Women's Ortlieb Backpacks (22 articles)
Which brands offer specific backpacks designed for women?
When looking for a new backpack tailored specifically for women, you can be choosy these days. Almost every well-known brand has corresponding models for women. Deuter marks its women's backpacks with the abbreviation SL (Slim Line), Lowe Alpine puts an ND behind the model's name. Vaude's women's backpacks simply say Damen in front of the name, while Fjällräven or Osprey women's backpacks are not specifically marked, but you can easily find them using the filtering systems in our store.
Backpacks for women: What size?
What size your women's backpack should have, of course, depends very much on what you have planned. 25 litres normally have you well covered for most 24h activities. These backpacks are large enough to accommodate everything on extended day trips and offer enough space for an overnight stay in a hut. If you're more of a minimalist, then you can get by on day hikes with a small women's backpack of 15 litres or even less. These small, lightweight women's backpacks are great for speed hiking, bike trips or trail running.
If you are planning a tour of several days to several weeks, then you should better take a look at a large women's backpack in the 40 litres range. 30-40 litres are fully sufficient for overnight stays in huts, while you will most definitely need a women's backpack offering 40 litres when trekking for longer distances and sleeping in a tent.
If you plan to take your backpack with you in your hand luggage, there are also special models for women. However, backpacks do often not fully utilise the full hand luggage volume offered by the flight companies.
Women's backpacks for outdoor sports, work, and everyday life
If you know whether you need a daypack or a large women's backpack for longer tours, you should think about what you plan to do with it. Depending on what your favourite outdoor sport is, there are special backpacks that differ greatly in shape and features on offer.
For a hiking backpack, the focus is on comfort and a carrying system specially designed for women. Bike backpacks for women also keep this in mind, but here the hip belt is significantly reduced, and the back length is shortened even further, to keep everything neat and tidy when in the saddle. With a ski backpack, of course, you want to be able to attach skis and ice tools, maybe even a snowboard on the outside and it is of essence that you have a separate compartment to stash your avalanche gear. Whether you are planning a day or multi-day tour, ski touring backpacks for women are available in a wide range of sizes.
In contrast to the small hiking backpack, there are of course also large trekking backpacks for women. Here especially, the perfect fitting of the carrying system for women is of the top priority. The same applies to women's backpacking backpacks, because a lot of volume needs to be transported as comfortably as possible.
There are also special models for women throughout the running sector. Either they are designed directly as women's running vests or there is a unisex series with different sizes, here the small versions normally fit ladies best.
A city backpack must look the part, but the carrying system ought also to be designed for women. These everyday backpacks have often been fitted with narrower shoulder straps and a discreetly shorter back length. Since the differences between men's and women's backpacks for everyday life, diverge less, you will find very many unisex models throughout this sector.
If you need the women's backpack for work or university, then the organizational compartments are also of importance. Do you get a folder inside, is your small stuff quickly and easily accessible, are there special compartments for pens and pencils, your cell phone or tablet? And finally, you might also want to pack a laptop. Here you should not only pay attention to whether your backpack has an appropriate compartment, but also whether it is large enough for your specific personal computer.
Waterproof backpacks
Rain can surprise you at any time and wet stuff is not something anyone likes. While most backpacks can easily fend off a short shower or drizzle with their water-repellent coating, this is quickly overwhelmed in torrential rain. Many backpacks come with a rain cover, so you can react quickly and protect your stuff when needs be.
But if you are just sitting on the bike or stuck in the via Ferrata, then this is often easier said than done. Here there is also always the danger that the rain cover comes loose or tangled up somewhere. Therefore, there are completely waterproof women’s backpacks for cycling, but also hiking and climbing. Even in everyday life on the way to the office, when the valuable laptop is with you, a waterproof business backpack can make a lot of sense - especially if you commute to work by bike.
However, since a waterproof backpack requires every seem to be sealed, these models do without many pockets. In addition, these backpacks are often fitted with a roll-top closure, under which the access options do suffer, but the closure allows you in return to overpack your backpack in an emergency!
Useful features of backpacks for women
When choosing your backpack, of course, the right equipment must be present. You must choose for yourself whether you want a women's backpack with side pockets or how important compartmentalisation is to you. Also, whether you want a closure system based on a flap, zipper or roll top is up to you. But keep in mind a roll top is often used for waterproof backpacks, and bike backpacks do not have a lid flap, because they interfere with the helmet. Speaking of helmets: You should also keep an eye on attachments options for helmets, skis, poles and other essential bulky gear.
A lot of travel backpacks for women, have been fitted wheels. These rolling backpacks for women are ideal if you need a lot of volume, want to carry a lot of weight but want to keep the strain of your back. They look like trolleys, but if the going gets tough, you can shoulder them like a backpacking bag and get your gear to where you want it.
Should I wash my backpack?
Backpacks are generally very low-maintenance outdoor gear, but an occasional wash is recommended to maintain the functional materials.
Sustainable & vegan backpack models
Fortunately, many manufacturers are paying increased attention to the most sustainable production of their backpacks. High-quality recycled material is used, and where possible, PVC, PFC and other toxins are avoided. Even vegan backpacks for women are available.
Snack Content
If you want to make full use of the volume of hand luggage and stay well organized on trips, there are extra hand luggage backpacks designed just for this purpose.