Brown Best were bespoke luggage manufacturers in the 19th century and at some point, we think, in the 1930s, they turned their canvas and leather working skills into producing rucksacks.

Bergans of Norway were the most popular rucksack in the UK at the time, so much so that the Bergan, or sometimes Bergen, became the generic term for all rucksacks of this style regardless of who made them.

Brown Best held their own though and got a little coup when asked to provide rucksacks for the successful 1953 Everest expedition. Those ‘A’ frame rucksacks were pretty universal in the UK until the 1960s when companies such as Karrimor, Bergans (the UK version) and Millet of France started producing integral framed rucksacks which slowly eclipsed the older generation. The fabulous ‘Rambler’ we have here in the collection was kindly donated by Sally Lindsay though it originally belonged to her neighbours, Douglas and Ina Wilson. Many thanks for a fine addition to our collection.