When people ask us about our guarantee we like to say our packs are built so well they don't need one.  In an industry where virtually every company has a lifetime guarantee and no company builds gear as reliable as ours, we feel the importance of saying something different.  Printing words on paper is easy.  To pull off the much more complex task of getting each and every customer an absolutely reliable product is something they can't do.  Enter the "lifetime guarantee." It is important to realize guarantees open the door for companies to compete on price to gain market share and slap a guarantee on the product to make up the difference.  Dan McHale grew up building his own gear for big wall rock climbing in Yosemite.  All of our gear is that tough. How tough is that? Well you can't measure it in our packs without industrial measuring devices. For instance, you cannot kick out the haul loops on our packs with just your feet and you cannot pull out the compression straps with your hands! You would be amazed at what is out there. Guarantees are worthless in the real world but a reliable product can save your life.  "Defect in workmanship" is simply not in our company vocabulary. Naturally, most people don't know the first thing about pack construction so when a company tells them it uses boot weight thread they're impressed.  Did you know our pack weight thread, # 92/16 lb. U.V. treated nylon, is over 30% stronger than # 69 "boot weight" 10-12 lb. thread?  Did you know that heavy duty Norwegian welts used in leather boot construction are sewn with threads not nearly as lightweight as #69?!    Companies using # 69 thread generally are using clothing weight sewing machines and have to design their packs to the maximum capabilities of those machines which are the minimum capabilities of our walking foot machines.  Number 69 thread happens to be the largest thread size that smaller "needle-feed" machines can hold efficiently.  McHale & Co. uses # 69 nylon thread only for bar tacking, rain covers, camera cases and pack seam taping after the seams are multi-stitched with # 92-16 lb. thread. MOST packs are made overseas in contract factories on clothing machines. Seam Margins Seam margins are twice as wide as those of other packs.  There is real substance to our 5/8-3/4 inch wide main seams.  As for the stitching itself, we gravitate toward the excessive in this respect.  More is always better than less. Thread doesn't really weigh much but you will get weighted when something fails 2 years down the road. Surprise! Other companies talk about how many times they sew stress areas and the like.  Read these claims as; we wish we could sew things as well as you would like but at these price points it's impossible.  Here, why don't you take this nice lifetime guarantee instead.  Count on our packs having twice as much thread as anyone else even claims.  Pack Frames Our minimum frame requirements are 2-3 times greater than any other pack.  Our packs aren't over kill, either.  Other packs are under-engineered.  Carbon Fiber; so far, 7075-T6 aluminum is superior in every way especially when the companies that do use carbon fiber don't use an adequate amount for heavy loads.  7075-T6 is used in every sporting goods industry except backpacking.  McHale & Co. is the only company to use it exclusively and we stock at least 7 dimensions.  Chief advantages; cannot be broken, will not become misshapen with heavy use, and can be reshaped.  Carbon Fiber shapes are permanent.  For an in-depth look at the unbelievable strength of our packs, click here. Fabrics: see fabrics pages Hardware Fastex was the original "hammer proof" plastic hardware and after 25 years is still one of the best. Duraflex also has some innovative and very lightweight buckle designs that we use. Our Fixloc brand hip belt cam buckle option is the strongest synthetic buckle in the world and is also distributed by  ITW-Nexus-Fastex.  Custom Metal Crafters, of Newington, Connecticut, makes our zinc plated metal sliders.  We also use selected heavy duty ladder locks, from American Cord & Webbing for shoulder pads and bayonet system. Our light pattern stainless steel sliders that attach non-CM belts are from Cole-Tech of Pennsylvania. Foam Evazote; We've been using it from the beginning.  It's an English import.  It's expensive but has the right structure and compressibility so we can avoid building clumsy and bulky dual density belts.  In years gone by it has been known under trade names like Regalite and Cosmic Sleep. Zippers YKK # 10 Coil.  Zippers are the most vulnerable part of a pack.  No other company uses # 10 exclusively.  Our zipper flaps are the widest too - they actually cover the zippers!  Keeping zippers clean and protecting them from abrasion keeps repair bills down.  Also, after 25 years of using self-locking zipper sliders to ensure that zippers don't open by themselves, we're still the only company doing so.  Number 9 and # 7 YKK zippers are used in our ultra-light packs.