When The James Brand released its first carabiner last year, it illustrated how the small company plans to take on every aspect of everyday carry, not just pocket knives. The carabiner, called the Mehlville, was unique in that it used two compartments and a lightweight aluminum construction (it’s explicitly not for climbing). And just as the company slowly rounded out its collection of knives, now it’s doing the same in the carry category with a new biner called the Holcombe.
Compared to its predecessor, the Holcombe is smaller and lighter, but it still uses that dual-compartment construction to dampen the chance of losing the items it’s meant to hold onto. The Holcombe, which comes in titanium or coated stainless steel, is almost explicitly for the person who wants to carry keys on the waist. In fact, The James Brand made it seven-eighths of an inch wide, the exact width of a belt loop (but it’ll work fine attached to a backpack strap, or elsewhere, too). It also threw in a scraper/driver tool on the bottom end to give it that extra bit of utility.
In the Holcombe, size is the main play. If all you want to do is carry your keys and maybe pry open a bottle, you don’t need a full-sized carabiner that can support hundreds of pounds on a climbing rope. You need something that looks good and won’t get in the way, and that’s exactly what this carabiner is.
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