The buckles used on One Planet packs are made from non-crack nylon for strength and reliability. Most of our competitors use acetyl buckles: these are also strong, but if subject to force (the most common damage comes from standing on them) they will break rather than bend. We prefer to be able to bend our buckles back into shape and continue on our merry way!

Non-slip webbing is used in high-wear areas such as the shoulder strap and hipbelt adjustments: straps that grow mysteriously are a thing of the past. This non-slip webbing can be identified by a tension-weave edge.

The zips on all One Planet pack are the genuine YKK article, because the last thing you need is a busted zip. The slider on YKK zips is made from a soft alloy so that it will wear out before the zip teeth – good news, as the slider is easy to replace, while the teeth aren’t!

A frequently asked question is, ‘Are One Planet Waterloc canvas rucksacks waterproof?’

Technically speaking, the answer is no. However, they are weatherproof; more so than any other nylon or canvas pack on the market. By weatherproof, we mean that in normal use, the contents of a Waterloc canvas rucksack will stay dry. However, if the pack is fully immersed or placed in a position other than upright, moisture can enter under the zip flaps and lid.

There is a lot of hype about lightweight packs at the moment. However, we believe many of the imported, super-light packs are not designed for the rigours of the Australian bush, and we have chosen to use only canvas fabrics in our range of rucksacks designed for bushwalking.

A bar tack is a special stitch used to give massive strength to high-stress areas. (These stitches are used on rockclimbing slings, a testament to their strength.) Bar tacks are used as reinforcement in key areas on One Planet rucksacks: in fact, the Exact Fit harness uses roughly 50 of these. Our bar tacks consist of 42 or 28 individual stitches, depending on the application, done on a special machine.

One Planet rucksacks use 1000 denier nylon for its high strength and durability. It provides an extra layer of reinforcing over the base of our canvas packs, while our range of travel packs are all made completely
from this light, durable fabric.

This fabric is triple coated with a three-pass process to make it soft but tough. It also gives good water resistance and excellent yarn stability within the fabric.

The 200 gsm canvas used on our bushwalking light range (Umbra, Shadow and WBA) has the benefits of Waterloc canvas at about half the weight. (The fabric was previously called six-ounce canvas.) It is made in Australia to cope with our harsh conditions – the sunlight, scrub, and rain – offering high UV and water resistance and good durability.  Although it is much tougher than ultralight nylon, some care is needed: it’s not a great choice for teenage boys!

Our frames are made from high-grade aluminium and are shaped by hand to ensure they meet our exacting standards.

A rucksack’s seams are a potential entry point for water: even if the pack fabric is waterproof, if the seams leak, the contents of your rucksack will get wet. Although many canvas packs are made from waterproof material, most manufacturers use a light nylon binding tape. These tapes are usually dyed using wetting agents so dyes can penetrate deep into the binding. Leftover wetting agents can create a capillary action, wicking water through the seams and into your pack.

In 1992 One Planet (then Aiking) developed a process for applying the waterproof qualities of Waterloc fabric to the construction of our rucksacks. All the main internal seams of our canvas-bound packs are bound with a four-fold, eight-ounce canvas binding.

Remember, conditioning your canvas pack will shrink and tighten the canvas and seams, improving waterproofness. To ensure the seams are as waterproof as possible, a pack will need to be conditioned before use.

Thread and needles
The seams are bound using twin needles, resulting in two lines of stitching (14 stitches per inch in total) for extra durability. Small needles are used, reducing the size of the holes, while the large polyester-core, spun-cotton wrapped thread is strong and also swells when wet, filling any remaining gaps.

The binding process required the development of special sewing machines – built in Australia – as well as needle guides to stabilise the needle, reducing needle damage and making the process consistent and even.

All our canvas rucksacks use canvas binding. Our synthetic packs, such as the Longreach travel pack, use synthetic binding tape. We
have chosen to use nylon binding on these packs as it keeps their price down, and when travelling your pack is unlikely to be exposed to extreme foul weather. One Planet packs with nylon binding are constructed using twin needles.

Waterloc canvas was developed in Australia specifically for use on One Planet rucksacks, and is made in NSW. It is woven from yarn that has a polyester core wrapped in cotton. To put it simply, the polyester core gives the fabric strength, while the cotton expands when moist, filling any microscopic holes and providing superior waterproofing. (The cotton is also enhanced with waterproofing agents.) It is a tightly woven fabric that is impregnated with rot inhibitors and waterproofing agents to ensure waterproofness and longevity.

Canvas comes in two different yarn constructions, ‘core-spun’ and ‘blended’. Waterloc canvas is a core-spun yarn that weighs approximately 390 grams a square metre, but has much greater strength than canvas of the same weight that is a blend of polyester and cotton.

Waterloc canvas has a grid pattern that increases the overall fabric strength while maintaining a smooth surface profile. In contrast, most grid or ripstop fabrics have a raised profile as another thread is run through both the weft and warp (the horizontal and vertical threads), creating a slightly stronger weave. This is great for tents, but not for rucksacks as most pack wear occurs through abrasion. If there are raised threads, they will be the first fibres to be clobbered, creating premature wear or the beginning of something far worse. Despite still being used by some of our competitors, traditional ripstop fabrics are not a durable choice for rucksacks.

The fabric also has a light grey underside. This makes our pack interiors lighter and brighter, so it is easier to see what’s lurking down the bottom.

Before using a canvas One Planet pack, the fabric will need to be conditioned. This entails thoroughly wetting the fabric and allowing it to dry, then repeating the process. This allows the canvas to contract around the stitches in the binding, filling any microscopic holes and increasing the pack’s waterproofness.

This will happen naturally the first few times the pack gets wet: please be aware that small amounts of water may leak into your rucksack the first few times it gets soaked. To speed up the process, soak the pack in a bath of water and dry it in the sun. This may need to be repeated a few times to optimise waterproofness.