
Behind the Build: The Nexus Frameless Backpack
At ULA, every product tells a story, and the Nexus is no exception. At its core, the Nexus embodies connection. Thru-hiking and backpacking are journeys of discovery—connecting to the earth, meeting new people, and deepening your connection with yourself.
This ultralight 40-liter pack has captured the attention of serious hikers for its thoughtful design and functionality. But what went into creating this innovative pack? We sat down with Owen Forbes, from our Production and Design team; Peter Longobardi, ULA’s owner; and Jeremy Tripp, our Production and Design Lead, to get a behind-the-scenes look at how the Nexus came to life.
The Spark of Inspiration
For Peter, the Nexus began as a challenge: “We’ve always been known for our framed backpacks, but we wanted to create something that stripped things down without sacrificing usability. For my own use case, the past few trips I’ve been on, I took a framed pack and loved it. They’re so light and easy to manage. So, looking at the gear world in general and seeing what type of ultralight gear people are using now like sub 1 lb tents, down quilts, and the like, we all internally felt a need for something new.”
The goal was clear—design a frameless pack that balanced weight, durability, and functionality while meeting the specific needs of thru-hikers. And so, the Nexus project was born.
“We started testing and designing the Nexus in the Spring of 2024 but in reality, the Nexus has been an ongoing project for years. Part of ULA’s business model is we still build everything in Logan, Utah from start to finish. We do build primarily stock packs, when you go on our website that’s primarily what people are purchasing, but we still offer some level of customizations to our packs as well. So through the years of doing that, we had developed design features and stuff for our customers that were kind of off menu, and so the Nexus is the culmination of hundreds of custom packs over the years that we’ve been building customer feedback, and our own wants.”
DESIGN FEATURES
Jeremy Tripp and Owen Forbes were responsible for designing and executing the Nexus. You might recognize Owen from our team member feature and his work on the Circuit SV. For the Nexus, Owen brought his expertise to develop pleated side pockets that hold water bottles more effectively and hip belt pockets that open with one hand!
Owen says “Something to emphasize here(side pocket) is we wanted to have a pocket that was pretty low profile and laid pretty flat when it was not in use, so you can draw the drawstring it lays pretty flat, but when you put two smart water bottles in or something large, the pleats expand perfectly to fit the item snuggly. Another thing we took time to consider was the hip belt pockets and how they function. Some hip belt pockets you find that when you zip them it’s hard to do with one hand due to the direction they zip, so we wanted to emphasize the ability to go from side to side and not have some point where it constricts and gets stuck. This resulted in a design that allows you to open and close the pockets with one hand while on the go.”
Jeremy has been with ULA for 10 years this year and is the head of the production and design team here. Jeremy got the opportunity to put his years of experience to the test when it came to this new frameless pack design, leading the whole team on the project. Jeremy says, “The goal with the Nexus was to create something truly ultralight, slimmed down, and absolutely the bare minimum you’d need in a pack.” It was also an opportunity to experiment with a new hybrid shoulder strap style designed to accommodate more body types. “With the new shoulder strap system, we wanted a hybrid between the S and the J. It’s not as steeply curved as the S, and it’s not as flat as the J. It’s meant to work for multiple people, not just a specific body type.”
When asked about other features considered during the development of the Nexus, he explained, “We wanted a frameless pack that could fit a bear canister inside. To achieve this, we widened the front panel and shortened the side panels. This kept the volume manageable while still providing the versatility to accommodate a bear canister.”
MATERIALS
The Nexus is the first pack in our line-up that utilizes 200D UltraGrid from Challenge Sailcloth. Challenge Sailcloth has taken a classic fabric to the next level with higher performance and lower environmental impact. UltraGrid is woven at a Bluesign® Approved facility with 210d recycled nylon yarn from pre-consumer industrial waste. A double 200d Ultra grid provides exceptional tear-strength. UltraGrid has a C0 DWR coating, free from toxic PFCs, and is finished with a waterproof 1500mm PU backing.
We will also continue to utilize UltraWeave (Ultra X) on the Nexus, which utilizes a laminated backing to create a waterproof fabric that’s ultralight and highly abrasion resistant.
When asked about the materials on the new Nexus, Peter had this to say: “About 3 years ago we developed a relationship with Challenge Sailcloth who make all of the Ultra fabrics. At this point we’ve been using their Ultra X material for several years now and we’ve got plenty of packs made out of it with thousands of miles on them. A newer material that they developed is called UltraGrid and we’ve never used that in a pack until this year as we built tons of prototypes of the Nexus. It is an incredibly lightweight but durable fabric. It’s also still got a wide variety of color which, for us, we really enjoy offering the customers something that is unlike any other pack. Something fairly unique to us in the industry is we do have a lifetime warranty against manufacturer defects so in our case we actually have to be very careful about what fabrics we introduce and and construction methods we use. But, so far we’ve been really happy with the UltraGrid performance. We’re also going to make the Nexus in 200x Ultra. Ultra X in particular 200x is a very lightweight material it is extremely durable in terms of both abrasion and tear resistance. When we first got that material we realized that our normal construction methods or cutting methods, stack cutting, was not going to work so we actually had to buy a laser cutter to even process the material. The nice thing about Ultra weave is it doesn’t absorb water weight, the material itself is waterproof, but you know we don’t seam seal our packs. So I never want people to assume that we make waterproof backpacks but the advantage of the UltraWeave is it does offer extreme durability and it won’t absorb water weight.”
DESIGNED, CUT, AND SEWN IN LOGAN, UTAH
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