Recent Sleeping Bag Innovations
The mummy bag design was perhaps the most significant
breakthrough in sleeping bag design of at least the past few decades, the
outdoorsman’s equivalent of the airsole or the modern wetsuit.
Claustrophobia concerns aside, the mummy bag provided unsurpassed
warmth and lightness that was crucial for serious expeditioners, rendering
rectangular bags obsolete except for use in casual, low-risk camping
excursions. Serious improvements
or milestones in sleeping bags since then have been relatively scarce, which
is more of a testament to the huge leap forward provided by mummy bags than
an actual lack of creativity on the part of designers.
Still, the last several years have brought to the fore certain
thoughtful, inventive and whimsical innovations in sleeping bag technology
and design.
The Lippi Selk bag is often playfully referred to as
the bag that allows you to never leave bed again, and while this is an
exaggeration, one cannot help but find amusing how manufacturer Lippi
redefined the portability of the sleeping bag.
The Selk design looks like an inflated jumpsuit and hood, and rightly
so, as this is a sleeping bag that you wear, and then fall asleep in on any
floor or reasonably flat surface.
This sleeping bag comes with arms and legs to allow a certain freedom
of movement even while you’re in the bag.
It may look unusual, but wearing a Selk bag could actually be cool in
the context of a music festival or a casual trek, and it’s hard to beat the
sheer lazy fun factor of being able to catch some sleep no matter where you
are. The Selk bag comes in
several adult sizes, and is also sold in children’s sizes under the trade
name Musuc.
Mindful of the need for sustainable development of our
environment, the company Slumberjack has created an eco-friendly sleeping
bag that is 80 percent recycled materials.
The bag is mostly recycled polyester, a synthetic material, and the
insulation is composed of a fill the company calls Climashield Green, which
is also recycled. The bag
performs decently for general use, and should be considered if you care even
remotely about the impact of your lifestyle on the earth.
Modern sleeping bags provide excellent retention of
warmth, so some inventors decided to apply this fact to invent an
alternative to expensive incubators.
Baby sleeping bags with premium warmth insulation would cost far less
than an incubator machine, while performing the integral function of keeping
the baby’s temperature constant.
As an additional benefit, these baby sleeping bags also prevent cot death
caused by blankets suffocating infants, since the baby’s head will not
accidentally be covered by the sleeping bag lining.
The company Downhome has introduced a hood construction
improvement which, though minor compared to some other inventions, is still
significant in the way it enhances comfort.
The hood is attached to the user instead of to the bag, so that moist
air breathed out is not trapped in the bag.
The shoulder area of a Downhome bag has been adjusted accordingly to
prevent heat loss.
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