The Scottish Mountain Heritage Collection
1085.2013.1
Lafuma rucksack
22/05/2013
Hermione Cooper
22/05/2013
Canvas and leather rucksack with drawstring. Three pockets inside.
canvas, leather, metal
50(l) x 42(w) x 14(d) cms
1
brown
Lafuma
France
Mountain man and a long time member of the Rucksack Club, Roger Booth, kindly donated this rucksack. He also did a little bit of research for us:-
"The Lafuma brothers, Victor, Alfred, and Gabriel, started up a business manufacturing canvas bags in 1930 in Anneyron, in the Drome region of France. Among the Lafuma brothers' products were backpacks, and it was this category that was to provide the company with its initial success. In 1936, Lafuma created the first backpack with a metal frame. The invention of this product coincided with a new social innovation-the French government had enacted legislation providing for paid holidays. Camping quickly became a favourite holiday among French families. Lafuma's backpacks also were quickly adopted by the French military, and the French military services remained one of Lafuma's principal clients into the 1950s.
After the military ended its orders for backpacks, Lafuma was forced to look elsewhere to boost its sales. The company expanded beyond its backpacks to manufacture tents, camping beds, and other camping equipment, remaining a principal supplier of these products to its French market- The booming French economy, the implantation of the automobile, and the appearance of an entirely new leisure activity in postwar France provided Lafuma with new generations of camping and hiking enthusiasts in the 1950s and 1960s.
Roger bought his Super Lafuma in Ellis Brigham's shop in Manchester and he goes on to tell us how he acquired it:-
"My sack was bought from Ellis Brighams in Manchester on 2nd May 1964 - it would have been a 25th birthday present from my wife and I used it in Skye later that month. It was the first "proper" day-sack I had ever owned - previous to that I only had a large framed Bergen. The Super Lafuma (I am sure that was its name, though the label is long-gone) had become rather frayed by the late 1980s, and I needed a bigger day-sack anyway when I began to find time to go to the Alps again."
Donated by Roger Booth
22/05/2013
22/05/2013
Spectrum : UK Museum documentation standard, V.3.1 2007
22/05/2013