The Monty

Redefining Cool … Naturally ... Skip the ice, keep the cold, with The Monty backpack cooler from the Coolamon® Collection of ice-free coolers. Through the magic of pure Australian Wool, your Monty will adopt the temperature of whatever you put in it and hold temp for hours. Keep Cold things Cold, or Hot things Hot for hours, with no artificial help. Or, drop in a reusable freezer block to keep contents refrigerator cold up to 24 hours.

Going ice-free means no wasted space, no extra weight, and no water to ruin food & other contents, or leak and leave a soggy mess. This 10.9 Liter soft-sided cooler is perfect for keeping food, drinks, medications, cosmetics, personal electronics, and other temperature sensitive items temperature controlled … without ice!

Sheer Simplicity ... An active insulator, pure Australian Wool is one of the best insulators on the planet. Water-repellant, but vapor absorbent, the Wool insulation absorbs the temperature from the contents, creating a thermal lock. As the temperature rises (or lowers), the Wool recycles the cold (or heat) it has stored back into the bag for extended life.

Man-made, largely petroleum-based insulators, simply create a passive temperature barrier. Unlike these man-made materials which lose their insulating capacity when wet, Wool maintains 100% of its thermal properties in all conditions.

Sheer Performance ... Wool fiber is extremely durable, making it particularly well suited for rugged, repeated use applications. Aussie Wool is more durable than synthetic and other natural fibers. When paired with ultra-tough Australian oilskin canvas, your Monty has a life expectancy measured in decades, not mere months or years.

With The Monty, we have added capacity to conveniently carry additional gear on the outside of this rugged pack, to take you further, in greater comfort, along Life’s adventures. You can wear this beast of a bag out, but you’ll have a great time doing so.

Sheer Sustainability ... The World has awakened to the importance of using renewable, sustainable resources for the long-term health of our Families and Planet. Australian Wool is organic, abundant, renewable, and sustainable. In addition to outperforming and outlasting man-made insulators, Wool is biodegradable and compostable, offering many environmental benefits to the ecosystem. We can simulate Nature, but we cannot replicate Nature. When it comes to finding the best insulator on the planet, there is nothing better than Mother Nature at her very best.

Sheer Brilliance ... The genesis of these amazing ice-free coolers can be traced back to the great Wool surplus of the mid-1990’s. Barbi & Leigh Hemming produced Wool blankets, outerwear, and other Life accessories on the Gold Coast of Australia. Concerned for their Farmer friends who produce Wool, Barbi & Leigh began searching for new uses. In a stroke of brilliance, they asked themselves: “We use wool to keep people warm, can we use wool to keep things cold?”

The Hemmings set out in hopes of creating a soft-sided cooler which would keep ice frozen longer than traditional ice-box coolers. Little did they know until the completion of their original Australian Cooler Bag that they had in fact created a cooler which does not require ice.

In 1995, the Didgeridoonas brand of Wool-insulated coolers was launched Australia. In 2000, the Phillips Family of Cape Woolamai Mercantile were given a Woolly Wine Cooler as a gift. In 2005, we began importing these premium ice-free coolers to America. In 2017, in response to the desires of our many American Friends, we introduced the first of the Coolamon® collection of premium+ Aussie ice-free coolers tailored to the American Lifestyle.

Sheer Support Cape Woolamai Mercantile is in the business of making Life more comfortable … guaranteed. Visit the “What to Know” section of this site to get ideas on how to best use and care for your Coolamon® ice-free coolers, and to learn about the Cape Woolamai Performance Guarantee.