Thule Review – 3 Sustainable Travel Gear Must Haves For Your Next Trip

These days there are so many luggage brands out there that promise sustainability on top of quality. Cause let’s be fair, the label of sustainability sells these days. Unfortunately there are a lot of brand out there who claim to be sustainable but actually aren’t and as a consumer it can be very misleading.

I’ve never been a fan of mass consumption or mass production. I prefer saving up and buying something of higher quality which will also have a longer durability.

So when Thule asked me to test a couple of their items I was very excited!

Thule Review – 3 Sustainable Travel Gear Must Haves For Your Next Trip

What is Thule?

Thule was founded by Erik Thulin in 1942 in Småland, Sweden. As a true lover of the outdoors his focus has always been on designing and developing quality products that help you carry your gear wherever your passion takes you.

Their focus is set on developing products with four strong values:

• Quality
• Safety
• Design
• Easy to use

At the Thule Test Center all of their products undergo extreme testing. Like exposure to desert heat, arctic cold, water resistance, drop tests, and wind tunnels to tensile, shock, and crash tests.

The Thule Test Program includes over 25 Thule Test Standards that far exceed the current ISO standard. As part of their product testing, their products are used by Thule Crew, who are capable of testing them to the extreme in real life. Every single day.

But at Thule they also want to contribute to a more sustainable world through innovative, high-quality products, manufactured responsibly, that inspire people to live an active life outdoors.

They ensure climate-smart and efficient manufacturing. Always in a safe and secure working environment. When it comes to choosing suppliers, they take into account the environment, human rights, and good working conditions. Making their logistics more efficient, they lower transportation distances, optimize packaging, and make the best use of capacity.

Thule Covert Camera Backpack DSLR 24L

I’ve been a travel photographer and travel blogger now for over 4 years and can you believe that I never owned an actual camera bag? I always threw all of my gear all together in a normal backpack, telling myself it doesn’t really matter.

But honestly, it can not be good for those expensive lenses to always het knocked around when hiking up a mountain.

So on my latest trip to the Dolomites I got to try out the Thule Covert Camera Backpack! and to my surprise it could easily fit all of my gear: my camera body, 3 lenses, my tripod and my drone with its remote controller and two extra batteries.

It comes with a removable camera pod and its lid tucks into the side opening for immediate access. Another awesome feature is that you can fully open up the back panel of the backpack.

I usually store all of my camera gear in the camera pod and put my drone in the mesh compartment. You can open it as well through the back panel but also through the zipper above.

The side pockets are more than wide enough to hold onto my tripod and keep it safe while climbing up several mountains. There’s a tripod lash point on both sides to extra secure it.

The Thule Covert Camera Backpack comes with adjustable and padded shoulder straps and two belt straps for a comfortable carry.

Dimensions – 33.0 x 23.0 x 48.0 cm

What I love the most about this camera backpack are all of the extra compartments to store my wallet, phone, extra batteries, etc. It’s something I’ve always missed in other backpacks where all of my stuff would simply fly around.

Another plus? You don’t have to actually use it as a camera backpack. You can simply take out the camera pod and use it as a regular backpack as well. So basically you get two backpacks for the price of 1!

But if you don’t want to bring the entire backpack and you don’t need a tripod you can also take out the camera pod and use it as a sling or shoulder bag. This is something you often can’t do with other camera backpacks and there’s even a small side pocket which is perfect to store away your phone.

Thule Chasm Wheeled Duffel Bag 81cm

One of the things that gets disorganized the quickest when I’m on a road trip is the trunk of my car. Sometimes it feels like a year later I still find remnants of a passed trip. All due to the fact that I had to open up my suitcase entirely to grab something, then something falls out, rolls underneath something… I mean you get the drill right?

So trying out this duffel bag by Thule was definitely high on my list. All the advantages of a wheeled suitcase combined with the flexibility of a duffel bag… I’m sold!

The Thule Chasm Duffel Bag has a wide-mouth opening so you can easily pack your clothing and adventure gear. And there are two separate compartments on the inside where you can for instance store your dirty socks and underwear.

The straps on the outside can help adjust the bag to the size of your load and the handles on the side and top of the bag make it super easy to lift out of the trunk of your car.

Unfortunately this item is currently out of stock but you can find similar duffel bags here and here.

Thule Gauntlet Sleeve MacBook® Pro 16″

One of the items that I carry with me wherever I go is my laptop. But ever since I got my new MacBook Pro 16″ I didn’t have a proper sleeve for it. Meaning my laptop would often travel with me without any protection around it. Not the smartest idea I know.

During my 2 week road trip through Italy and Slovenia I got to test the ThuleGauntlet Sleeve MacBook® Pro 16″ and I especially love that I didn’t even need to take out my laptop to use it.

It’s designed to safeguard your device with a rigid exterior and enhanced corner and edge protection. And while I can’t fit both my power chord and laptop in there together, I could also fit my external hard drive.

The polyurethane material also protects your items from bumps and scratches and is weather resistant as well.

Summary

Thule definitely has a new fan on their hands. I love the design of their products and how convenient they are to use. My personal favorite definitely is the camera backpack but that’s simply cause I need it the most.

Charlotte

Charlotte Lint is the founder of Charlies Wanderings.
Charlotte has traveled all over the world and is based in Belgium where she also owns her very own dental practice.
She is an expert on writing efficient travel guides and finding unique places to stay.
Every month she helps over 134.000 people discover the most beautiful places in the world through her detailed travel guides.