Sunday, April 11, 2010

Archival Production Report

Terry w/flap musette fabrics

Terry Shuck of T & J Custom Sewing in Springfield, Oregon, makes all of our Archival Clothing baggage. Terry started out in shoe repair and later worked as a fabric cutter, machine technician and backup soft goods design assistant for Burley Design Cooperative in Eugene, Oregon. We had heard it was difficult to find a quality sewing contractor, so it was our luck that Terry was the first listing in the local yellow pages, and he's just ten miles down the road. From our first meeting, we have been impressed with Terry's remarkable knowledge of his craft. When we started out we had nothing more than rough home sewn prototypes and hopeful drawings. Terry was able to take our ideas and transform them into a finished product. We really appreciate Terry's ability to work with our original designs and robust materials (heavy duty waxed twill and mil spec cotton webbing from the UK). It was through Terry that we found several subcontractors and material suppliers, and he's been patient and helpful as we learn the ins and outs of managing a production schedule. Here are a few images from a recent visit, in which Terry - who sews all of our bags himself - constructs our Totes and Flap Musettes.

Operating fabric saw

Adding leather washers and brass snaps to flap musettes

Basting AC tag

Joining panels

Bias tape delivery

Swapping tape folder for walking foot

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looks like a great quality product! Glad to see that there are good local companies that can make top notch product nowdays!

Anonymous said...

Any chance of more local fabrics?The UK is far away.

Lesli Larson said...

Anon--

We'd love to source US made cotton webbing for our bags. Unfortunately, most of the narrow ribbon suppliers in the US only produce nylon web in mil spec weaves. Min order for custom cotton web in best quality mil spec runs around 10,000 yards. Our current supplier primarily provides web to the UK military. They produce the best quality webbing we've found.

Our waxed fabrics all come from Fairfield Textiles in New Jersey (woven from US cotton).

Almost all of our hardware comes from the U.S.

One of the primary challenges of manufacturing your own product in the U.S. is sourcing material components. You'd be surprised by how many products are no longer sold or made in the U.S. Further, many U.S. vendors require high minimum orders (10,000 is a common number).

Anonymous said...

what is the name of the supplier of the mil spec webbing and can consumers buy in small quantities for DIY projects or do you have to be a manufacturer?