How we welded the Elemental Collection

When we started the Elemental Collection, we had a goal. Make a bag that weather couldn't get into.

The simplest path was already known: weld the seams instead of sewing them. No needle. No holes.


But existing welded bags were heavy and boxy. The fabrics couldn't bend. The welding couldn't curve. You ended up with a waterproof bag that looked like a tool box.

We wanted light and curved—water-resistant and beautiful—but we couldn't find it. So we tried to make it.

Instead of picking a fabric off the shelf and trying to weld it, we developed the fabric, the coating, and the welding process together.

Three problems. One project. Thirty months. Forty-seven versions of a single seam. A shelf of prototypes that did not make it.

The result is a fabric lighter than anything else that's welded. Coated to hold up to weather and abrasion, fused at 230°C in a way that bends. This gave us curves where we wanted curves, and no needles where we needed a seal.

We made something we hadn't seen before.