2016 Holiday Production Schedule and Ordering Deadlines

Ordering a special gift for the holidays? We can still guarantee delivery by December 23rd on lots of items!

First up, if you live in Philly and/or are planning on picking up your order at the shop, we will be open from 10-6 M-F leading up to the Holiday weekend. Simply order any "In the Shop" bag or anything from the "Accessories" section NOT marked as "Build Your Own....", and you can pick it up right away.

Bags: 
If you need something shipped, you'll be happy to know that bags from the "In the Shop" section are already made and ready to go! We ship bags FedEx ground by default, so simply find your location and transit time from the following map, and add ONE MORE DAY. you will have up to midnite on that day to order. For example, if you live in NYC, transit time is listed as one day. Add the day for processing/dropoff to FedEx, and you have up till midnite (EST) on Wednesday. This will put your package in your hands sometime Friday, December 23rd. We can do expedited shipping if necessary, but you absolutely must contact us first to set this up! If there are ANY questions about this, feel free to give us a call at 215-625-2987 before ordering. We very much want to make sure your gifts are delivered on time.

If you are looking for any of the "Made to Order" bags or a custom graphic bag at this point, you're pretty late to the game, but feel free to contact us at 215-625-2987 and check if it's possible. There will definitely be rush fees and expedited shipping fees, but there just might be a chance!

Accessories:
If you are ordering an accessory to be shipped, we use USPS Priority Mail. You can order any predetermined color way or "Build Your Own" accessory up until 10 am (EST) Tuesday morning, and it will arrive by the weekend.

Again, if you have any questions whatsoever, please feel free to contact us at 215-625-2987 so we can make sure we are all on the same page about delivery options. Thanks, and Happy Holidays from R.E.Load!

Firth & Wilson Prize

  
Prize offering for this weekend's ride from Firth & Wilson Transport Cycles, a nice quality rugged flask!

Fabric Horse Prizes

We got a great set of prizes from Fabric Horse! These items are top notch, hard to believe we're just giving these away, but we're sure they'll make some lucky winners real happy!

CETMA Cargo Prize

CETMA Cargo has been making bombproof racks for over a decade. We're so excited to have them supporting our April Fools Fun Ride! Come out and ride with us for a shot at one of these legendary racks.

Philadelphia Bikesmith Prizes

Another set of prizes for this Saturday's ride, these are from Philadelphia Bikesmith, big thanks!

Firehouse Bicycles Prizes

 

First round of prizes are coming in for this year's fun ride. Big thanks to Firehouse Bicycles for coming through with a great pack!

April Fools Ride Official Sponsors

 

Things are coming together for this years ride! We'd like to thank our sponsors for coming through with prizes and giveaways. Here is a current list, stay tuned for more!

Philadelphia Bicycle Messenger Association

ABUS Mobile Security
Bicycle Revolutions
Philadelphia Bikesmith
Cadence
CETMA Cargo
Chuey Brand (www.chueybrand.com)
Cyclehawk
Fabric Horse
Fiks:Reflective
Firehouse Bicycles
Firth & Wilson Transport Cycles
HubBub Coffee
Keswick Cycle
Lone Wolf Cycling
Philadelphia Hats
Red Bull
Sparrow Cycling Couriers
Stuart Leon
TrackOrDieNYC.com

April Fools Fun Ride Patches

Patches are in, and they look great! Only three days left to preregister for the April Fools Fun Ride. Saturday, April 9th is the date, don't miss out on Phillys' funnest bike event!

April Fools Fun Ride Pre-Registration

Pre-registration for the April Fools Fun Ride is officially open! Saturday April 9th is the date. Here's some early work on the bandana and tee designs. You can only get this stuff if you register ahead of time, so go check out the April Fools section on the website!

R.E.Load April Fools Fun Ride 2016

 

It's time once again for the most fun bike event of the year! The 12th iteration of the legendary R.E.Load April Fools Fun Ride is set to take place on Saturday, April 9th, and promises a ton of crazy mini-events and general partying while riding to spots all around the city. Unlike the average alley cat race, our format rewards having fun and just a little bit of luck, rather than pure speed and tactics. We welcome all riders! Whether you're a seasoned messenger, commuter, weekend warrior, or just have a bike you can borrow for a day, we guarantee you'll have a blast.

Prizes will be running deep and will include a ton of custom R.E.Load gear, as well as goodies from our friends both local and around the globe. Although the event is open to all age, please be aware that there will be some stops at bars, and the after party is 21+.

12th Annual April Fools Fun Ride
Saturday, April 9th
Registration at 1pm
Ride starts at 2pm, ends at 6pm
Start is at Penn Treaty Park
After party TBA

Changes to our Standard Bags

We've made a small change to our standard setup. We are now offering a Tri-Pocket feature on our bags and are making it the default option for standard setups. We have found the Tri-Pocket to be a more useful, unobstructed storage option over the organizer, allowing you to isolate medium sized items with easier access.

