Who is deuter? The Technical German Backpack Brand You Need to Have on your Radar

‘Comfort, comfort, comfort’ laughed Dave Casey, the new Senior Brand Manager for deuter Australia. ‘If I say comfort a hundred times, I haven’t said it enough. That’s what makes deuter different.’

He tightened my hip belt, adjusted the shoulder straps, and pulled the harness into a new position.

‘Let’s get those load lifters to about forty-five degrees.’

I smiled and nodded. I had absolutely no idea what a load lifter was.

Look at those load lifters, perfect!

Which was slightly concerning, given I’ve spent more than a decade doing hikes across Australia, South America, and Europe.

I’m embarrassed to admit it, but until that morning I’d never had a backpack professionally fitted, or thought much about size beyond ‘I’m probably a medium’. But, standing in deuter’s Sydney showroom, surrounded by packs, it suddenly hit me: the years I’d spent with sore shoulders and aching hips probably weren’t because I was a weird shape. I’d simply been wearing the wrong backpack. 

Dave pointed to the harness, ‘deuter nails the harness first. Then they design the rest of the bag.’

In other words, deuter doesn’t begin by asking how many pockets a pack should have, what the latest trend is, or how many grams it can shave off the final weight. It starts with one question:

‘How does this carry?’

I tried on a few different packs. The Aircontact Core’s padded mesh hugged my back like it had known me for years, while the Futura, which uses deuter’s Aircomfort suspended mesh back panel, left enough airflow that I could already picture finishing a humid summer hike without my T-shirt becoming a wet dishcloth. 

The Aircontact backsystem prioritises comfort and gives you full control over your load

‘Let’s adjust the torso length so it fits you properly’, Dave said, showing me deuter’s VariClick harness system, a rigid adjustment mechanism that clicks securely into place instead of relying on the older Velcro-style systems still common on many trekking packs. ‘Once it’s set, it’s not going anywhere. It’s not going to slide under weight.’ 

The one-piece foam hip belt wrapped comfortably around my hips instead of slipping below them or sitting awkwardly above. It was soft where it cushioned pressure points and firmer where it transferred weight onto my hips rather than my shoulders.

‘No one brand or size fits everybody’, Dave explained. ‘Different torso lengths, shoulder shapes, and body types all influence how a pack carries, and how comfortable it is. That’s why deuter offers so many different fits and sizes. It gives people a much better chance of finding a pack that actually fits. In Australia, we haven’t really had that choice before.’

The Backpack Brand Europeans Trust for the Toughest Terrain

deuter might not be a name many Australians recognise, yet, but ask almost any European hiker what backpack brand they trust and there’s a good chance deuter will be the first word out of their mouth. 

Founded in Germany in 1898, deuter has had more than 125 years to figure out what works, and, just as importantly, what doesn’t.

The company has built its reputation by refining its gear rather than chasing the latest outdoor trends, introducing innovations like ventilated back systems and women-specific fits long before they became industry standard. 

deuter brings over a century of experience to the backpack game

‘deuter isn’t adding a feature to a pack just so they can say it’s got that feature’, Dave said. ‘And they’re not shaving grams just so they can call it ultralight. Not if it compromises comfort.’

Durability is another thing deuter takes seriously.

Packs are built from hard-wearing polyamide (nylon) and polyester, with water-repellent finishes as standard and tougher reinforcement where they’re most likely to cop abuse on the trail.

To get it right, the packs are subjected to relentless testing.

deuter’s Packs Aren’t Just Made for the Mountains, They’re Made by Them

Being headquartered in Augsburg, Germany, just over an hour from the foothills of the Alps, means product testing takes place in some seriously technical terrain. The people designing the packs are also the ones testing them; taking prototypes into the mountains, refining them, then heading back out to test them again.

‘They’re out testing gear where people are actually using it’, Dave said. ‘But deuter doesn’t stop there. They also put products through independent testing to prove just how durable they really are.’

He went on to explain how, before the VariClick reached the market, deuter worked with an independent testing organisation to simulate years of real-world use, or should I say abuse, with machines. 

