Introduction
Pavo Textiles has done it again, and my babywearing journey will never be the same – I am blown away by Futurism Charcoal!
This post is slightly different than any of the other reviews I have written, because Futurism Charcoal has changed my babywearing life. So I will tell you about my babywearing life before I met Futurism Charcoal, what it was like for us to meet, and then about my babywearing life now that Futurism Charcoal is a part of it.
Before Futurism Charcoal
First, I want to say that in over 2.5 years of babywearing, I have never used a wrap with any animal fibers (wools, alpaca, cashmere) because of a longstanding wool allergy that results in several days of rashy-discomfort after exposure. I have gone out of my way to avoid wools in my life, eschewing dozens of cute winter sweaters and scarves every winter. Even though I have heard that alpaca doesn’t trigger wool allergies in the same way, I’ve had a lot of trepidation about trying alpaca because of the fear of setting off my allergy with any wool-like fiber…until I saw Pavo’s Futurism Charcoal. If you follow me on any social media, you may have noticed that I’ve been drawn to monochrome wraps lately, and Futurism Charcoal immediately captured my full attention with its understated black warp and charcoal grey alpaca fill in a beautifully abstract pattern. Futurism Charcoal helped me (finally) decide that it was time to take the plunge into alpaca, and to risk an allergic reaction to see what would happen. (Spoiler alert – alpaca did NOT trigger my allergy. I am safe and probably snuggling Charcoal right now).
Introduction to Futurism Charcoal (How We Met)
Futurism Charcoal was just released by Pavo Textiles at their Chicago trunk show, along with a few other beauties. A wonderful Pavotee from Chicagoland was able to pass Futurism Charcoal on to me in NYC. When Charcoal arrived, I was surprised by the thinness in hand. Since this was my first foray into animal fibers, I wanted to “do it right” – which meant that I ordered new wrap detergent (Eucalan) and a drying rack from Amazon. For those who may have not yet ventured beyond “easy-care” woven wraps, Alpaca is a hand-wash fiber – another place I never thought I would be with a woven wrap. I have tried to avoid “high-maintenance” fibers thus far in my babywearing journey, but again, Charcoal’s beauty drew me to it. Handwashing was actually not nearly as painful as I thought it would be. I used the Eucalan I had ordered and followed this wonderful graphic.
I live in an apartment that does not have a washer/dryer, so hand washing Futurism Charcoal was actually much easier than running down to the basement to wash and dry, like I do with most 100% cotton wraps. I rolled Charcoal in a towel and squished (per the graphic) and then spread it out to dry on my rack.
It took about a day for Futurism Charcoal to fully dry, probably because it was folded upon itself in order for it to fit on the drying rack. If I had more space, I would have laid it all the way out and I bet it would have dried pretty quickly that way – but a day was not long to wait. After consulting with some Pavotees, I decided to forgo ironing and just get some ups. Our first carry in Charcoal was Wendy’s Double Hammock with a Candy Cane Chest Belt (Wendy’s DH CCCB). This is my go-to back carry right now, since I feel the chest pass is very supportive, and the two leg passes keep my carry secure no matter how much my big guy wants to bounce.
My first impression of Charcoal was that it felt incredibly thin. I try not to let the in-hand feeling sway my expectations, especially when I am wrapping with Pavo woven wraps, since they seem to have some sort of magical, levitating qualities. But it is important to note that I am not a lover of thin wraps, because I usually find them quite diggy. Charcoal’s thinness, however, made it amazingly easy to wrap with, even this first time before it was thoroughly broken in. The combination of alpaca and cotton fibers gives Charcoal a nice amount of glide, which made tightening my passes easy…so easy that I have to redefine what it means to have a wrap that is “easy” to work with. Futurism Charcoal is the new easy-to-wrap-with wrap. Even with the easy glide, however, there is nothing slippery about Charcoal – once the passes are in place, they are happy to hang out there and wait for the wrapper to get onto the next pass.
Once my carry was tied off, I took a breath and realized what a levitator Futurism Charcoal really is. I have described thick wraps as “marshmellowy” and I have definitely felt my big kid’s weight be well-supported by a wrap, but nothing has ever compared to this. He felt weightless! Let me reassure you that my wrap jobs are, in now way, good enough to make a big kid feel weightless – I have weird bunching and slacking all over the place most of the time, so you know that my review reflects real-life babywearing!
Since Wendy’s DH CCCB was so remarkable for our first carry, we actually haven’t branched out to anything else in Futurism Charcoal yet, but I still wanted to share with you how much I love this wrap. Y’all, I wore my 32 lbs, bouncy, leany toddler for over an hour in Futurism Charcoal, and we only unwrapped because he wanted to ride in the stroller – I was cool to keep going. We strolled all along the Hudson River, enjoyed a crisp fall day, and even threw some acorns into the river. Futurism Charcoal remained supportive and comfortable for me and my wrapee for the whole afternoon.
After Futurism Charcoal
I am no longer fearful of either alpaca or handwash-only fibers! An entire catalog of woven wraps are now available to me that have previously been on my “never” list. I also finally understand all the fuss over the WQs of wool – this alpaca blend has opened my eyes to what wool-devotees are so in love with. I am still probably too fearful of itchy allergies to try a wool woven wrap, but the WQs of this alpaca-cotton blend have definitely piqued my animal-fiber curiosity, and Futurism Charcoal is already in my top five favorite woven wraps I have ever tried.
The Stats
weaver: Pavo Textiles – Guild
size: 5, 4.2 m
soft tape in hand (STIH): 4.48 m
width: 26-27 in
blend: 66% cotton, 34% alpaca
wrappee: 32 lbs toddler
carries tried: Wendy’s Double Hammock with Candy Cane Chest Belt (Wendy’s DH CCCB)
wrap qualities (WQs): pleats itself pretty well, moderately dry, flat, bouncy, airy, thin in hand, glides well and then stays in place (but not grippy), very moldable, new wrapper friendly, super supportive, very little stretch, soft, fuzzy, slightly textured, light weight, neither saggy nor diggy