Zorali Escapade Backpack – Gear Review

Zorali’s one of the trendiest Aussie outdoor brands, but how’s its outdoor-chic Escapade backpack hold up when the going gets tough?

When We Are Explorers asked me to review the Zorali Escapade Backpack, I didn’t hesitate. I’d heard from friends about the Zorali gear and about their land regeneration efforts in Kenya, so it was a no-brainer really.

Now, I’m a bit of a backpack connoisseur after hiking all over Australia and I’m pretty good at destroying them on hikes too. Granted, these were hiking backpacks that I was blowing up, but with the fold-over top design and the tough nylon material in the Escapade, it should hold up like one, right?

To test it out, I made my way out to the Chillagoe Caves in Far North Queensland. 

Also Read: 14 Best Hiking Backpacks in Australia in 2023

Aesthetics

First of all, I need to address the elephant in the room. This is one of the coolest looking bags ever. Whether I’m squeezing through caves or riding my bike through the CBD, this thing is the creme de la creme of backpacks. It looks excellent!

My favourite is the green and navy colourway (pictured); fitting colours for Far North Queensland.

Fresh, for now!

Design

Being a 30L daybag, the Zorali Escapade sure does cram in a lot of features for its size! It’s got four separate compartments and an internal laptop sleeve in the main one, two water bottle pockets (very much needed in FNQ), adjustable straps on the shoulders and lid, tie on points, heavy duty zips and zippers – it’s jammed packed!

The fold down top is the best feature in my opinion, keeping everything dust free inside despite my very best efforts.

Build

The backpack stood up to the dust, but I’ve also put its strength to the test. The two main points I’ll focus on here are the tough nylon and the zips.

I’ve scraped and dragged the Zorali Escapade along every little crevice in the caves and it never pulled a thread – amazing! And not only that, the zips managed to glide along perfectly despite being covered in dust. Did I mention it was on the sweatiest back in FNQ? And that’s saying something!

A tough testing environment

Price

This is the really the only part of the bag that I don’t love. At $169.95 AUD it costs a pretty penny for what is essentially a 30L day bag. At that price point, Zorali is competing with many other companies that have years of knowledge and expertise in producing top quality products.

That being said, for a small company like Zorali you tend to expect that price, especially with a quality, stylish, and ethical product like they have here.  

Final Thoughts on The Zorali Escapade Backpack

After many years of adventures and many backpacks to go with them, I think I’ve found something in the Zorali Escapade that I’ll have with me for a while. It outperformed my expectations in the caves and has now been promoted to my everyday bag.

If it can handle the Chillagoe dust and the beating I’ve given it so far, I’m sure it’ll handle a laptop and a few books no worries – and it’ll look good while doing it! 

Conor was sent the Zorali Escapade hiking pack by Zorali and was allowed to keep it afterward, the views are his own.