Our Seattle Retail Store/Factory Showroom is open this Saturday (November 12th) from 12 – 5pm. The next Saturday openings will be on December 10th and December 17th. We’re also open every Wednesday from 10am – 4pm and by appointment (4750A Ohio Avenue South, Seattle, WA 98134
Stay tuned for a new bag announcement on Wednesday. (Not a trick.)
What you’re probably looking at in this photo of the Co-Pilot bag is the iPad 2 (inside of a Cache) or iPhone. Notice too the finished seams of the pocket I’m holding back to reveal the iPhone. We forget to tell you that we finish all of the seams on the inside of all of our bags because we can’t imagine why anyone wouldn’t. But we’re reminded, when we see bags from other manufacturers, that not everyone does. Here’s why we finish the seams: #1 – so the cut edges of the fabric won’t fray – frayed fabric can get caught in zippers and eventually can allow the seam to fail; #2 – finished seems will look and feel better to you, the user; #3 – lastly, they let you know we take this sewing thing seriously – we’re not trying to get it done and out the door as quickly as possible.
- Tom
Tom discovered the work of sculptor Bill Rhodes on a trip to British Columbia in 2003 and commissioned the artist to create papier-mâché salmon for our factory and retail store, then located in Port Angeles, Washington. For our new factory and company headquarters in the Georgetown district of Seattle, and to celebrate our close proximity to the Duwamish River, Tom asked Rhodes to create a kingfisher, tern, and heron. You can see the birds (and the salmon, soon to be installed) on display in our Seattle factory and store, which is open tomorrow, Saturday, October 8th, from 12-5pm.
As usual, our Seattle factory is making more perfect bags faster than we even expected. (Thanks, Janine, for the laugh.) Here’s what’s newly in-stock this week:
Ego, all colors
Large Cafe bag, all colors
Ristretto for 11″ MacBook Air, all colors
Tri-Star, all colors
Co-Pilot, all colors
Above: the Co-Pilot in new color Navy/Solar.
Our Seattle Retail Store/Factory Showroom is open this Saturday (September 10th) from 12 – 5pm. See you soon! 4750A Ohio Avenue South, Seattle, WA 98134
Remember, we’re closed Monday but back at work Tuesday. Have a good weekend! (We’ll do the same.)
We’ve purchased several new Juki DLN-9010 sewing machines recently. The DLN-9010 is a straight-stitch machine: straight-stitch machines are the least specialized machines in the factory and therefore the most utilitarian and most used.
Our new Juki DLN-9010, shipped from Orange County, California.
This particular machine is for Sim who will use it to take sub-assemblies and from them create a finished bag; basically, creating a 3D bag from 2D panels. It’s hard work and Sim is already appreciating having a new machine to help her.
There’s plenty of room for more machines in our new factory.
While the DLN-9010 is not specialized in that it can sew many different parts of many different bags, it is by no means simple: it is a needle-feed machine which means the needle not only goes up and down but it also moves (ever so slightly) back and forth, helping feed the fabric through. This is a big deal when sewing heavy fabrics, making the seams look better and the work a little easier too. The DLN-9010 also has a number of computer assisted features like automatic back-tack and thread trimmers; it’s light years ahead of the home Singer machine Tom’s grandmother gave him years ago. (Tom muses that we should really call them sewing tools rather than sewing machines — read some Ivan Illich and maybe you’ll get what he means.)
Son, our mechanic, does a pre-flight inspection on the new machine.
We’re working late on a new design.
But we can’t show it to you. Yet.
Riley and Ichiro (office dogs) insisted that we make time off, so we went to a little park overlooking the Duwamish River, just minutes away from our Seattle factory. (Tomorrow is the Duwamish River Festival.)
Have a good weekend. We’ll see you next week.
Brian is learning to drive the forklift in our Seattle factory.
Brian is the latest addition to our team. He’s an East Coast transplant and enjoys reading, music, movies and pizza, and riding his bike. Brian is currently reading Neil Young’s biography, and so far he loves Seattle for its coffee and Mighty-O Donuts.
Brian is really good at a lot of stuff, but he specializes in Customer Service. Visit our Seattle store and you’ll probably meet Brian. Calling to check on your order, or making a last minute change? Brian’s likely the one who will help you.
Want to welcome Brian to the TB crew? Post your message for Brian in the TOM BIHN Forums.
