So You Want a Bugout Bag That's Not a Bugout Bag
We're building one.
I'm designing a bugout bag, but it's not a bugout bag.
My little team at Survivalutions and I have already made a full spec brief. We're about to hand it off to a soft goods designer who specializes in outdoor and tactical gear. They're very excited about the project. They're ready to make a tech pack (blueprint) and a few physical samples.
They're also going to help us find a manufacturer.
So, here it is:
What's so cool about this bag?
Everything.
It's the bag we wish we had when we drove straight into a brushfire on the way home from school. It's the bag we wish we had when we were hiding in our bathroom from an F3 tornado the year before that. It's the bag we wish our in-laws had when they were in Asheville in 2024 for Hurricane Helene. It's the bag we wish our friends in Boone had. It's the bag we wish our neighbor had when she got locked out of her house and cut herself on a fence post trying to get back in. It's the bag you wish you had when you can't drag your bugout bag to Grandma's. If Marie Kondo packed a bugout bag...
This would be it.
It's the bag we wish we had now, as dozens of countries and podcast bros tell us to prepare but they won't say for what.
We're calling it the Brushfire Bag.
That's where it was born.
We might be watching the end of MAGA (fingers crossed). We flipped Texas blue. We got rid of Susan Collins. We've got a lot to feel relieved about. And yet, it doesn't change the longterm future. I still want this bag. I've already needed it. I think a lot of other people will love it too.
This is not "merch." It's not a logo slapped on generic junk and mass-produced. It's a carefully designed piece of gear meant to solve a problem. We've already put countless hours into the design, and we'll be working closely with our soft goods designer to make sure every aspect of the bag is functional and durable. They've seen it in Blender and they love it.
We're using Crowdfundr to raise money for the prototype. When that stage is done, we'll launch a full campaign either there or on Kickstarter. I'm showing some design images below. There's a dozen more images of the design over at the crowdfunding site. Go there and check it out.
We're handing off the tech brief today.
If you have questions or constructive feedback on what you'd like for the bag to include, that's more than welcome.
You can back the project to get the prototype off the ground. If you do, you'll get first dibs on the bag when it's ready in 9-12 months. Meanwhile, things are chugging along on the guide. We're at 280 pages and counting. It's a little messy right now because I'm adding a bunch of pages covering more varieties of crops. A new PDF will be going out later this month.
Meanwhile, I'm so pumped about this bag.
I'm sharing the link here:
Take care,
Jessica
