TING Sling Full Review
Posted: 23 January 2008 by Adam Vaughan
Think hammocks and you probably think backpacking, Glasto and large versions of Rab C Nesbitt vests. This hammock made from seatbelts, by contrast, is more designer furniture than hippy accessory -- it attracted stares, compliments and questions by the bucketload during its fortnight at SmartPlanet Towers.
The material's unique, as hammocks go. Each one is hand-woven and stitched from seatbelts destined for British ambulances but rejected on the grounds they fluffed their 2.5-tonne belt test for strength or were the slightly wrong shade of green. Rather than let them add to our landfill mountain -- which is forecast to flash a 'no spaces' sign around 2015 -- designer Aya Ting sources them and transforms them into the TING Sling before you.
Most of the seatbelts are sourced from the UK, keeping transport emissions low, but some are also sourced from continental Europe. Interestingly, the alternative colour options come from seatbelts rejected by two traditional eco bogeymen, easyJet (dazzling orange) and Jaguar (innocuous beige).
Although you get an inkling from the photos, it's worth emphasising how well-made these hammocks are in reality. Each one of these finely interwoven slings takes TING two days to make, and it shows -- the quality is top notch from the robustly stitched edges to the perfectly woven slats.
More importantly, this is one mighty comfy hammock. It's surprisingly wide -- despite fairly broad shoulders, we had an arm's width either side of us to spare and the sling kept its shape thanks to the spacer (a metal bar and V-shaped belts) at each end. As anyone who's ever tried a bargain basement hammock will know, some poor hammocks fold up, whip you up and dump you on the floor.
Officially, the TING Sling will hold 120kg, though we tried it with two blokes weighing around 65kg each and it showed no signs of strain at all. We didn't want to break the thing by adding more bodies, but the makers at TING say that they've happily had three people in it simultaneously. As well as being strong, the material appears quite hard-wearing, too -- we had an accidental drink spill which didn't leave a stain.
We're not mad on the rope that's supplied with the hammock. It's a bit thick and tricky for knot-tying, although on the plus side it's strong and you should have little trouble on your own. TING provides two tough carabinas (the rock climber's favourite) which provide a bridge between rope and hammock. You could, of course, just use these to directly clip into hooks on trees, concrete fence posts or walls.
Aside from the rope, there's little to moan about here. You could gripe at the £200 price tag, but although the TING Sling is more expensive than some basic £50-100 rope ones, there are plenty of higher-end hammocks that cost £300 or much more.
So, UK-made, landfill-diverting and brilliantly-designed -- what's not to like? We're smitten with the TING Sling. Take a test doze at TING's new store from March and see for yourself.
Quality
Value
Ethics
Green