‘They basically chucked 25 kilos in the bag and went, “pick it up, drop it. pick it up, drop it”, about 2,500 times from a single shoulder strap,’ he said. ‘Then they put it on a wooden mannequin which moved up and down 120mm every second, 50,000 times. It wasn’t about testing it until it broke. It was about proving it’d last well beyond what a normal person would ever do.’

deuter Australia puts their money where their mouth is when it comes to that promise. Packs are backed by a ten-year manufacturer’s warranty against material and manufacturing defects, and come with a lifelong repair service to mend wear-and-tear or out-of-warranty damage (like torn fabric or broken buckles).

But this focus on durability isn’t just about making better backpacks. It’s also central to the brand’s approach to sustainability. 

deuter lives and breathes the ‘deuter Promise’, a commitment to people and planet that covers everything from fair working conditions and responsible sourcing to reducing environmental impact across the business.

From the Showroom to the Scrub

On paper, this all sounds pretty convincing.

But the Alps aren’t Australia.

Aussie tracks have a habit of exposing the weak points in your gear. Rough sandstone chews through mesh pockets faster than your crew chews through a bag of Snakes. Shoulder-high scrub grabs at every strap available. High UV wears and fades cheaper materials.

Nothing wears a pack like sandstone

I asked Dave how deuter’s packs handled Australian conditions.

‘I could bore you with fabric and denier spec’, he laughed. ‘But you’re probably better off heading out on a hike and finding out for yourself.’

I’d settled on the Aircontact Ultra 45+5 SL. The SL range is deuter’s women’s-specific fit, with a shorter back length, narrower shoulder straps, and reshaped hip fins designed around the average female anatomy.

I loaded it with 15 kilos of gear and headed into the Grose Valley in the Blue Mountains.

The track wastes no time. Within minutes, I’m descending more than 500 metres into the valley below, already knowing every step down will have to be climbed again on the way out. If ever there was a place to find out whether a backpack is actually comfortable, this was it.

Those promises made in the showroom? They held up on the trail. The load stayed comfortably against my back and, instead of constantly loosening a shoulder strap or shifting the hip belt, I simply got on with the walk. Normally I’m fiddling with a new pack for the first few hikes, trying to find the sweet spot. This time, I didn’t really think about it. And I mean that as a compliment.

These pockets were easy to use, and big!

I also loved the generously sized hip belt pockets: something that’s so often missing on women’s packs. And I’m not sure I could go back to a pack without a front-access zip now. Being able to grab something from the middle of the pack without unpacking half my gear and making the trail as messy as my bedroom has quickly become one of my favourite features.

I even loved the colour: a mustard yellow I’ve never seen on a backpack before and a happy departure from the usual ‘shrink it and pink it’ mentality of most brands. Or the endless greys and blacks that dominate so many other ranges. 

But of course, I was yet to give the Aircontact a proper Aussie welcome…

Heading off the main trail, I pushed through a particularly thick patch of scrub on a so-called shortcut, which, let’s face it, in the bush rarely ends up being the quickest way anywhere. It wasn’t exactly a full-blown off-track expedition, but it was enough to see how the pack handled the sort of abuse Australian bushwalking has a habit of throwing at gear.

By the time I emerged, it was my shins, not my backpack, that had taken the biggest beating. 

Don’t Sleep on deuter

As we were packing up in the showroom, I’d asked Dave which deuter pack he’d pair with which Aussie multi-day hike.

‘The Aircontact Core’, he said without hesitation. ‘And the Overland Track.’

I couldn’t help but laugh.

The Overland Track was my first ever multi-day hike almost exactly 10 years ago. Back then I carried a bargain-basement backpack that, despite being marketed as a women’s pack, never really fitted. It had next to no padding, and it convinced me that backpacking was always going to hurt, at least just a little bit.

I suspect if I’d been wearing a deuter pack, I’d have enjoyed the hike a hell of a lot more.

Photos by Daygin Prescott

deuter backpacks will be available from most Paddy Pallin stores and selected independent outdoor retailers from 1st of August. If you’ve never been professionally fitted for a backpack before, it’s well worth taking the time. You might be surprised by the difference it makes.