What Are The Best Slackline Brands?

If you’re new to slacklining, you might wonder about the major brands of slackline webbing and slackline accessories. Depending on where you live, you might have certain local brands but there are also some major global brands particularly from the United States and Europe.

The major names in slacklining equipment that you’ll come across include:

• GIBBON Slacklines
• SLACKTIVITY Slacklines
• Balance Community
• ZenMonkey
• Slack Mountain
• Equilibrium Slacklines
• Raed Slacklines
• Spider Slacklines

The best slackline brands in more detail

GIBBON Slacklines – A German-based company and probably the widely known name in slacklining. GIBBON is a very high profile manufacturer well known for their CLASSICLINE webbing products as well as their indoor Slack Rack product for slackline practice in your home.

SLACKTIVITY Slacklines – Based in Portugal, they’re another well-established slackline company founded in 2009. It’s a spin off of ETH Zurich if you’re familiar with them, too. Their online store offers many webbing options for slacklining and highlining, their innovative seaHorse highline weblock as well as wall mounts for slacklining without trees,

Balance Community – Colorado-based Balance Community offers a wide variety of webbing options as well as gear and kits for beginners and experts and everyone in between.

ZenMonkey – ZenMonkey sells slackline kits, classic kits and tree protectors. Their products are widely sold on Amazon which you can check out here.

Slack Mountain – France-based Slack Mountain sells a wide variety of slackline kits, accessories as well as trickline, paragliding and climbing gear. They were founded in 2011.

Equilibrium Slacklines – EQB is a Czech-based slackline company that sells their webbing, kits, shackles, carabiners and more.

Raed Slacklines – Raed Slacklines is a German company that offers slackline kits, rodeolines, longline kits and highline gear for professionals. They supply slacklines for beginners and advanced slackliners.

Spider Slacklines – Spider Slacklines is an Italian company that sells slacklines, tricklines, longlines and highlines. Check out their resources for learning slacklining including locations to consider in Italy.

Slack Inov – Slack Inov is a France-based slackline manufacturer who is actually partnered with Spider Slacklines. Founded in 2014, Slack Inov focuses on slackline, trickline, longline and highline webbing, sets and related accessories. They can help beginner, expert and indoor slackliners.

You’ll notice that many of these major manufacturers refer on their website to the slackline community – a few even include the word in their company name – and attempt to help support and build slacklining across the globe.

They also tend to offer links to upcoming events as well as training and learning information to get involved in slacklining and improve your skills. Some even offer suggestions as to where you can slackline legally around the world.

Key slacklining equipment you can purchase

• Webbing – This is the slackline itself. It’s typically sold in widths of 1″ and 2″ with some odd measurements in between also available. Many experienced slackliners go for the 1″ whereas beginners might choose a wider 2″ model.
  
• Ratchets – These are the tools you use to tighten the slackline around the trees or other stationary objects that you’re attaching the slackline to. You may also use carabiners, shackles or other related parts.
  
• Tree protectors – Tree protectors are an important part of slacklining. They are attached to the tree and the slackline is fastened over top. As the name would suggest, tree protectors prevent damage to the outer bark of the trees you’re using but can also prevent damage to the webbing. In many public areas where slacklining is allowed, tree protection is required by law.
  
• Soft release straps – Another part with an obvious name that gives away its role: A soft release system helps you easily and safely release tension on the slackline when you’re taking it down.
  
• Safety line – This is a line that gets sets up above the slackline and parallel to it. Think of it as training wheels for beginner slackliners. While some people like to take their lumps and fall off the slackline until they can keep their balance, a safety line is something you can hold onto to keep your balance as you’re learning. It’s often included in beginner kits.

What should a good starter slacklining kit include?

A good starter slackline kit includes the parts mentioned above, namely the webbing itself, ratchets, tree protectors and soft release straps and possibly a safety line.

A good quality kit will also come with a bag to store everything in. Keeping the slackline and ratchets dry and away from moisture and dirt is an important part of maintaining your kit for the long term.

Depending on how frequently it’s used and cared for, a slackline can last for several years or longer. Having said that, when the webbing shows fraying and even small tears, it should be replaced for safety reasons.

The actual cost of a new slackline isn’t high when you consider what you’re using it for and the high value you should place on your safety must come first.

How long should my slackline be?

The minimum length of a slackline that has been set up to walk on is widely recommended to be 16′ (5 m). This is the minimum length that is generally suggested by experienced slackliners and by manufacturers.

Remember that you require a few extra feet on both ends of the slackline to wrap around the trees, poles or other fastening devices. You can easily find slacklines that are 20′ (6 m) and up depending on how long you’d like to start with.

If you go for a line that is any shorter, the amplitude on the line will be very high, meaning the line will tend to shake too much and you’ll have great difficulty staying on.

If you’re planning on making slacklining a frequent activity, you can increase the length of the line you walk on over time as you improve. In that regard, it’s best to buy a slackline that is long enough to last as you progress and desire to walk a longer distance. This will prevent you having to buy another slackline sooner than you’d like.

Summary

We’ve discussed some of the best and most well known (and easy to find!) slackline brands.

Two things to keep in mind when shopping for slacklines:

1. Slacklines companies often shut down. Don’t be surprised when you view a slackline article from a few years ago and see a reference to a slackline company you’ve never heard of before. Then when you go to check out their website, you find out they are out of business. Many slackline manufacturers and sales companies have shut down especially during COVID-19 times.
   
2. Don’t go cheap. If you see a solid slackline name like GIBBON retailing for twice the price as another lesser known brand, you can usually safely assume that the second brand might be a case of “you get what you pay for.” Your safety relies on you getting a good quality brand with parts that are reliable.

On that last note, check out my article on Certified Slackline Gear to learn more about various certification bodies that exist around the world (particularly in Europe) that certify slackline equipment for customers around the world!