Luma Backpack by Colin Heston is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2025 Bronze A' Design Award in Fashion and Travel Accessories Design Competition Category.
BronzeAccessory· 2025
Luma Backpack
by Colin Heston
Client: Heston Design
Bronze A' Design Award Winner in Accessory Category
Verified Award Winner
Verify Award Status for #172299The Design
About Luma Backpack
Luma is a backpack made using a patented 3D knitting process that reduces material waste and simplifies production. Unlike traditional cut and sew methods, this approach produces fully shaped components directly from digital patterns with minimal waste and labor. The backpack is constructed from single strands of 100% pre-consumer recycled nylon, helping to lower energy use, emissions, and material waste. Luma's design is informed by nature and aims to offer a balance of function and sustainability through a streamlined minimalistic form.
The Recognition
About the Bronze A' Design Award
Luma Backpack is a Bronze A' Design Award winner, a highly prestigious recognition granted to outstanding designs distinguished by creativity, ingenuity, and astuteness. Bronze winners are amply skillful and strikingly creative artifacts that authenticate the vast experience, imagination, and resourcefulness of their designers. Luma Backpack is expected to be a highly regarded, admired, and cherished object that is notably professional and innovative. This Bronze A' Design Award-winning design incorporates best practices in art, science, design, and technology, and is excellent for its attention to detail. Luma Backpack splendidly satisfies needs, touches desires, charms feelings, and appeals to curiosity.
Where to Get It
Sustainable 3D-Knit Backpacks and Accessories
We revolutionize everyday carry with patented 3D knitting technology, creating seamless backpacks from 100% recycled materials. Our innovative process reduces waste by 95% while delivering ultra-durable, lightweight gear. Experience the future of sustainable accessories, designed for conscious adventurers.
Shop NowInterviews
Design Interview
What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?
The main principle behind the Luma backpack design is sustainable innovation through technology. The core idea is to challenge traditional soft goods manufacturing by utilizing 3D knitting to create a zero-waste, high-performance everyday carry solution. Inspired by my love of nature, design, and everyday carry gear, the idea for the Luma backpack was born from a trip to China where I saw the environmental and human cost of traditional manufacturing. This backpack embodies a new standard for how everyday gear can be made—cleaner, smarter, and more responsibly.
What has been your main focus in designing this work? Especially what did you want to achieve?
My main focus in designing this backpack was to merge sustainability with performance by rethinking how everyday gear is made. I wanted to achieve a product that not only looks modern and functions exceptionally well, but is also made in a way that drastically reduces waste and labor impact.
What are your future plans for this award winning design?
My future plan is to ultimately bring this product to market either through the launch of my own label, licensing, or collaboration with an existing brand. I also plan to expand upon this concept with a line of additional carry accessories and to use this platform to advocate for cleaner, smarter manufacturing practices in the soft goods industry, proving that sustainability and performance can evolve together.
Grand Interview
Your innovative approach to sustainable manufacturing through 3D knitting has earned Luma Backpack recognition at the A' Design Award - could you elaborate on how this patented process revolutionizes traditional backpack production?
The Luma Backpack represents a fundamental shift in how soft goods are designed and manufactured. By utilizing a patented 3D knitting process, we eliminate many of the inefficiencies, environmental costs, and structural limitations associated with traditional cut-and-sew backpack production.
The Luma Backpack achieves remarkable environmental metrics, reducing energy use by 45% and greenhouse gas emissions by 30% - what inspired you to prioritize sustainability at every stage of development?
The decision to embed sustainability into every stage of Luma Backpack’s development wasn’t just strategic, it was fundamental to the mission. We recognized early on that the outdoor gear industry often speaks to nature lovers while relying on processes that harm the very environment they’re designed for. That contradiction was the starting point. We simply asked, "What if performance gear didn’t have to come at the planet’s expense?"
Your five-year research journey developing Luma Backpack involved creating over 20 unique knit designs - how did this extensive prototyping process shape the final product's performance and functionality?
The five-year development journey of the Luma Backpack was driven by relentless curiosity and a refusal to settle for conventional solutions. Over 20 distinct knit prototypes weren’t just about testing and aesthetics, they were a deep dive into the mechanics of performance, sustainability, and user experience, all woven into a single structure.
Behind the Design
Press Kit
Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.
