New video by Tom's brother Dan: Seattle Factory

[Darcy]

Watch on YouTube.

Or, watch the high-resolution version sized for the iPad.

[maverick]

absolutely fantastic!

[maverick]

hey! there's a new bag in that video! very sneaky, Darcy! ;-)

[crpeck]

I liked the shipping label - Jason Bourne, Paris :)

[Darcy]

I liked the shipping label - Jason Bourne, Paris :)

I love that you noticed that so quickly! The phone number is his Swiss Bank account number. :)

[Just]

I love the video! Makes me smile. Great job, Dan!

[ex machina]

This is a delightful treat. :D
Thank you for sharing this peek into the engine of happiness which makes and sends us smiles sewn in America. :)

[moriond]

Loved the video -- especially the look at the bag assembly details and all the other folks who work on assembling them. So that's what the bolts of material look like when they're laid out for cutting. Also like the size of the UPS van parked to haul away all the shipments. Doesn't it make you happy to think of all the people who are waitng for these bags? Great job, Dan.

[ex machina]

I recently viewed the movie, Schmatta: Rags to Riches to Rags, which was a very good look at the death spiral of American garment manufacturing. What was once the largest employing industry in NYC, with over 700,000 jobs has pretty much disappeared.

Dan's film show's that not all manufacturing has left the country. To watch tradespeople work their skilled craft, having fun in an excellent atmosphere, is very nice. I found it quite enjoyable to see where my bags and accessories are made and put some faces to the products that are my pleasure to own. I have no guilt in owning Tom Bihn gear, indeed I take pride that my TB purchases are products of a fine, healthy work environment. No children were exploited in the making of my TB gear. :) Go Tom Bihn!

[gmanedit]

Great video. I loved the unrolling of the fabric.

ex, there's actually a lot of manufacturing going on in the U.S.; productivity is high. The problem is automation—high productivity with little human labor. It's not just outsourcing.

Around 1950, Norbert Weiner said: "Let us remember that the automatic machine . . . is the precise economic equivalent of slave labor. Any labor which competes with slave labor must accept the economic conditions of slave labor. It is perfectly clear that this will produce an unemployment situation, in comparison with which the present recession and even the depression of the thirties will seem a pleasant joke."

[Nana8]

Great video! What I like most is that everyone seems very happy! That elevator sort of gives me the creepies, tho.

Great job, Dan! Thank you!!

[lauragayle]

Love the video *and* the music!

My mom worked in a garment factory for a while, as did many of the women (and a few men) in my hometown in Virginia. BTW, my hometown had 3 major woodworking factories (including Lane Furniture), 2 - 3 major sewing factories, DuPont, and the Bassett and Stanley furniture factories were just down the road. There was a real pride in what products were produced from my hometown. Sadly, most of those jobs are no longer there.

So I especially loved seeing the faces and hands of the folks who make my beloved TB bags and pouches. THANKS!