BRITISH GREEN OILSKIN TOOL ROLL

Introducing our English-made "British Green" tool roll.  Hand crafted from a heavy duty 405gsm British oilskin organic cotton. 

This timelessly minimal design will be a perfect companion for road trips.  

Featuring five pockets to house a range of tools, a secure zip closure pocket for loose smaller items, simple tie closure and a utility strap to secure it to whatever you wish. 

The Inspiration

The tool roll inspiration was born from a motorcycle trip to the Sahara Desert.  With luggage space tight and a lack of organisation on Freddie’s part, he wrapped up his essential tools in a bin bag, shoved them into a pannier and headed off.  A day later and the tools had all come loose, spending the rest of the trip rolling around at the bottom of a pannier.

Fast forward a few weeks and work began to design a tool roll that’d be the perfect companion for any road trip.  

The Criteria

• To be a small as possible in order to take up as little space as possible, but large enough to hold all essential tools that one may need on a road trip.
• A zip closure pocket for small socket attachments, cable ties and spare screws is a must
• It should be a similar width of a set of motorcycle forks, so it can look good when attached to the front of a motorbike
• It must look great, adding to the overall aesthetics of your motorcycle and luggage setup.
• It should be simple, while still being as practical and useful as possible.
• Tough enough to last for many years and weather harsh environments
• It should be able to be strapped to a motorcycle with genuine ease, in a variety of ways, and detachable in a matter of seconds.  The strap should be completely removable from the tool roll.
• It should make as much sense for someone wanting to use it away from a motorcycle, as it does for a motorcyclist.  Whether you’re more into cars, bicycles, or just need a tool roll for your garden shed
• And finally, the tool rolls should be made in England, with materials source from (where possible) the UK. 

The Creation

With the criteria in place, we set about creating some prototypes; different sizes of pockets, zips, general sizes, tool flaps, straps, materials and closing solutions.

Depending on which tool roll you pick, our materials of choice are waxed cotton and oilskin.  These are very tough fabrics that have been used in the harshest environments for decades; they’re well proven and have a timeless appeal.

We spent an entire summer sampling different options until we found fabric heavy duty enough to give the desired feeling of ruggedness, along with the ability to hold its shape.  The waxed cotton and oilskins we’ve chosen are some of the finest available.  Once we’d decided on the fabrics, we the doubled up; stitching one layer onto of the other to further improve the strength.

We decided on five tool slots; enough to house your go-to selection of tools to cover you on road trips.  We’ve made sure the tool slots can fit a set of pliers, spanners, screw drivers and ratchet socket.  The zipped closure pocket will make sure all of your smaller items stay secure; this will easily hold multiple socket attachments, bots, cable ties and washers.

For the zips, we settled upon the best known zip maker in the world: YKK.  With 90 years of experience manufacturing zips, the production standards are supreme.  We opted for the antique brass zips that we order from Japan.  They were worth the wait as the aged look and overall quality really adds to the overall look of the tool roll.

The material for our label is made from cactus leather.  This is a new innovation in the world of fashion; it’s made from the leaves of the nopal cactus plant.  It has a feel and look very similar to leather, is natural and vegan.  We then had stamp on our logo onto each label, one by one.

The tie closure is made from the same material as the rest of the tool roll and simply threads through the antique brass eyelet, wraps around the tool roll and ties closed as desired.  This was the simplest to use, fastest to do-up and undo, and most readily adjustable option that we tested. 

The final decision was how to attach the tool roll to a motorcycle; this was one of the trickiest decisions.  We opted for US and British Army surplus polyester utility straps. These are as tough as you like, quick release, extremely easily adjustable and can be attached to many different parts of a motorcycle or vehicle, as well as doubling up as a carry strap.  It simply rolls up with the tool roll, allows you to be as creative as you wish with how you use it.