Last remaining stock • In 4 active carts right now • Only 10 left
Warren's Last Backpacks
Warren's Last Backpacks
Ships within 2–3 days
90-day return policy
Insured & free shipping with tracking
Couldn't load pickup availability
Warren's Last Backpacks
Sewn on One Floor on Ballantyne Lane
Warren Tuckwell, 66. His grandad came home from New Guinea sewing canvas kit bags for the Army and took the top floor of the old wool mill in 1954. Warren took it over in 1983 and has sewn a little over 75,000 backpacks at the same machine in the forty-three years since. This is the final run. The building sold over winter and is being converted into forty-two warehouse apartments. There is no floor left in Melbourne to move to, the arthritis in his hands has been getting worse for four years, and there is nobody to hand the work to. He gives back the keys at the end of the month.
“It started with a complaint. There was a chippie off the building site round the corner who kept ripping the bottom out of the packs he bought, twice a year, every year, and he came up here to have a go at somebody about it. I cut him one out of heavy nylon with a doubled base and put a bar-tack in every seam that carried weight. He came back a year later. Not to replace it — to order one for every man on his crew. I’ve been cutting that same pattern ever since. Six small changes in forty-three years, and I could tell you what every one of them was and why.”
— Warren Tuckwell, Cedar & Tin Co. · Brunswick, Melbourne
What You Receive
Everything That Ships With Your Pack
Your Brunswick Pack
45 litres. 48 × 30.6 × 28 cm. 1000D nylon shell, doubled at the base, bar-tacked at fourteen points, hand-fed through the machine one at a time.
Whatever Is Still on the Shelf
The colours you can pick from are simply the ones that haven’t gone yet. When one runs out it is gone — there is no floor left to cut more on.
A Numbered Brass Plate
Stamped by hand and fitted to the main zip pull, carrying your pack’s number in the final run of 3,800.
90-Day Returns
If it isn’t right when it arrives, send it back within 90 days for a full refund. The closure changes nothing about this.
Why This One
Six Things a Container-Load Pack Cannot Do
Almost every 45-litre pack on the market is built to hit a landed cost per unit. This one is built to a pattern that has been corrected six times in forty-three years by the man who still sews it. Every difference below follows from that.
1000D Nylon, Doubled Where It Fails
Most packs in this class use 600D and a single layer at the base — which is exactly where a loaded bag gets dragged across a train platform, thrown in the tray of a ute and set down on wet ground. The Brunswick Pack uses 1000D throughout and runs two layers across the whole bottom panel. A hundred grams or so heavier. Not comparable in service.
Look Where the Strap Meets the Body
This is the four-second check, and almost nobody has been shown it. Turn any pack round and look at the top of the shoulder strap where it joins the back panel. A pack built down to a price has one straight run of stitching there. This one has a boxed bar-tack — a dense block of thread stitched back and forth across the joint. Fourteen of them across the pack, at every point the weight actually pulls.
It Doesn’t Have an Eight-Month Problem
Cheap packs rarely tear in the fabric. They fail at the strap root, usually somewhere around the eight-month mark, and once that joint goes there is nothing sensible to repair. Tuckwell sews the strap joints himself for exactly this reason. If something on this pack does eventually give out, it will be a zip or a buckle — both of which are replaceable parts, not the end of the bag.
It Sits Right on More Than One Kind of Back
A 45-litre pack sold in one fixed configuration only works properly on the body it was drawn around. This one ships with padded ventilated straps, a sliding chest strap and a removable waist belt, so the load can be moved off the shoulders and onto the hips. Worn properly it sits right on anyone from about 157 cm to 196 cm. Take the belt off entirely and it is a plain city bag.
Parts That Come Off and Go Back On
Nothing structural on this pack is glued or heat-welded. Zips are full-size with knotted cord pulls you can replace with a bootlace if you have to. Buckles are standard sizes you can buy anywhere. The brass plate on the main pull is screwed, not crimped. The design assumption is that you will still own this in fifteen years and occasionally need to fix something.
It Isn’t a Costume
The Australian flag patch is on hook-and-loop and comes off in about two seconds. Underneath is a plain panel. The webbing on the front and sides is there because it is genuinely useful for hanging a hard hat, a wet jacket or a water bottle — and it looks like nothing at all when you hang nothing on it. This is a work bag, not a statement.
