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"It doesn't even feel like I am wearing a pack!"
BODY FRIENDLY - ACHIEVING THE PERFECT FIT
Here at Aarn, we have an obsession with pack fitting. We re-design and refine our packs with a goal in mind: to make packs that fit the widest range of body shapes and sizes.
To do this there are several things we need to think about every time we create a new pack or re-design an element:
After forty years of designing packs, we have developed systems (multiple sizing and unique Auto-Moulding techniques) to fit the widest range of body forms.
The key features of these systems are:
A NOTE ON FITTING MEN AND WOMEN
We don’t make separate men's and women's packs. The ideal solution is complete adjustability so you can achieve a mirror image fit to your unique size and shape, regardless of your gender.
Our pack frames bring the load as close to your back as possible while maintaining an air gap for back ventilation and preventing the contents of the pack from touching your body. The suspended back panel Auto-Moulds to your back shape in the same way that a trampoline will mould to your body shape as you land on it. The tension on the mesh back panel can be adjusted, for the optimum air gap between your back and the pack.
MATERIALS
Our back panels, shoulder harnesses and hip belts are made from 3D mesh, with these outstanding characteristics:
This allows all the body contact parts of the pack to Auto-Mould to the exact shapes of your shoulders, back and hips.
Our sewn-in harness.It's on some daypacks and our small overnight packs. Each shoulder strap incorporates a large stretch pocket, large enough to take a 1L water bottle. Because water is heavy and compact, it is the best item to be carried in front to balance the load in your pack. If you only have one water bottle, the other pocket can carry a cell phone,camera or snacks. Everything stored in the shoulder strap pockets can be instantly accessed without stopping or taking the pack off.
Used on our larger day and overnight packs. It incorporates U- Flow topstabilisers and bottom tensioners to allow free movement of the shoulders with pack stability. The back length can be adjusted while wearing the pack viacoloured webs at the top and bottom of the back panel to achieve the "feels right" fit. A double foam layer is used over the collar bones to add comfort.
Used on ourmid to large-volume packs. It incorporates Flow-Thrustabilisers and U-Flow bottom tensioners to allow free movement of the shoulders with pack stability. Flow-thrustabilisers allow you to tighten the topstabilisers without distorting the shape of the shoulder straps passing over the top of your shoulders, which happens when thestabiliser straps are sewn onto the shoulder pads. The back length can be adjusted while wearing the pack viacoloured webs at the top and bottom of the back panel to achieve the "feels right" fit. A double foam layer with roll-over sides is used over the collarbones for added comfort.
Use a twin web, dual adjust system to achieve a precise fit. The hip belt wraps over your iliac crest and sits on top of your hips. The tensioning webs connect to top and bottom adjustment buckles via one webbing loop, forming an easy-to-grab handle to tension the hip belt. By adjusting the relative tightness of the top and bottom webs, you canmould the hip belt precisely to your hip shape while automaticallymoulding the back panel to your back shape.
These are used in our big packs. While the pelvis is a great load-carrying structure, the hip belt must be well-designed to take heavier weights without causing bruising over your hip bones or pressure on your hip sockets. They incorporate our U-Flow centre pivot and interlinked U-Flow side connectors to allow unprecedented freedom of movement with load stability.
Our Pelvic-Form hip belts come in four sizes to cover a wide range of body shapes. Each has three parts, a central base and two ends. The three parts join together with Velcro. You can micro-adjust the overall hip belt curvature and the length by changing the Velcro overlap.
Like the Auto-Form hip belts, our Pelvic-Form hip belts have separate top and bottom tensioning webs that connect to the centre buckle to distribute the load over the widest area. In addition, Pelvic-Form hip belts use a 2:1 pulley system to allow easy tightening with heavier loads. The tensioning webs connect to top and bottom adjustment buckles via one webbing loop, forming the same easy-to-grab handle to tension the hip belt. By adjusting the relative tightness of the top and bottom webs around the iliac crest, you can wrap the hip belt precisely to your hip shape.
Aarn uses three different frame systems with our suspended back panel to achieve good airflow with the slimmest side profile pack. Our smallest daypacks use curved X-stays to give 3D shaping or a 3D-shaped frame sheet. In the larger packs an hourglass-shaped perimeter frame and a horizontal strut achieve the ideal 3D shaping with the lowest weight. In addition to creating the necessary vertical 'S' curve, all three systems create the concave back panel shaping and the narrow pack side profile, which prevents rounding out of the backpack and reduces pain, force and load. The slimmest side profile is necessary to minimise the backward pull on the shoulders and to minimise back strain. This is why our packs appear bigger when viewed from behind but slim when viewed from the side.
Our Balance Pockets are in front of you to balance the load, and the larger models of Balance Pockets convert to daypacks when used with a daypack convertor.
Daypacks used for walking and cycling need to be flexible in the vertical direction to fit the straight back of walking and rounded back of cycling. But at the same time, the concave horizontal shaping needs to be maintained to keep the pack closely hugging your body. To achieve this, the lower back panel of our daypack frames is flexible. The hip belts are designed to nicely pull the lower back panel on the pack into your lumber curve to give support to your lower back, no matter what your activity.
“The wide shoulder straps are comfortable, pliable, and not bulky. Some of the most comfortable I’ve ever worn.”
- Ryan Jordan. Review, backpackinglight.com. Founder, Backpackinglight.com USA
"The shoulder straps were gently contouring and I experienced no neck pain, which has been a constant feature of my pack carrying life."
- Paddy Pawson, Waipuna Community Trust, Christchurch
