Bushwalk Australia

Hi all. We're looking at adding some new packs to the range. Please give me some brands (and models) our buyer should be looking into.

Cheers, Paul

Well I think with respect to premimum brands then a range including One Planet, Aarn, Exped and Osprey. This would give a pretty wide range of styles and Price points.

But if you are looking for suggestions of equipment that will give you a point of differnce then look at Black Diamond packs and Gregorys and Deuter

What he said ^

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I'd love an Australian ULA stockist.

Gossamer Gear

Aarn

Berghaus around 50 litres......Arete, Freeflow or Trailhead
Exped....have some innovative packs in the 50litre range.
Hyperlitemountaingear....

damoprz wrote:I'd love an Australians ULA stockist.

^^this

Gusto wrote:Well I think with respect to premimum brands then a range including One Planet, Aarn, Exped and Osprey. This would give a pretty wide range of styles and Price points.

But if you are looking for suggestions of equipment that will give you a point of differnce then look at Black Diamond packs and Gregorys and Deuter

Yep - that above.

Osprey are great (always a near to best option) but everyone stocks them.

Not sure how many stock Black Diamond packs but we love our Mercury / Onyx packs from them (bought them online from Europe). It would be good to see them more available.

And what about Arcteryx?

Over the years I've used Wilderness Equipment, Macpac and One Planet packs, but my favourite is undoubtedly Osprey.

No One in Australia from what I can tell stocks Black Diamond packs.
Which is a shame. I really liked the one I tried on in NZ

I have One Planet, Macpac, ExPed, and WE packs. They are designed for Australian conditions (and particularly for Tasmanian conditions).

Marmot make good bags. 2 out of my 6 are Marmots. The Kompressor series are fantastic light bags that many climbers, backpackers and UL hikers may be interested in. Black Diamond make some good bags, the Nitro series may be popular in Aus I reckon. Light, tough, good for bushwalking, cycling and climbing.

How about some ultralight packs ie ULA ,HMG, Gossammer, Zpacks. .
Are there any cottage manufacturers of packs in Oz?
Norts

I think it would be a pretty daring and bold move for Snowys to take on Cottage Manufacturers. I'm not convinced many people would want to buy it and I'm not sure if there would be much of a profit margin in it. That said, if they can build an ultralight customer base then anything is possible. BPL in Melbourne sell Six Moon Design

As for Australian cottage pack manufacturers, both One Planet and Summit Gear are pretty small and make custom equipment, so that is probably counts. I guess it depends on your definition. Finn Industries in Melbourne may count too http://www.finnindustries.com.au/

For the OP to work with an UL US cottage maker and make it truly worthwhile, there'll need to be an exclusivity contract. That'll be a tough one to get. The cottage makers are unlikely to give enough margin to allow the OP to maintain the price point locally, let alone the FX risks that the OP will likely to have to carry.

Thanks everybody. I'll just going to amalgamate the brands here:

Six Moon Design
One Planet
Summit Gear
Finn Industries
ULA
HMG
Gossammer
Zpacks
Marmot
Black Diamond
Exped
Wilderness Equipment
Osprey
Berghaus
Aarn
Gregorys

There seems to be a few votes for Black Diamond here, which is great as they're distributed through Sea to Summit who we have a great relationship with. I'll pass on the suggestions to our purchasing manager and see how we go.

Cheers, Paul

AARN IMO I have tried the rest AARN the best

ULA definitely.

How big a market does ULA have here?

GPSGuided wrote:How big a market does ULA have here?

Probably small at the moment, the postage is very high, I only got mine when a friend was travelling in the US. They are one of the most popular thru-hike packs in the US, a bit more reasonably priced than HMG/Zpacks. Maybe Granite Gear packs would be another good alternative, the Crown series look nice.

I'll narrow down the list to being more realistic.

One Planet
Summit Gear
Marmot
Black Diamond
Exped
Wilderness Equipment
Osprey
Berghaus
Aarn
Gregorys
Arcteryx
Mont
Catus Gear

As for Black Diamond, STS haven't been importing their packs for a long time.


You could also consider Force Ten, Mountain Hardwear and Sierra Designs. But none of these brands have many packs, so you'd really be aiming to stock other products from these brands too

I use a ULA Circuit and it is fantastic. Pretty light weight (~1kg) but very durable and can carry heavier loads than lighter packs made by Zpacks, which is the reason I went for it. it is also very resistant to abrasion. I have been bush whacking with it and it survived without a scratch when I was sure it would get torn.

http://www.ula-equipment.com/product_p/circuit.htm

damoprz wrote:

GPSGuided wrote:How big a market does ULA have here?

Probably small at the moment, the postage is very high, I only got mine when a friend was travelling in the US. They are one of the most popular thru-hike packs in the US, a bit more reasonably priced than HMG/Zpacks. Maybe Granite Gear packs would be another good alternative, the Crown series look nice.

I think you're underestimating the potential Aus market for ULA. Technically still a cottage brand but far from obscure. I know a handful of people with either Circuits or Ohms. If anything the need to currently import at some cost likely stifles take up somewhat (no doubt also applies for other international 'cottage' brands as well), so a local supplier might potentially unlock some suppressed demand.

Walk_fat boy_walk wrote:I think you're underestimating the potential Aus market for ULA. Technically still a cottage brand but far from obscure. I know a handful of people with either Circuits or Ohms. If anything the need to currently import at some cost likely stifles take up somewhat (no doubt also applies for other international 'cottage' brands as well), so a local supplier might potentially unlock some suppressed demand.

We're not really in the business of importing, but I'll let our purchasing guy know. We deal with a number of 'cottage brands' and actually really enjoy the close relationships. As the marketing bloke here, it's way more fun and interesting talking to a producer than a rep!

Really value the suggestions, guys. Ya'll are something of the 'pulse' of the Aussie bushwalking community so it's important that folks like me learn from and listen to you as much as possible.