Repair Bench Note
“I’ve had roughly four thousand packs across this bench and I can tell you what kills them. It is almost never the fabric. It’s the joint at the top of the shoulder strap, and it is nearly always a single line of stitching that has slowly chewed through the webbing under load. A boxed bar-tack spreads that force across a block instead of a line, and a pack that has them at every load point simply doesn’t come to me for that. The other thing worth paying for is a doubled base — a single-layer bottom is a hole waiting for the right bit of sandstone. If somebody hands me a 45-litre bag with 1000D throughout, a doubled bottom and proper bar-tacks, I tell them to stop shopping.”
Darren Whitlock — Outdoor and workwear kit repair, 19 years · Katoomba, Blue Mountains
Where It Ends Up
Built For Ordinary Heavy Use
Quality Promise
Five Things You Get With Every One
90-Day Money-Back Guarantee
If it isn’t right when it arrives — the size, the colour, the way it sits on your back, anything at all — send it back within 90 days for a full refund. No questions, no forms. One email is enough. The deadline on the building does not change this.
A Note From the Floor
Tuckwell checks every pack and gives the straps a good yank before it ships. Small differences — a bar-tack sitting a fraction off centre, a stitch line that wanders by a hair, a shade that came off a slightly different roll of nylon — are normal in work that is fed through a machine by a person rather than indexed by one. People occasionally write in to apologise for pointing this out, which he finds funny. It isn’t a fault; it is the evidence. The count runs to 3,800, and then it stops.
The Details
Product Specifications
| Capacity | 45 litres |
| Dimensions | 48 cm H × 30.6 cm W × 28 cm D |
| Shell | 1000D nylon throughout; bottom panel doubled. No 600D panels, no glued-on reinforcement patches. |
| Construction | Cut by hand on the table, sewn on walking-foot machines, fourteen boxed bar-tacks at every load-bearing point. Nothing automated, nothing indexed. |
| Colours | Whatever is still on the shelf. The live selection is shown at checkout — sold-out colours are not restocked. |
| Carry System | Padded ventilated shoulder straps, sliding chest strap, removable waist belt. Fits roughly 157–196 cm. |
| Laptop | Padded sleeve to 17″, plus a separate lined tablet pocket |
| Front & Sides | Full webbing grid for attaching kit — or nothing. Australian flag patch is hook-and-loop and removable. |
| Hardware | Full-size zips with knotted cord pulls, standard-size buckles, screwed brass plate. All replaceable. |
| Travel | Fits standard overhead lockers. Packed full it is 28 cm deep — most Australian airlines allow 23 cm for carry-on, so check your fare before flying with it full. Packed lighter, the soft shell compresses. |
| Care | Sponge with mild soap and cold water, air dry in the shade. Do not machine wash, do not tumble dry, do not iron the webbing. |
| Variation | Fed through the machine by hand — bar-tack placement and shade vary slightly between packs. No two are identical. |
| Maker | Warren Tuckwell — Cedar & Tin Co., Ballantyne Lane, Brunswick, Melbourne. Floor taken by his grandad in 1954; Warren sewing this pattern since 1983. |
| Made To Date | A little over 75,000 packs since 1983, all from the same floor |
| Final Run | 3,800 remaining — no reorders. No floor to move to, no hands left for another year, and no successor. Keys go back at the end of the month. |
| Sold By | Cedar & Tin Co. — the only place these are sold. Copies on the marketplaces carry no numbered brass plate. |
| Guarantee | 90-day full refund, no questions asked |
The Final Sale
The Final Sale
Message from the Artist:
After years of making things by hand, our workshop is closing. These are the last pieces we'll ever ship. Every item on this page was made slowly, carefully, and with more love than any factory could replicate. Nothing rushed. Nothing outsourced. Just real craft from real hands.
We're proud of every single one. We hope they find good homes.
When they're gone, they're gone — and so are we.
Free Shipping
Free Shipping
Free shipping across Australia
- Delivery time: 7–14 business days
- Insured: Every package is fully insured
🌳 Carbon-neutral shipping
Frequently Asked Questions
Got a question? Here's how to reach us.
Got a question? Here's how to reach us.
My wife and I personally respond to every single email — as fast as we possibly can. Whether you have a question about your order or just want to talk craft, we're here.
You can reach us:
- Mon – Fri: 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM (CT)
- Saturday: 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM (CT)
Email: info@cedarandtinco.com
Can I return my order if I don't like it?
Can I return my order if I don't like it?
Of course. We stand behind everything on Cedar & Tin Co. 100%. If you're not happy, neither are we. Just shoot us an email within 90 days and we'll make it right — no hassle, no headaches.
How are your products made?
How are your products made?
Every single product on Cedar & Tin is 100% handmade — crafted by hand, using only premium quality materials. We're proud to carry on a tradition of craftsmanship that has been passed down through generations.