Design 4 Environmental Accountability (D4EA)

D4EA is our guiding mindset. It means we design gear not just to survive the journey—but to respect the world we explore along the way. Every pack, pouch, buckle, and seam is considered through its full lifespan. Built to perform. Built to last. Built to leave less behind.

D4EA is woven directly into our Design & Development process. From the first sketch onward, we consider the full product journey—not just how gear is made, but how it continues to serve over years of adventure.

We design for adventures that evolve.
And for gear that evolves with you.

Our Responsibility to the Places We Explore

The R5 Circular Approach

The outdoors teaches us to carry only what matters. The R5 Circular approach applies that same thinking to how we create gear: keep it useful, keep it working, keep it in the wild—not in a landfill.

1. Reduce
Make it durable. Make it dependable. Make it last.
Most f-stop packs are still going strong after 8+ years of real use. When gear lasts longer, you buy less—and that’s the biggest environmental win of all.

2. Reuse
Our modular system lets one kit handle many missions.
ICUs and accessories move easily between our packs, so you can rearrange your setup without needing to buy another bag.

3. Repurpose
Give materials a second life.
We use salvaged fabric—material recovered from production that would otherwise be wasted—to create the protective bags our DuraDiamond® packs arrive in. And the bonus: these bags are fully reusable. Use them as gear organizers, storage sleeves, packing layers… whatever your next adventure needs.

4. Repair
When something wears out, fix it.
Our packs are built to be repaired. Zippers, buckles, straps—these can be serviced by most luggage or shoe repair workshops. A repair keeps your pack out in the field, where it belongs.

5. Recycle
Recycling is better than waste—but it’s still the final step. It takes energy, and reclaimed material is rarely as strong as the original. So we design to delay recycling for as long as possible—through durability, reuse, repurpose, and repair first.

SALVAGED FABRIC

Dead Stock Fabric

Some materials deserve a second life. When we source dead stock fabric, we’re reclaiming high-quality textiles that would otherwise go unused. We use these materials to craft limited-run accessories and storage pieces that support the f-stop system. It reduces waste, conserves resources, and gives unique character to each item. Same durability. Same performance. Just less thrown away.

OUR MOVE TOWARD ZERO WASTE

Zero Waste as a Mindset

“Zero Waste” isn’t a finish line—it’s a mindset that guides how we work. Because much of our production is handled in-house, we have visibility and control over how materials are used. We plan fabric cuts with precision, and when there are small offcuts, we save and repurpose them into useful secondary items instead of discarding them.

One example: we create side hydration sleeves from our own fabric remnants that are not sold but exchanged for an Act of Kindness. They support the gear you already own and keep more material in use—not in the bin.

Zero Waste, to us, means reducing waste wherever possible and making thoughtful decisions at every step. It’s not perfect—and it never will be—but it’s a direction we’re committed to, and it influences everything we make.