Mystery Ranch x Carryology No Escape

A brother to the Unicorn

The Dragon had to be something of its own, but share the same legendary bloodline with The Unicorn. There had to be a cohesive design language. These things were easy. Paracord heat-shrink tubing zipper pullers. Done. YKK AquaGuard zippers. Done. Orange interior lining accents. Done. No exterior MOLLE/PALS. Done. Hypalon puller tabs. Done. The world-class, ultra-comfortable, super-adjustable Futura Yoke suspension system. Done.

Lighter, stronger, built to fly anywhere

A pack is only as good as its fabric. The original Scape Artist used 500D Cordura nylon fabric, which is an absolutely brilliant fabric. It’s quality, durable stuff that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg, which is why it’s used everywhere. But we wanted to turn this up to the next level. D3 showed me some wild fabric up at the Ranch and invited me to try to rip it in half. With all my strength, I couldn’t get 1mm of tear. It was damn cool, but there was maybe like three yards available and it didn’t really drape the way we wanted.

After experimenting and considering dozens of options, we cleared the table. What are the best fabrics we want to work with? Dyneema, Dimension Polyant X-Pac, and Cordura. They’re our three favorites for good reason. They’re super technical, modern, strong, durable, drape well, and well… they look awesome.

Working with the R&D team at Dyneema, we carefully ran through our use cases and requirements, and their team came back with “CT9HK.18/blkwov6” as their recommendation, and started creating the yardage for us right away. Yes, that is one long scientific-sounding name for an incredibly sexy fabric. Stronger than steel and technically speaking, Dyneema is the strongest material… on Earth.

We opted for the best of the best X-Pac, based on our professional experience. It would be the waterproof and durable X50 in MultiCam Black (the Ranchers have their own nickname for MCB: “BlacktiCam”). Like our Tokai Sling collaboration with Aer, we added this fabric only on the sides. This way, you have a bit of subdued street-inspired flare, but it’s not totally in your face or in the face of someone walking behind you.

Rounding it out, we used the tried and true classic 500D Cordura nylon on the “core” construction of the pack, such as the Futura suspension and the structural areas and base, to give it strength and boosted abrasion resistance where it mattered.

Fire-breathing mouth

The large-mouth U-shaped panel-loader opening allows for killer access to all your gear, opening up to our signature high-vis orange ‘fire breathing’ interior, so you can find everything you need in a blaze of orange glory.

Hidden magic (Stick-It)

Folks, I’ve always loved Mystery Ranch’s version of the “beaver tail”. It provides additional exterior storage at a moment’s notice for so many different shaped essentials. And until recently, the Removable Stick-It was another discontinued product from their legendary catalog. We’re happy to see its return in Blaze Orange, Coyote, and MultiCam. Unfortunately, for the Stick-It to work with the No Escape, it requires additional lash points. So we decided to especially build it in (and maintain a clean exterior at the same time).

So we took the Stick-It concept and gave it the “Maximalist Design” treatment. It would be able to be quickly deployed and then stowed away, attached into its own hidden zippered pocket at the bottom. It would be made from Dyneema and X50 MultiCam Black to match the rest of the pack. And it would have vertical webbing lash points, a nod to the 1DAP backpack (another Carryology favorite from Mystery Ranch). Super minimal and clean when you want it or rapidly deploy it and have a pop of MCB and additional function.

Load-bearing origami wings

Like the Stick-It, we wanted a waist belt for “just in case” scenarios. While we love the function of the Carryology Assault’s hidden hip belt, some said they could feel it against their lower lumbar. To improve on this, we switched to the Scape Artist’s origami folding-style hip belt that folds up and away behind the water bottle pockets.

Branding at the heart

The label. A minor detail, but worth noting. There’s something so perfect and iconic about the woven black and orange Mystery Ranch label. It just so happened that the Scape Artist already used this handsome woven label. We redesigned it to include both brands and in the process, actually shrunk it a few millimeters, making it smaller than the original. And most importantly, for that ideal design balance, we took the off-center Scape Artist location and placed it exactly in the middle. Perfect.

A samurai myth (for morale)

And this wouldn’t be a Mystery Ranch x Carryology collab without a morale patch. A morale patch with a story, symbolism, a bit of magic.

Again, to pair with The Unicorn – the knight holding the grail, riding a unicorn with a shield made from Unobtanium – this would be the equal opposite. The dark to the light.

There is a deep dive into the relevance of each of the four symbols chosen for this patch design, which can be read about here in full geeky detail. But they represent things which cannot be attained by mere mortals; a samurai warrior, a dragon, a very special sword (Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi / “Grass-Cutting Sword”), and a five-colored jewel from a dragon’s neck (from The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter).

The two patches are meant to be displayed side by side, as a diptych, with the two warriors riding their mythical beasts towards each other. Maybe towards war, maybe towards peace, maybe towards both simultaneously.

Of course, we need to give a big shout-out to the incredibly talented genius illustrator who designed the last patch and who does all kinds of fantastic work for Carryology (one of the founders of Carryology), Hadrien Monloup. Extra shout-out to our friend Alexander Ryu Long in Japan who helped us fact-check the symbolism for the patch design. Thank you!