Today we have a bit archival and a bit atypical review for you, at least as far as the photos go. We usually do not keep the wraps we have for testing just for ourselves, but in case the time and place is convenient we try to show and offer them for brief testing to our eager fellow-wearers at some of the meet-ups of our local babywearing groups. Yup, groups as in plural – Ostrava, our home city, is large and there are many smaller babywearing sub-groups, from which probably the biggest and the most active one is the one from Poruba, where I and Linda live, i.e. ‘our’ group. 🙂

We are used to organize meet-ups and picnics throughout the summer where we like to test different wraps and carriers. We just pack our blanket, home-made food and children and sit down with them in one of the local parks. And at one of these summer picnics, our babywearing friends had the opportunity to test the wraps from the common nest of Wild Slings and ROAR.

The dark biker-punk Wild Slings have already popped up at our website. This time, we tested another (a little less dark) piece from the Wild Slings portfolio and a ring sling of the ROAR brand. ROAR has the same spiritual father as Wild Slings, Maciej Aleksandrowicz – so why suddenly ROAR and not other wraps under the already better-known brand Wild Slings? Because the ROAR wraps are different – minimalist, inspired by the pure Scandinavian design and cheerful children’s book illustrations. Aside from the drops of KAP KAP (which is btw. an interjection for dripping sound in Czech and Polish) there are, for example, cute bears, cacti or even matrioshka dolls among the ROAR patterns; in my opinion, this would not really fit into the otherwise dramatic portfolio of Wild Slings with its moths, dragons, skulls, and cross-bones. As far as the composition of the wraps goes, this is another difference between the Wild Slings and ROAR wraps – in Wild Slings, you can find a large variety of different blends while the ROAR wraps are always all-cotton – cushy, cuddly cotton, soft as a feather.

Wild Slings Anciet Brushwood

Composition: 50 % linen, 50 % Italian combed cotton 

Weight: 260 g/m2 

Size: 5

One of the Wild Slings beauties, of the identical composition, is already making my babywearing world brighter at home (Les Ténèbres La Nuit), so I kind of had a notion of what to expect from this fern piece – it is wonderfully smooth, soft and pliable if broken-in, with an elegant, slightly glossy look. While it is rather thin, it is also surprisingly supportive and cooperates well while tying – just as you expect from a broken-in skinny. The tightening was easy and despite being that smooth it did not slide too much and held in the carry in one knot. However, in a single layer carry it was not twice comfortable even with Emilka’s 9 kilos (which is, by the way, visible in the picture with the sagging-breastfeeding front wrap cross carry), but with multiple layers (reinforced FWCC or double hammock) we enjoyed the wearing very much and I suppose it would be supportive enough even with a heavier wearie. 

Concerning the care of this wrap, with such an amount of linen you need to be friends with your iron (however, I have already encountered much more wrinkling pieces); otherwise, I think this wrap is quite durable – overall, all the Wild Slings’ twill is dense and not prone to pulls at all. 

And the fern pattern… you have already seen it somewhere, haven’t you? And even in this grey/grey colourway, huh? Honestly, nothing new under the sun, there are many brands that offer such a pattern, just a few examples I can think of right now without browsing the internet – almost iconic Sling Studio’s Bracken, Solnce’s Fern (how simple 😀 ), Sjala’s Rowan… In case of Wild Slings, it would be nothing really original – BUT – if you look closely, you can find a bug hidden in the fern here and there. I love this detail so much that the Ancient Brushwood is definitely my design favourite among all the fern wraps in the world. 

ROAR KAP KAP (noir) ring sling

Composition: 100 % combed cotton 

Weight: 260 g/m2 

I was very curious about the ROAR wraps right from the release of their first wrap, the enchanted forest ZEN (also sometimes called ‘The Foxes’) – black and white minimalism plus little animals and ‘elegant cuteness’ – that is exactly what I imagine under the term ‘stylish design for children’. KAP KAP is probably the simplest ROAR design, very sweet and elegant at the same time. I even wore it with its white side out at my friend’s wedding and it looked great! 

The wrap is amazingly soft and pliable and surprisingly wrinkle-proof, being an all-cotton piece – which is a quite convenient property for a ring sling. It slides fine through the rings, it is easy to tighten and what I can tell from the maximum time of wearing being about 30 minutes, it is also quite supportive in its weight category. It was comfortable and the carry did not move an inch, the shoulder felt fine; however, my back was sore after a while – it does not like one-sided cargo at all. This is not a problem of ROAR, of course, but of all the ring slings generally – after that half an hour, my back was crooked as rainbow and I was happy to let Emilka run around for a while. I also tried to tie it in the rucksack carry – this ring sling is 2 metres long which is barely enough for a RS back carry on both shoulders even for very petite wearers and wearies. As you can see in the photos, we managed to tie the rucksack without the wrap holding on its tips. The RS rucksack is not the most comfortable carry to begin with; however, ROAR did a good job in it (comfort or discomfort of this carry is a question of being used to wearing it – and my back is certainly not 😉 ).

Bottom line – this is a great ring sling which is easy to work with, even for a beginner; moreover, it is as easy-care as can be and not prone to pulls at all. The only thing I am a little bit sad about is that it is primarily sewn for the left shoulder – according to the direction of the drops, if you want to wear it with the darker side out (the one without the fold), while I wear ring slings on my right shoulder. The white side is also beautiful; however, I do not really like the folded part on the shoulder. But this is just a detail. 😉