- Unique Properties
- The Luma is a revolutionary backpack that blends sustainability, technology, and innovative design. Unlike traditional backpacks, which rely on wasteful cut-and-sew methods, Luma is created using a patented 3D knitting process. This groundbreaking technique produces seamless backpack components with little to no production waste. By condensing and optimizing the production process through automation, we are able to enhance efficiency while reducing our environmental footprint. We have created a uniquely new aesthetic that stands out from a crowded market, within a product category that has remained the same for hundreds of years. With our unique process, knit components are lighter, stronger, and more durable than traditional techniques. Each knit component is engineered with unique attributes. The shoulder straps and back panel are knit with low stretch mesh structures to disperse weight and better ergonomics, while spacer knit structures provide cushioning while remaining extremely breathable. Whereas the 3D knit main carrying compartment is engineered with no stretch and a thick 3-layer knit for durability. The main compartment also has low-melt thermoforming yarn that bonds with the nylon to add strength and structure to the form. The 3D knit structures also seamlessly integrate pocket openings and webbing for gear loops without the need to cut and sew. Thoughtfully designed to safely carry all your daily essentials no matter what environment you find yourself in.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- All knit components are made from 100% pre-consumer recycled nylon, cutting energy use by 45%, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by over 30%, and using 20% less water. The knit structures consist of over 1600 denier from six separate ends of nylon yarn, creating an extremely durable and lightweight 3-layer engineered knit.
- Tags
- 3D Knitting, Sustainable, Seamless, Backpack, Accessory, Everyday Carry
- Production Technology
- The Luma leverages advanced 3D knitting technology to autonomously produce individual bag components directly from single strands of yarn, with zero production waste. This seamless process allows us to integrate custom features, structures, and textures into each piece, enhancing both functionality and aesthetics. By combining up to 36 different yarns within a single knit component, we can precisely tailor the material’s properties to deliver purpose-driven performance throughout the bag’s construction. Made from 100% pre-consumer recycled nylon, cutting energy use by 45%, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by over 30%, and using 20% less water.
- Reduction in manual labor through automation
- Reduction in quality deviation
- Reduction of fail points within the product
- Cost & material savings
- Streamlined production process (minimal secondary processes)
- Creates a unique seamless design aesthetic - Design Challenge
- One of the greatest challenges of this project was mastering a highly specialized technology from the ground up. As someone new to 3D knitting, I had to completely rethink my approach to design, adapting my process to align with the unique constraints and possibilities of the production method. This required not only a deep technical learning curve but also a shift in mindset—designing for a medium where form, function, and fabrication are inherently intertwined. Pushing into uncharted territory to create a product that had never been made before meant constant experimentation, iteration, and problem-solving at every stage.
- Research
- This 3D knit backpack is the result of five years of dedicated research and development, beginning with early swatches and culminating in refined, production-ready samples. Over the course of this project, more than 20 unique knit designs were created and iterated upon. The most successful elements from each were synthesized into a cohesive design language. We developed approximately 10–12 fully functional prototypes, each exploring variations in knit structures, material compositions, and functional features. These prototypes were tested across diverse environments and with users from a wide range of lifestyles, providing critical feedback that informed the final product’s performance, comfort, and durability.
- Inspiration
- The lightbulb went off and the idea really took shape after a trip to China, where I witnessed the immense waste and labor intensity in traditional soft goods manufacturing. During this trip I had the overwhelming feeling that there had to be a better way of creating these products. I set out to find a better solution that would lessen the reliance on a globalized supply chain, promote local community manufacturing, and leave less of an impact on our planet. That experience pushed me to explore 3D knitting—a process that eliminates excess material, reduces labor, and enables precise, zero-waste production. This backpack redefines how soft goods are made, proving that sustainability, performance, and thoughtful design can go hand in hand.
- Project Duration
- 2021-2025
- Operation Flow
- The Luma is more than a bag—it’s a movement toward smarter, more responsible design. By fusing technology with sustainability, we’ve created a product that not only meets modern consumer demands but sets a new benchmark for the industry. It reflects my belief that through innovation, we can reduce waste while creating purpose driven products. This is the future of carry—seamless, sustainable, and revolutionary.
- Patents
- Patent No. US10959506B2
- Team Members
- Colin Heston
- Image Credits
- Colin Heston
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