Our Company

Eliam is the latest addition to our staff. He specializes in customer service though he, as all of us here at TOM BIHN do, wears many hats. Eliam possesses a keen eye for detail and has an excellent sense of aesthetics. With Katy's excellent customer service training, Eliam graduated to answering phone calls during his first week with us. If you call our 1-800-729-9607 number, it's likely that Eliam will answer. In fact, feel free to give him a call (during our hours of 7:30am - 4:00pm PST) and welcome him to the team. Or, post your welcome message in the TOM BIHN Forums.

Our Seattle Store/Factory Showroom is open this Saturday (August 7th) from 12:00pm - 4:00pm. We might have the Ristretto for iPad available in Cocoa/Olive and Cocoa/Steel.

For directions to our store and its address, visit our Contact page.

Our Seattle Factory Showroom/Retail Store will be open Saturday, June 19th, from 12:00pm - 4:00pm. See you there! Note that starting in July, we will go back to being open only on the first Saturday of each month.

Camera Insert
Tom's brother Dan - a professional photographer who you may remember created this video about our Seattle factory - has been on assignment testing the Camera Insert. Tom and Dan have made an already cool camera bag even better. Most of the materials have arrived and they're great, too - what's left is finalizing the new design features that Tom has added. We hope to make the Camera Insert available for pre-order in August or September.

The Field Journal Notebook is on its way. You can be certain that it is coming soon. What's the hold up? Tom uses his Field Journal Notebook prototype every day and wants it to be absolutely perfect. This means sending the prototype to our sewing machine sales reps and investigating whether a new sewing machine would help the fabric lay even better for a flawless finish - that's what we mean by absolutely perfect. We hope to make the Field Journal Notebook available for pre-order by mid-July.

The Parental Unit has been delayed by one of the specialty components - we will keep you updated on its progress.

Remember the "Kennedy Center" travel bag? That's the new Western Flyer - the version with the rolling luggage handle pocket.

Coming later this year/early next year: a gym bag, a garment bag, and more types of Organizer Pouches.

Our Seattle Factory Showroom/Retail Store is open today, June 16th, from 12:00pm - 4:00pm. See you there! (We'll next be open on Saturday, June 19th.)

Early this year, we began working with our UPS representative Chris Moore to implement the UPS Carbon Neutral Shipping Program. The program allows us to tread a little more lightly on the Earth. Through the program we will purchase carbon credits to offset 100% of the carbon created by our UPS shipping. We will become one of the first UPS clients in the Pacific Northwest to utilize this new Program.

The carbon credits or offsets are aimed at funding projects such as wastewater treatment, methane destruction and landfill gas destruction. UPS to used its proprietary calculation system to figure out how much carbon is put out by the shipping of TOM BIHN orders via all UPS services. This process is verified by Société Générale de Surveillance (SGS), an inspection, testing and verification company.

You, our customers, will notice that boxes and packages you receive from us that are shipped via UPS feature a Carbon Neutral sticker, designed to inform - and assure you - of our participation in this program. Other than that, your experience with us will be as usual - we don't charge you for the carbon offset. It's on us.

For us, offsetting the carbon footprint for our UPS shipping was a no-brainer: whenever and wherever we can make real strides to lessen the impact of our business on the Environment, we do it.

Our Seattle Factory Showroom/Retail Store will be open tomorrow - Saturday, June 5th - from 12:00pm - 4:00pm. On hand for viewing will be the Little Swift in Vulcana Natural Hemp/Recycled Rubber. We'll have the Tri-Star in-stock in all colors: Indigo/Solar, Steel/Solar, Crimson/Steel, and Black/Steel. We'll also have a special guest - Jeramey - on hand to answer any questions you have. See you tomorrow!

Our Seattle Store/Factory Showroom is open tomorrow - Saturday, May 22nd - from 12:00pm - 4:00pm. We'll have a Co-Pilot on hand for viewing and be testing a new way to watch maverick's great videos of our bags.

For directions to our store and its address, visit our Contact page.

Our Seattle Factory Showroom/Retail Store will be open Saturday, May 1st, from 12:00pm - 4:00pm. See you there! (We'll next be open on Saturday, May 22nd.)

Our Cork fabric - used in the The Swift in Cork, the Swiftette in Cork and Clear Organizer Wallet in Cork (both debuting Monday), Cork Sleeve for Amazon Kindle, Cork Organizer Pouches, and the Imago - has become one of our favorite materials.

First and foremost, visually and texturally it's a stunning material. Our Cork fabric is made from real cork wood from trees grown in Portugal. Every inch of Cork fabric is completely unique due to the natural variances in the cork wood from which it is made, ensuring no two TOM BIHN bags in Cork are alike. Each varying pattern tells a little of the story of the tree from which it came.

Above: a photo of a cork forest in Portugal via the Cork Industry Federation.

Above: a photo of the Swiftette in Cork, a smaller version of our Swift in Cork. The Swiftette debuts Monday for pre-order.

Cork fabric is strong, durable, and naturally water/pet hair/stain resistant. You might first think of wine bottle corks - though both are produced from the same trees, our cork fabric is much different. It has a supple hand similar to leather. We've subjected our Cork fabric to our own creative tests (such as strapping it to a bicycle for two months of winter commuting) as have customers (see ex machina's video demonstrating the flexibility of cork here). The verdict? Other than a natural darkening of the cork material over time, it's tough stuff - stronger than some of the synthetic materials that other manufacturers use, though not quite as strong as our 1000d Cordura or 1050d ballistic nylon.

Bark is harvested from cork trees (Quercus suber) every nine to twelve years - without killing or harming the tree. Planted in 1783, oldest - and most productive - cork tree in the world is known as the Whistler Tree because it serves as a home for many songbirds. Cork is recyclable, biodegradable and renewable. Cork forests in Portugal provide habitat for a wide variety of birds and animals, including the Iberian Lynx, the most critically threatened feline in the world. (The fad in recent times of wine makers replacing corks with screw-top caps has threatened the cork forests - and the animals who make those forests their homes by potentially forcing the cork farmers to replace their cork forests with fast-growing eucalyptus or neglect them entirely.) Pretty much every part of a cork tree is eventually put to good use, including its acorns and leaves. It's good for people, too: the cork industry in Portugal employes about 14,000 people.

Of course, the true test of our Cork fabric is time. Below is a photo of a Archetype in Cork (a bag we no longer make) prototype that has been used daily for the past five years. You'll notice the slight darkening natural to the cork fabric. Other than that, it shows little signs of wear.