Phils Win; Erase 25+ Year Drought !!

I've lived in Philadelphia since 1992 (after moving here from my hometown of NYC for college), and I can honestly say I have never been in a city where the sports fans are anywhere near as insane and dedicated. I remember when I came to check the city out back in '92....the Phils had just won the pennant and there were literally POLICE OFFICERS going crazy and running around partying. Anyway, for those who are unaware, the City of Brotherly Love has gone over 25 years without a title of any sort in any of the four major sports (no, the Philadelphia Soul arena football team does not count).

That all ended a few days ago. The Phillies won the series and the town promptly exploded into a celebration the likes of which i have not seen since....well, since ever. Take the New Year's day Mummers parade and multiply it by maybe, oh i don't know, about FOUR, and you can get some sense of it. People were pouring out of their houses in South Philly. Kids were running around with homemade banners. Cars were leaning on the horns, with people hanging out of them cheering. Mind you this is what was taking place AWAY from Broad Street.



The above photo was taken on 6th and Greenwich. Sorry, but I only had my phone with me so the pics are all a bit blurry. Anyway, Greenwich is a tiny street and this is about a quarter of the people out on that corner.



Streams of people were converging on Broad Street from all directions. As we neared, the cheering was getting louder and louder; it was evident from blocks away that the scene was going to be ridiculous to say the least.



A parade of vehicles ranging from bikes to pickup trucks slowly rolled their way up Broad, mostly with passengers high-fiving people as they passed. Pretty much the police weren't trying to get involved unless somebody was assaulting someone or damaging property, so people were openly drinking from bottles and dancing around.





I'm not exaggerating when I say my hand was sore the next two days from slapping high fives with so many people, with so much vigor. Seeing kids, adults, and grandparents of all types, all celebrating together, clearly on top of the world, is something that is rarely seen in this city and was quite a welcome change.





PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES 2008 WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS !!!!!!

Depot Cycle and Recycle Holds it Down

R.E.Load has a huge presence in Japan, and this is due in no small part to the support of Seiya Minato and his store, Depot. We've been working with them for about six or seven years now, and so when we heard that he was starting a brand new bicycle brand we went ahead and made him a new bag to showcase at the Cycle Mode bike expo.

His brand is actually a collaboration with several other small track bike culture shops around Tokyo, and as such is appropriately named "Tomoni", which means "Together" in Japanese. Anyway, we can't wait to see what Tomoni has in store, and of course we'll be spreading photos around as we get them.

Seiya also sent me a very interesting picture of Shin - his shop manager - which I'd like to share with all of you. As Seiya is so fond of saying: "Hahahahahaha!!!!!"



See you in a few months, Shin-san!

Our First Commercial !!

We set out to film something to promote our new Midpacks, which were released about a month ago....this was shot and produced by Dustin Klein from Cadence and follows a bit of a typical day at our production studio in Philadelphia's Chinatown. Yes, both owners of R.E.Load are still directly involved in making bags, and we make them every day just for you guys (with a lot of help from the rest of our wonderful crew, of course). Set to the music of the best producer to ever touch an MPC: J Dilla (RIP). Track title is "Two Can Win".

Billie Holiday Music Tribute Bag

Truth be told, this bag has been finished for a few weeks, but I've been putting off this posting for fear of doing a disservice to Holiday's legacy (or her other fans)...this is actually the first bag in my series that features an artist from an era completely prior to my lifetime. I grew up on Rakim, was around for all of Dilla and DOOM's releases, managed to catch most of Hancock's forays into fusion and beyond, and was even able to appreciate the godfather of soul in his later days. But Holiday - "Lady Day" - that seems like an entirely different realm to me. And while I absolutely love her voice and appreciate her story, I honestly feel that she deserves a better tribute than "I love this song, I remember listening to this album, etc."....so in this case I'm simply going to post a few songs up...to read all about her from a more qualified source, check this out

Sprint/Dash Models Available Now!!!

The Sprint and Dash models are our official entry into the "lightweight" messenger bag department. Pack cloth liners allow these bags to weigh in at a mere 1.75 lbs, and furthermore they can be packed up in minimal space as an "extra" bag for certain situations.

The Sprinter comes in at 16"w x 14"h x 7"d, while the Dash is 16"w x 12"h x 5.5"d. PLEASE KEEP IN MIND THAT THESE DIMENSIONS ARE TAKEN AT THE BASE OF THE BAG!!! Basically this is us treating the bag as a complete "box"; if we were to take the effective dimension of the flap width for an empty bag, the Sprinter would be 23" wide, while the Dash would be 21" wide.

The Sprint/Dash bags, while water-resistant, are NOT weatherproof like our other models. These bags are made primarily for two purposes:
1) for use as a secondary bag for those who already have big bags to use for messengering or whatever, and simply need a light comfortable bag for more "normal" use.
2) for use by individuals who are looking for a light, simple bag and won't necessarily be riding around in the rain for hours when the weather turns rough.

These bags are available right now, in over a dozen color ways, in the collections pages of our site!