Cordura Fabric
Here at REH, we had a few choices in fabric for our products. Cordura won out for a variety of reasons. The Cordura we use is Milspec, and is equipped with a Durable Water Resistant (DWR) finish on the backside. Cordura is better at wear resistance, mainly because of its thread design. Cordura yarns are slightly fuzzy, actually discontinuous, more like a natural fiber. This gives Cordura somewhat higher abrasion resistance. Because Cordura threads are textured, it frays less at the cut edge. We finish any exposed internal seams on our bags, so fraying should not be an issue.
A Word About Denier.
REH Uses 1000D Cordura in its products. Other manufacturers use 750 or 500 Denier weights. But what does this mean? The D stands for denier. A Denier is a unit of measurement that is used to determine the fiber thickness of individual threads or filaments used in the creation of textiles and fabrics. Fabrics with a high Denier count tend to be thick, sturdy, and durable. Fabrics with a lower Denier count tend to be thinner and more flexible.
A single silk thread is equal to 1 Denier. So, a 500 Denier Cordura has the equivalent thread weight of 500 sik threads. 1000D is a thousand thread weights. 500D weighs in at around 6 oz per yard. 1000D weighs in at 11 oz per yard. We use 1000D to put more material between your belongings and the elements you may face.
YKK Zippers
REH utilizes water resistant zippers on the outside of it's bags. Water resistant zippers are created by laminating Poly-Urethane on the backside of a coil zipper. This process results in a zipper that may appear to be installed backwards, but this is not the case. Special zipper pulls are used that are reversed from regular coil zipper designs. To protect the zipper further, a rain/dust flap is used to cover the zippers on the lid/body seal.
Rugged Excursion Hardware uses YKK zippers exclusively. The YKK stands for Yoshida Kogyo Kabushikikaisha. In 1934 Tadao Yoshida founded Yoshida Kogyo Kabushikikaisha (translated Yoshida Industries Limited). This company is now the world’s foremost zipper manufacturer, making about 90% of all zippers in over 206 facilities in 52 countries. In fact, they not only make the zippers, they also make the machines that make the zippers.
Their largest factory in Georgia makes over 7 million zippers per day.
Mr. Yoshida’s company zipped to number one by practicing the “Cycle of Goodness”, as he called it. Namely, “No one prospers unless he renders benefit to others.” Using this principle, he endeavored to create the best zippers out there that would hold up over long periods of time in the end product. This in turn would benefit both the manufacturers who used his zippers and the end customer and because of these things benefit his company with higher repeat and referral sales, thus completing the “Cycle of Goodness” *zen moment*.
Acetal Hardware
All of the hardware used on Rugged Excursion Hardware's gear is made of Acetal (also known as Delrin). You can not beat this material for its stiffness and tensile strength. Acetal's biggest strength lies in its ability to resist moisture through absorption and it consequently performs very well under freezing or arid conditions.
Acetal was chosen over Nylon as nylon can absorb moisture, and it may become brittle in freezing conditions.
Slip-Not Non Slip Fabric
Slip-Not is used on the bottoms of the Parallel pannier cases. This fabric is a 100% polyester fabric that has a PVC based non-slip surface applied to it.
Slip-Not is a unique fabric that holds up strongly to wear and abrasion while also offering grip and non-skid in both wet and dry conditions.
Waterproof, fire retardant, washable, cold crack tested to -40F. and withstanding 12,000 revolutions on the Taber Abrasion Test, Slip-Not is excellent for sewing or welding and is soft and washable.
