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The launch of the Kaidan collection v1.0 was a wild success, instantly selling out within just a couple minutes, and users logging literally tens of thousands of miles on their products. Seeing these Kaidan products out in the world, going above and beyond what they were intended to do, is truly how we measure the success of a project.
Both our team and our readers have been reporting in from the field, sharing both their stories (“kaidans”) as well as a few suggestions to make the product collection even better. We listen carefully to all the folks out there putting miles on their products, taking notes and making plans, always striving to make every product better and better. Meeting with our friends down at GORUCK, together we decided to bring back the Kaidan, in a new and improved form, while offering it up in epic new colors too.
WHAT MAKES THE V2 DIFFERENT?
UNDER THE RADAR
Now, functionally speaking… how could we tweak these legendary icons? First, just like we did with the GRXC1 Guerrilla X, we’d opt to strip down the exterior of both the GR2 and the Bullet from the Kaidan v1.0 collection. GORUCK calls this styling “Slick” and we’re cool with that. While it does eliminate the functional rows of MOLLE/PALS webbing to attach stuff, the clean aesthetic makes it easy to fly stealth under the radar in familiar domestic locations and unknown international territories. We dig minimal, but functional. Slick, stealth, clean.
COLOR X COLOR
Variety in life is super important (even for those in the #allblackeverything gang). Opening our book of X-Pac fabric swatches, we selected a range of colors from badass to absolutely wild for the v2.0 collection. Black, obviously, for color #1, in VX21 for the GR2 and for the Bullet. Then, for color #2 we selected a rich Olive color X-Pac as well as a Coyote color X-Pac for color #3. Finally, for the bold ones, colorway #4 would be in the blazing eye-piercing Dimension Polyant RVX25 Hot Orange. All four GR2 and Bullet colorways use the RVX25 Hot Orange as the liner fabric throughout.
QUICK ACCESS
The second biggest suggestion from adventurers reporting in? Unanimously, everyone loves the quick-access pocket on the Bullet Kaidan and they wanted the same feature to be shared on the GR2. The 34L GR2 beast went back under the knife and the zippered pocket was added. Perfect for sunglasses, keys, a pack of Hi-Chews, ticket stubs to a Motörhead concert from 1992, or whatever else is living in your hand at the moment.
GR2 RAIN FLAP?
One of the number one asks from the folks out there using the GR2 Kaidan was to remove the rain flap from the front slash pocket. We were already using the mighty YKK AquaGuard zipper underneath the flap, which is plenty water-resistant against nature’s wrath, so why complicate things? Just like with the Slick modification above, we’re big fans of removing anything unnecessary… so we pulled it. Now it’s clean and easy to access. Plus, it looks even cooler, in our humble opinion.
GR2 FIELD POCKET UPDATE
While the Kaidan GR2 Field Pocket remains unchanged in its overall form, we decided to bring them back, and offer up a small amount of them in the insanely bright and bold RVX25 Hot Orange.
MINIMAL INTERIOR LABEL
A minor addition, but totally necessary. Each product will have its very own unique collab-specific label.
MADE IN THE USA
All three products in the GORUCK x Carryology Kaidan V2.0 collection are proudly Made in USA.
TIMES AND DATES
Release Article with shop links will go live on Carryology.com on:
June 29th, 2PM EST (New York time)
This is a one-time only release, in limited edition.
Once they're sold out, they're gone forever.
GORUCK will ship internationally.
Taylor Welden
Creative Director | Industrial Designer
Taylor designs for countless carry brands, across every carry category. He’s contributed to the lost art of manly moustaches, and earned a reputation for reviews that keep our core carry nuts learning.
WAYS TO CARRY