White shimmery spots on brand new Savotta gear – factory defect or normal?
Hey everyone, I recently became a Savotta owner (multiple products) and I'm struggling to understand what's going on with the material. I've noticed small irregular spots on the outer face of the Cordura — they're roughly circular, and they shimmer under light. I'm familiar with the fact that Cordura is a specific material and I know about the PU coating, but this is happening on the outside of the fabric.
I honestly don't know if it's a factory defect, some kind of dirt, or just how this material behaves. The gear is practically brand new. I've had it for less than three weeks and haven't taken it into the field even once. There's no way it could've gotten dirty like this from me.
I've been browsing through photos here and I feel like I can spot similar marks on your gear as well, on the outer side of the material, but I'm not sure.
To be clear — I can tell the difference between normal Cordura creasing (which gives a slightly whitish appearance along fold lines) and what I'm seeing. For example, in my Jääkäri XL I see exactly that — slightly white-ish marks along longer, irregular lines, which I completely accept as natural from bending/folding. These don't shimmer and have that characteristic elongated shape. The problem I'm describing is different: near-circular spots that shimmer under light. Water, soap, and dish soap don't remove them. As a fun fact, when I started gently scraping one of these spots with a toothpick, some sort of layer started coming off. I tried the same thing on an unaffected area right next to it, and the Cordura was completely intact.
That said, as I mentioned, I can see very similar things in many of your photos posted here. So what do you guys think — should I try returning this to the retailer, or is this just how it is? I'm not some kind of perfectionist, but this is expensive gear and it simply bothers me that I can see this and can't remove it myself. Unless it really is normal and caused by something I'm not aware of. My stuff hasn't been exposed to moisture, sunlight, or any unusual pressure — literally nothing.
Also, a separate question: do your items also arrived loose in the cardboard box, no individual bags, no wrapping, nothing. The gear is definitely new (each piece still has the factory cardboard info tag attached), so it's not a return or anything like that. Is this how Savotta normally ships things, or is that just my retailer? Only the backpack came in a bag (which was already open, by the way), but everything else, from the Hip Belt Askare to various pockets (2x2, 3x4), multitool pouch, and similar accessories, arrived with no packaging or protection whatsoever.