Foam type and source for straps and belts?

[R Z]

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[Erich Foster]

You could always use a sleeping pad. Yoga mats are heavy aren’t they?

[Vick Hines]

Shoulder straps: 1/4″ closed cell foam used for lining automobile tops. 1/8″ closed cell foam used under hardwood floors. For applications needing more padding, sleeping pads work pretty well.

[Ryan P. Murphy]

I personally use neoprene foam for packs and I couldn’t tell you about its recycled content or lack thereof. If the yoga mats are made from recycled/reclaimed material then go for it. Something that might be worth looking into are recycled foam carpet pads. They come in all sorts of thicknesses starting at 1/8″. Most are made from open cell foam scraps so would need to be sealed in some way, but if your intent on a recycled product they might be worth a look. I have no idea how well this material would actually function in real world use, but it’s an idea.

[Roger Caffin]

Just curious what kind of foams you’re using for backpack shoulder straps, framesheets, and hipbelts

Closed cell EVA or PE. Minimum of EVA 40 or PE 40 – the lighter stuff fails under load. Open cell is useless. Reconstituted foam is poor quality – more glue line than foam. Neoprene is very high quality, but expensive. The really light stuff is a bit fragile.

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