It isn’t everyday that a promising, high performance fabric pops up in the ultralight market, so when the new ultralight fabric Graflyte™ from a young company called ALUULA started showing up in cottage-made backpacking and bikepacking bags this past year, gear nerds took note.
While many of us are familiar with the ultra-high-molecular-weight-polyethylene (UHMWPE) fabrics that currently dominate the ultralight gear market - such as Avient’s Dyneema Composite Fabric (DCF) and Challenge Sailcloth’s Ultra collection - the Canadian-based composite fabric manufacturer ALUULA is serving up something a bit different with Graflyte™.
What is ALUULA & What's Different About Them?
“ALUULA Composite fabrics are built using 100% UHMWPE. Through their patented fusion process, ALUULA fuses together mono-polymer fibers at the molecular level,” explains Grant Leonardi, co-founder of Nashville Pack, one of the cottage brands that’s been experimenting with ALUULA’s Graflyte™ fabric for the past twelve months in their backpacks.
“Other UHMWPE materials like DCF or Ultra will craft a face weave by mixing UHMWPE with polyester, and then will use an adhesive to glue the face weave to a plastic film backing. This film backing holds the weave together and ensures weather resistance, but these adhesives and films add weight and are known to degrade over time, causing the film to 'delaminate' and peel from the faceweave.”
ALUULA’s technology, on the other hand, eliminates the need for adhesives and non-UHMWPE components within the fabric, leading to a textile that is lighter, stronger, more durable, and more environmentally friendly. It sheds water, has incredible abrasion resistance, won't tear, and handles heavy UV exposure with ease – something other technical fabrics struggle with.
“We've been testing Graflyte™ intensively since last year, with many thousands of miles now logged around the world,” says Grant, “we've received nothing but glowing feedback thus far. Graflyte™ will have completed all three Triple Crown trails, along with the Florida Trail, Arizona Trail, Colorado Trail, Camino de Santiago, and more by the end of this year with zero issues or complaints.”
Currently, Nashville Pack is offering the V98 (the 98gsm version of Graflyte™) as a fabric option for their made-to-order packs, and although V98 is the thickest and burliest fabric in the Graflyte™ family (it also comes in 52 & 78gsm) it is now the lightest fabric that Nashville Pack carries.
“It hasn't replaced anything specifically, but we're always looking at the current fabric landscape and cultivating offerings that cover the spectrum of price, performance, and weight,” says Grant. “We are very confident that people are going to love Graflyte™, and we’ll be expanding its usage within our offerings in the future.”
Alongside forward-thinking cottage industry gear makers like Tennessee's Nashville Pack, ALUULA has been collaborating with a host of other well known gear manufacturers, labeling themselves an "ingredient brand that works closely with their brand partners to deliver the highest-performance products on the market."
“We consider every company we work with a partner and are very proud to be working with some of the best in the business including Arc’Teryx, Black Diamond, and Rockgeist — to name a few,” says Dave Westwood, Director of Partner Innovation & Design for ALUULA. “One of our latest projects was working closely with The North Face and All Triangles to develop a custom pair of climbing boots for alpinist Benjamin Védrines who broke the K2 summit record in 10h 59mn 59s, setting a new benchmark time without supplementary oxygen.”
With just two years under its belt, ALUULA has made leaps and bounds in such a short period of time, and the Victoria, BC-based company has big plans for the year ahead; new fabric technologies coming to life, consumer products from their outdoor brand partners being released, and exciting news about ongoing commercial projects being shared publicly.
“Right now, we have a lot of customers developing packs with ALUULA, and we should see several new brands come to market for the end consumer in 2025,” says Dave. “Our fabric offers advanced construction methods, enabling brands to explore methods such as heat bonding rather than sewn seams. There are a few exciting projects on the horizon that will move us into new industries which will come to light in 2025, including the first tent made from ALUULA fabric.”
Ultralight favorite Durston Gear is making their Wapta 30 pack with Graflyte™ fabric.
The Sustainability Conversation
Alongside all the technical properties that make ALUULA’s fabrics a great choice for outdoor adventure gear, their textiles are also designed with sustainability and circularity in mind. In fact, the company has made it their mission to construct a mono-polymer fabric that is recycle-ready at the end of its useful life, something that helps them stand out from a crowded market.
“Two years ago, we made the decision to move the majority of our fabrics to be monopolymer materials – 100% PE [polyethelene],” explains Dave. “This allows them to be recycled, unlike other technical outdoor fabrics which are a combination of nylons, polyesters, aramids, glues, and PU (polyurethane) coatings.”
“We are working on a recycling and circularity proof-of-concept,” Dave continues, “ultimately, we are committed to creating materials that our customers are able to recycle through their preferred process at the end of the product's useful life, as each customer and end user will have different specific requirements. Working with our customers to ensure the recycling of these performance materials is a long process and one we are committed to making.”
What are ALUULA’s Limitations?
With any new product there are some proverbial wrinkles that time, innovation, and resource allocation will likely iron out.
“The biggest limitations [right now] come from the fact that it is still new tech, so being able to fully utilize the special properties like thermoforming and heat-welding is still a challenge,” explains Grant. “As these fabrics become more available, the machinery necessary to take advantage of these properties will also become more available.”
ALUULA has also decided to sell their fabrics directly and exclusively to their brand partners stating that “the consumer experience with our material is paramount for our growth and development” - which makes their offerings currently inaccessible to make-your-own-gear (MYOG) makers and small cottage brands that would like to partner but would likely struggle to make the minimums on orders.
Of course, premium fabrics also come with a premium price tag, and since their high performance composite textiles are manufactured in beautiful British Columbia, Canada using globally sourced inputs, it’s not entirely surprising that the end result is slightly higher in cost to both manufacturers and consumers than that of DCF or Ultra.
But perhaps with the improved strength, increased UV resistance and impressive durability, it all comes out in the wash?
So, What's the Future for ALUULA?
Clearly, a conscious, cutting-edge company like ALUULA understands the opportunity they have to make a positive, long-lasting impact on both the textile and outdoor gear industries — one that could change the way consumers and manufacturers approach production, product selection, and end of life conversion for years to come.
“We are proving to the industry that performance and circularity can be synonymous, appealing to brands that have sustainability and circularity front of mind,” says Dave. “Our aim is to ensure that the end-consumer understands that this is a priority for us, so by choosing a product made with ALUULA, they are buying into a brand that is committed to change.”
This kind of forward-thinking, environmentally conscious mindset is sure to inspire gear enthusiasts and gear makers alike, as more cottage-industry innovators partner with ALUULA to deliver durable, high-performance gear that not only enhances our adventures but also prioritizes sustainability to help protect the environments that we all love to explore.
Ali Becker is a freelance writer and adventure storyteller who spends half the year backpacking and bikepacking and the other half sleeping in strangers' beds as a professional house sitter. She and her partner, Mathieu, share their ups and downs on their IG channel at @trip.longer and hope to inspire others to get outside, adventure in nature and find their own freedom. You can learn more about them here: triplonger.ca.
