing in 160 work steps (pictured). That corresponds to approximately 6.5 hours of pure manual work for create a single bag!

SUSTAINABILITY

We are known for making investments and efforts as part of our commitment to maximise the environmental benefits of our products. At the moment, we offer many items made of recycled fabrics that, in turn, have been produced from different post-consumer and post-industrial materials.

Being a conscientious manufacturer of bags, we are aware of our responsibility for the entire life cycle of our products. It remains our claim to continue designing and producing innovative and sustainable products in order to minimise the negative impact on our environment.