Yikes! Fugative Dye and Overseas Fabric

One of our customers recently contacted us to tell us that he'd seen reviews posted on the Web that critiqued another laptop manufacturer's product: users were saying the dyes from the lining fabrics were bleeding onto the laptops being carried inside.

Concerned that our laptop bags could have the same problem, he asked: are the fabrics that Tom Bihn uses colorfast, or might they bleed too?

The answer? No.

We use the best quality fabrics from U.S. mills that follow government (read: EPA) regulations. In fact, when our fabric mills aren't making fabric for us, they are usually making the same fabric to meet rigorous military specifications.

Overseas fabric mills aren't subject to the same rules and regulations. If you buy nylon fabrics overseas, it's a lot cheaper than the fabric you'd buy from U.S. mills, but it often is of significantly lesser quality, and could potentially have problems such as "fugative" dye.

Sometimes people ask why our bags are so expensive. One reason is because we spend more on higher quality fabrics, zippers, buckles, webbing, thread, and every other part that goes into the bag. The price we pay for that higher-quality material and those tougher zippers and buckles gets passed on to you, but you'll also have a bag that will last years and won't bleed dye on your stuff!