Camouflage webbing

I was at REI the other day and happened to notice a spool of camouflage webbing in the climbing department. Typically REI is not known for its adventurous webbing selection — Bluewater makes several colors of webbing yet green and purple are consistently the only two the REI stocks (possibly the two most boring colors … sorry purple fans!). So imagine my surprise to spot some digital camo tubular webbing sitting on a spool. I was in a rush at the moment, but made a mental note to come back.

Today I had a chance to pop in, and although I’d planned to buy 100 or 150 feet for trial purposes, I soon discovered it was $.60/foot (OUCH!) and adjusted my plans. Being the broke slackliner I am, I bought just 15 feet instead, which should make enough for a break test or two and a belt or short sling.

It also appears it’s not just my local REI (their “flagship” store) carrying it, but REIs nationwide. The climbing department employee there couldn’t tell me anything about it, other than she was confused why they would carry it (given the expensive price) and that it didn’t seem to be selling well at that price. Their web site as well as internal sku lookup show a 19KN strength, which is slightly above standard mil-spec.

I will update this post in a few weeks when I have a day off (and it’s dry out!) to break test the webbing with my own results. So far I have had little luck finding it anywhere else on the web.

The inside of the tubing appears to be a light honey blond color, the same as the lightest color in the pattern. That is, the lightest color in the pattern is actually the natural color of the webbing. The webbing has three barely visible tracer stitches.