For a look at other options that we offer on our Made To Order bags, you can head on over to our Features page.

Holiday Shipping Schedule

Be sure to get those holiday orders in on time! R.E.Load bags are the handiwork of just a couple of expert artisans, so lead times for many items are going to be longer than usual. To help you schedule the perfect gift, please be aware of these important deadlines for bags and accessories that need to be delivered by December 24th:

ITEM	CUT-OFF	NOTES
Build Your Own Bags	Wed, Nov 25, 6p EST	Rush charges apply after this date No graphics after this date No Megapacks after this date
Stock Made to Order Bags	Wed, Dec 2, 6p EST	Rush charges apply after this date No Megapacks after this date
Accessories	Wed, Dec 9, 6p EST	Rush charges apply after this date

1st Annual R.E.Load Bike Swap & Auction!

1st Annual R.E.load Bike Swap and Auction
Sunday, September 6th
12pm - ­ 5pm @ R.E.Load
608 N 2nd St

We're hosting a swap and you're invited! There's no charge for a space to display your goods and we'd love to see it filled with bike parts. Space is limited so please shoot us an email to reserve a spot!
reloadeast@reloadbags.com

We also have a bunch of used R.E.Load bags to sell that have been filling our closets. There will be prototypes and other lightly used bags that the crew has made over the years. Come through to find crazy deals on some one­-of­-a­-kind stuff!

For those looking to buy ­ or sell ­ big ticket items, there will be an auction starting at 2pm. Simon Firth (Firth & Wilson Transport Cycles) will be our auctioneer. There is no commission for any of the auction items, but we do reserve the right to deny items based on estimated value. So please, nothing but your finest.

We're happy to have Victory Brewing Company as a sponsor, we will have some of their newest beers available.

Hope to see you soon!

2015 April Fools Fun Ride: The Recap!

It's been a few weeks since our 11th April Fools Fun Ride, and we've been looking through pics and reminiscing about what a great turnout we had for the event. This year, we had just over 150 participants, not to mention all of the volunteers and general people hanging out at various checkpoints and the start/finish. We'd sincerely like to thank everybody who helped make this year's ride possible! Special thanks to Mike Dailey, whose tireless work leading up to the event garnered us a ton of prizes, awesome volunteers, and a great spot for the after party (GARAGE on Passyunk).

We were lucky enough to host the event on the very first sunny Saturday of the year, and for three hours, riders cruised through Center City, West Philly, and South Philly, enjoying what basically amounts to a huge rolling party and collecting points in the attempt of prizes and glory. When it was all said and done, Molly Raimont came away with the top prize, posting well over a thousand points! For her efforts, she walked away with awesome prizes from R.E.load, Cadence Collection, Fabric Horse, Lone Wolf cycling, MSC Customs, CycleHawk, Fiks Reflective, Abus Locks, and Rothera. Additional Sponsors included Firehouse Bikes, Bicycle Revolutions, Philly Bikesmith, Stuart Leon Law Offices, Sly Fox, Little Baby's Ice Cream, Outlaw Print Co., Awesome Dude's Printing, and the Philadelphia Bicycle Messenger Association.

Although it's a lot of work, it's an absolute blast to throw the fun Ride, and we're looking forward to an even bigger event next year, with more twists and more pranks! To check out more pics, head over to our Facebook page, and don't forget to go over to the Demoncats website for some profession photo coverage by the legendary Kevin Dillard.

Final Results: 

1. Molly Raimont
2. Elizabeth Pinney
3. Michael Hoepfl
4. Pat Woods
5. Rajijv Sainath
6. Chris Porvaznik
7. David Essom
8. Pat Perhosky
9. Pat Engleman
10. Kenneth Mascaro

April Fools Race is Back!!!

All photos courtesy demoncats.com

It's back! The best race ever! A Philadelphia legend! The R.E.Load April Fools Race is back from its hiatus and is ready for fun!

Be ready for shenanigans, foolery, misadventures and a great time!

April 11, 2015. Don't miss the triumphant return!

Red Tag Holiday Sale

If you're still shopping for presents or just looking for a good deal, we're running a store wide holiday sale on all of our in-stock bags.

Check out the Sale section on our website or come in to our shop in Philly, and look for the red tag to save up to 40% on our hand produced, locally made bags!

Awesome New Camo

True Timber MC2 Cordura®!


We recently got a few yards of this awesome pattern that combines the brightness of safety orange with the woody print of the "newer" style of hunting camouflage, and, of course, it sparked a discussion of why such a bold pattern would exist in the first place.

Basically it comes down to how deer see:

So, that super-bright orange isn't exactly invisible to a deer, but it isn't nearly as bold as it is to us.

