Dekka ring slings are hot new items in the brand’ sportfolio. I already had the opportunity to tie one at the Grand Babywearing Degustation in Brno in June – the beautiful all-cotton Elementy Betty. It was pure joy to work with, using the XL sling rings was really an ingenious choice and I became very excited about it even after the short moment I wore it at that meet up.
We should have had “testing holiday” in Ostrava – we originally planned it to be “testing free” for real with Jana, but it turned out to be “holiday full of testing” in fact. First ones to intrude with our test-free-relaxing holiday was the Dekka family who came up with the Grand Summer Dekka Tour and provided four of their wraps for testing. And being nifty girls here in Ostrava another 6 Dekka wraps showed up for testing among our fellow babywearers!
Two of the wraps we tested were these ring slings – Plectrum Luka and Tilia Michael.
Plectrum Luka ring sling
Composition: 93 % cotton, 7 % linen
Weight: 320 g/m2 according to the manufacturer, 340 g/m2 counted by us
Luka came to us in loom state and I was the lucky one who tied it for the first time ever after washing. I fell in love with the long Luka wrap in spring just right after its release – compared to other Plectrum wraps, broken-in Luka was a bit more pliable and softer in my opinion and moreover the wonderful green multicolor…! Anyway, brand new ring sling made of a wrap with linen – I was worried at first to be honest, but in the end there was nothing to be worried about. It only felt a little bit scratchy, otherwise it was very easy to work with. The wrap was sliding through the XL rings with no effort, stayed in its place without any problems and felt like a fluffy cloud on my shoulder.
There are only two tiny things I was not that happy about – the “greener” side of the wrap (which is the better looking one in my opinion) is the one with the fold on the shoulder and the black Dekka tag sticks out in a somewhat unaesthetic manner, to be honest. The other thing is the length of the wrap – I, with my dwarfy 155 cm of height, had to wrap it around the rings twice not to drag it on the ground. However, a ring sling this long is suitable for RS back carries – I will mention this in the Michael review later. My only recommendation is that Dekka could consider offering shorter sizes of ring slings suitable also for us midgets (or for those who do not enjoy dramatically waving super-long ends of the wrap).
Tilia Michael ring sling
Composition: 80 % cotton, 20 % tussah silk
Weight: 315 g/m2 according to the manufacturer, 345 g/m2 counted by us
We already tested Michael as a long wrap, shortly before it was officially released. Me and Linda, we were both excited about it and the only thing that prevented us from buying one of our own was the fact that were are not really fans of its leafy pattern. I would only repeat myself if I wrote more about its properties – I will just say that it did not disappoint me as a ring sling as well. It was sliding through the rings easily just as Luka, held tight in the carry and felt even more pleasant on my should (partly because of the fact it was not brand new and not broken-in at all like its green relative). However, very long for my midgety height again.
I brought this Michael for a walk in a back carry – simple RS rucksack. Using the otherwise wonderful XL rings showed a bit problematic in this carry – XL rings are truly extra-large and there was no space for them between my shoulder and my arm. It is possible that if I took more care about their position when tying the RS it could have been a bit better, anyway Dekka is always a thick Dekka – there was too much of it on my shoulders and in the RS rucksack, in which the shoulder “straps” are not secured (by a candy cane or tibetian knotless finish etc.) it tended to slide down of the shoulders.
To be clear – these ring slings are great, comfortable and despite their high weight very easy to work with. One who desires a really supportive ring sling should definitely look into Dekka.
Our thanks for the opportunity to test these wraps go to the Dekka-Škapa family (who provided the Luka RS) and our dear fellow wearer Martina (who lended us her Michael)!
