DISPATCH · Nº 0633 · POINTCAST REVIEW LAB
The modular carry companies
Nine companies that sell a standard first and the bag second: a carabiner, an O-ring, a webbing grid, a hole for a charm, a frame for a stove. How each works, the cheapest way in, and six lessons.
The bags review ended on a wish: one strap and one clip for the whole day. A few companies have built their whole business on that idea, so this field guide looks at nine of them.
Carry: Topologie, whose rope straps end in swivel carabiners and whose cheapest way in is a $12 phone adapter. Peak Design, with Anchor Links ($29.95), the Capture clip and the SlimLink phone mount shared across the line. Tom Bihn, with O-rings sewn inside every bag and an $8 Key Strap. GORUCK, which built on the Army's open MOLLE webbing and sells $5 patches from its own events. Bogg, whose foam tote takes $15 Bogg Bits. And Crocs Jibbitz, the charms that made the holes in a clog into a standard.
Multi-use gear: Snow Peak's Iron Grill Table, a camp kitchen on a unit grid. Helinox, whose pole-and-hub frame is shared by chairs, cots and tables, with parts sold for repair. And WonderFold of Irwindale, one wagon chassis with canopies, seats and table tops.
Six lessons for a small local brand: standardize the connector, not the bag; offer a cheap way in; pre-sell before ordering stock; make repair part of the brand; tie merch to events; build on an open standard if you can't own one.
The guide ends on an idea PointCast is exploring, not a product: an El Segundo house carry system, one strap and one clip with a court pod, a Trader Joe's pod, a beach pod, a phone and glasses pocket, a chair clip and a trunk rail. Tell us on /shortwave if you'd carry it.
This is desk research from maker pages checked September 29. Contested numbers are attributed on the page. Every link is direct. No commission.
