In order to deliver the look, feel, and performance necessary to keep up with you and your dog's life of exploration, we use Ruffwear-designed Tubelok™ webbing in our webbing leashes and collars.
Our Tubelok webbing is a kind of jacquard webbing that's created using a special loom process. It’s a complicated process (just look at the number of threads to manage in the picture below), and it involves special machinery and special mastery by the workers crafting the webbing.
It’s more time consuming and labor-intensive than a basic weave, but the benefits of jacquard webbing lend well to the needs of our collars and leashes.
STRONG & DURABLE
Ever see a dog get an itch and scratch at their collar? Or roll in the dirt, drag their leash around, and run through the brush? Abrasion is a given when it comes to dogs.
We choose jacquard webbing because any color or pattern is integrated into the webbing rather than printed on it. This eliminates the trouble of the design fading or a rubbing off from unavoidable wear and tear - keeping your dog's leash and collar looking good.
We also integrate a locking edge into our Tubelok™ jacquard webbing. It keeps the webbing from unraveling should a sharp edge or branch abrade an edge. This extends the life of your leash and collar when dogs do what dogs do.
Ultimately, it all adds up to your gear lasting longer. And if it lasts longer, it spends more time out on the trails with you and your dog rather than ending up in a landfill.
NATURE-INSPIRED PATTERNS
With jacquard webbing, designs have the ability be more complex - which is useful when trying to depict some of our favorite landscapes and natural elements.
Our designers translate these inspirations into rough sketches using a blank graphic that has cells to represent every pick (on the face of a webbing, each crosswise or weave is one pick). In just one inch of 25mm webbing, there are roughly 525 picks.
Here’s a zoomed-in look at the process of developing one of the patterns of our Crag™ Leash and Collar, Sunset.
INTEGRATED REFLECTIVITY
In 2020, we released collars with reflective thread integrated into a pattern for the first time. Being able to integrate the reflective thread into the webbing has major perks because, like with patterns, it's more durable than having it simply printed on the webbing.
Introducing reflectivity to an already complicated process meant we encountered several challenges finding manufacturers when we first set down that path.
In a typical jacquard weave, it uses the same thread type, so it all kind of marches together. The machine needs to be at a specific tension setting depending on what type of thread it is using. Two different thread types (e.g. reflective and non-reflective) means two different tension settings, and that’s what makes it super tricky.
We worked with our partners to figure out how to make it work. They still have to run the machines slower than they usually do, monitoring the status of the threads to make sure that nothing breaks, or, inversely, is not tight enough and creating a durability issue.
Innovation is woven into our Tubelok webbing leashes and collars from start to finish. From nature-inspired colors and patterns to strong and durable jacquard webbing with locking edges, it all comes together to deliver performance and gear you and your dog can count on for all the trails ahead.
You can explore our full line of leashes and collars here.