Today, August 12th, marks Aer’s 10th anniversary of being a staple in the carry community. Year after year they’ve iterated, improved, and expanded their collection to be some of the most capable and technical bags you can sling onto your shoulders. Mirroring their 5th anniversary X-Pac capsule, Aer pushes their bags to the limit again with a capsule release in Challenge Sailcloth’s Ultra material, currently the cutting edge of material science and one of the most premium pack fabrics you can purchase today.
As a quick primer, Ultra takes some properties and construction from both X-Pac and Dyneema, using a similar UHMWPE (Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene) fabric facing as the latter, laminated with an eco-friendly adhesive into a material sandwich like X-Pac. It’s the best of both worlds and sits at the Goldilocks middle of performance and aesthetic, reaping the benefits of X-Pac’s waterproofing and structure (but less rigid) as well as Dyneema’s light weight and crazy tensile strength without the crinkliness and noise. The Ultra400X used in Aer’s collection specifically comes with 400D face Ultra-PE blended with high-tenacity polyester laminated with Ultra-PE CrossPly and a 0.75 mil film backing.
Also like the 5th Anniversary, Aer have chosen to dress their most popular bags and accessories in Ultra, including the Travel Pack 3 ($299), Travel Pack 3 Small ($279), City Pack Pro ($259), Duffel Pack 3 ($229), City Sling 2 ($129), Day Sling 3 ($119), with the Travel Kit 2 ($79) and Hip Belt ($29) as complementary accessories. Other notable upgrades new to the Ultra Collection include new zipper pulls in Hypalon, green interior accents (which is a reference to Aer’s original brand color when they launched), as well as a custom Challenge Sailcloth Ultra logo with the same green pop.
I’ve been fortunate enough to test drive the City Pack Pro and Day Sling 3 from the Ultra Collection the past few months, and I can honestly say the material has become my personal favorite, on top of these two bags already being my favorite Aer models. I’m new to Ultra but I’ve been a fan of X-Pac since the start (incidentally, when Aer first launched their capsule and were one of the few makers with regular stock of X-Pac at the time along with Able Carry), and I’ve had some dabbling with Dyneema, but I think this Ultra400X is a great in-between the two materials. Having my favorites be selected to be dressed in it has been a treat.
I wasn’t there at the start 10 years ago (my first Aer bag was the first Fit Pack), but I’m glad to have experienced the brand grow over the past decade. Here’s to the next 10 years, along with a hope that Ultra becomes a standard option for all their bags moving forward. Happy Anniversary, Aer!