If you really want to get a deer's attention (or a deer hunter's for that matter), get a Small Flightpack made out of this sick camo, and go run around in the woods!

Hit us up if you're interested in getting something made out of this stuff.

Holiday Deadline Pushed Up

Today we had to make a tough decision. We had previously laid out the holiday deadlines to stretch a little further into the month, but we have been experiencing an overwhelming volume of orders, and unfortunately, we have no choice other than to stop taking requests for Build Your Own and Made to Order bags at midnight tonite. We absolutely hate having to call it so early, but we really have no choice. There's just no way we can make any more bags in time for the holidays!

So, if you need a bag in time for holiday delivery, get that order in NOW! Keep in mind, we also have a huge number of existing bags in the SALE category, and there's always our gift certificates, which will allow the recipient to select something from our stock, or build an item of their very own!

We will continue to make our accessories for as long as possible, and should be able to stick to our original deadline calendar...however, to be safe, we really recommend getting that order in sooner than later!

Again, our sincere apologies, but this will insure that everybody gets their gifts on time!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Introducing the new collection Leave Nothing Behind

Desgined and hand printed by Mari Montacelli. Handmade by Ellie Lum and Mari Montacelli in the RE Load SF studio one stitch at a time. Limited run of bags, frame pads, and t-shirts.

An Interview with Mari Montacelli

How old are you?
I am twenty-four years of age.

How long have you been silkscreening professionally for?
I've been silkscreening for six years.

How did you come up with the textile print & concept for this collection?The graphic came from a drawing I made after I kicked a rock, not on purpose, broke one of my toes, though. Made it so it was uncomfortable to walk. It started me thinking about how movement can become restricted easily if you think about it in only a familiar way. That's where the "ghost claw" on the shirts comes from, its an alternative means to keep on, keepin' on. The lines of the textile are from the shirt graphic, in the wings of the bird, then keeping everything black and white. 

What is your favorite thing about making things?
Welp, everything...

How long have you been apprenticing at RE Load?
A little over a year.

How would you describe your apprenticeship?
Its rad. I'm getting to learn how to sew without having to sit in a class. Its pretty similar to how I learned to screen print. You learn a new step, then take into production, pretty much fail at it, then get better eventually because you have the chance to do it over again. But mostly you start to understand why things are made in a certain sequence or why a part goes in a specific place. That understanding isn't confined to the one singular thing you are making, its starts to creep over into the way you understand other stuff, how they are similar and why they need to be different. 

How do you feel about art school?
I have never attended, so I can't really say one way or the other. I was sort of thinking about it, however, financially I couldn't justify it, so at the time my main gripe was that it should be cheaper... Now though, I know it would have been all bad. I have a hard time learning in group settings- I can't pay attention with thirty other people milling about, walking, breathing and what not. Then having a professor demand you process information the same way they do by writing papers or making presentations. Personally, it would have been a waste of time.  If it was taught more as a trade, like,"Here is this technical skill, this is how these instruments work, now GO do as you will with them." I would be interested, but maybe thats more what you'd call design and not art...? 

Tell us about Four Lttr Wrds? 
Four Lttr Wrds is the name of my business. Most screen silk screen shops print large volumes of t-shirts or posters. And thats always a good-time, usually though, the jobs I get are these little unique projects where I get to put a little more
creativity and time into completing the job. 

RELOAD/REUSE: Plockets now available!

We are committed to throwing less and less away, and in light of this, we are continually developing innovative ways to use our big pile of cordura and liner scraps. As we enter a new year, we renew this committment to be more sustainable by keeping things out of the landfill, leading us into a plethora of new projects in 2013. In particular, I have been mulling over what to do with the pile of liner & Cordura scraps under my cutting table that resembles a futuristic rats nest made by a very industrious rat obssessed with abrasive-resistant waterproof fabric. I have resolved that this unruly mess has to be dealt with-and not by just casting it away to the landfill for the most industrious rats to use for the next thousand years.
Hence, a new product born out of discarded scraps, Plockets, living wall planters! Plockets are great to plant herbs, succulents, or any indoor plant. People have also been known to use them as hanging wall organizers for keys and mail. The possibilities are endless! Plockets take influence from the current living wall planters on the market and put a RELOAD/REUSE spin on them. Stay tuned for more projects that carry our committment to conscious consumption forward. We will be continually offering recycled and upcycled products that use our production scraps and cast-offs. These products will be tagged with our RELOAD/REUSE label. Up-cycling lends itself so well to creativity!
Each Plocket is unique in patterns, color, and style. Plockets are available in 2 sizes, Small and Large. *See product description for specifics Plockets are specifically designed for indoor or outdoor use. * See description of each product for specified indoor or outdoor use. Outdoor Plockets have drainage holes, indoor ones do not. For custom Plocket orders please email ellie@reloadbags.com
Plockets featured on social media!
Magical Realism
Proper Hustle
Cordura FB