Trinity

[Mulligan]

The further delay of the Trinity bag is analogous to when your favorite band promises that their next album will be a return to their classic sound, but then the album gets delayed a year, and then another year.

Adding to the disappointment is that none of the other TB bags that have debuted over the past few years are remotely similar to the Tri-Star or Western Flyer. As mentioned in an earlier post, I never carry a bag in backpack mode. I have a Western Flyer that is either carried by handle or strap. While I like the WF, it is slightly too large (in length) to be a EDC bag, and in most instances it is too small to be a primary travel bag.

The early posts about the Trinity were extremely interesting, as the small size would perhaps be the ideal EDC briefcase, and the large size would be the ideal primary travel bag. I still hope that is the case when the bag debuts in late 2022?

Even a teaser photo would be appreciated.

[Darcy]

The further delay of the Trinity bag is analogous to when your favorite band promises that their next album will be a return to their classic sound, but then the album gets delayed a year, and then another year.

Too funny: I often joke about something similar with both Tom and Nik! Sometimes we have design meetings and I'm like, "What would our experimental side project bag look like?!"

And we do have a deck of Oblique Strategies here in the conference room...

The early posts about the Trinity were extremely interesting, as the small size would perhaps be the ideal EDC briefcase, and the large size would be the ideal primary travel bag. I still hope that is the case when the bag debuts in late 2022?

Even a teaser photo would be appreciated.

It could be that one size of Trinity debuts first, or it could be two sizes. Tom's also talked incorporating some of the design elements of the Trinity into a briefcase and another bag. Who knows, maybe one of those will debut before the Trinity travel bag! It all depends on various factors outside of our control, including when the design inspiration strikes.

We're hesitant to share a teaser photo (at least not right now!) because it's very likely that the bag will continue to evolve, and it may end up looking quite different than it does now.

[Darcy]

Maybe tangential to Chris D.'s point, one thing I love is the concept of Tom Bihn Labs for new products:

i.e., "these are products we believe people [for reasons] will like for at least one production run & available by pre-order; when & if TBL products are added to our standard ready-to-purchase website stock is TBD"

For me, it's a PERFECT way to engage customers in the messy development process, while also drawing a line between what's available and what's brainstorming ...


If I've summarised that correctly (and I probably haven't ), then I'd say there could be a few messaging additions:

(1.) Clarify all new products (??) are Tom Bihn Labs (i.e., techonaut, Trinity) with visual confirmation on the website ("hey y'all, you're in the TBL products area"), maybe with a new logo up top or similar & link to the explanation - of course if that's true since I'm just making up that it is

(2.) For each TBL pre-order & limited product, create an indicator (e.g., breadcrumbs) to show how close it is to a standard-in-stock product (e.g.,: pre-order > limited prod > std product). Thus something like the Techonaut = pre-order, LGD = limited, S22/30 = standard production thus no longer TBL. Each category would have it's definition (e.g., pre-order may never happen again, limited was a pre-order and having a 2nd run but may never happen again or may become standard)

(3.) Create a new TBL Research category with its own progress indicator for the TBL development process, e.g., conceptualizing > early-stage design > field prototyping > production testing > pre-order prep. This would be a place to detail the Trinity and previously the Techonaut, with bright-flashing-lights disclaimer: don't plan on these products ever coming to fruition!


As a customer, having this info right on the main website would be awesome, i.e.,

● Main: here are the standard in-stock / in-production products, but click here for TB Labs products
● TBL: here are the pre-order products happening right now, here are the limited products, but click to see what's cooking at the experiments table
● TBL Research: here's the scoop on things we're cooking up, but we may cycle and/or at any time cancel with maybe the exception of "pre-order prep" - so, for example, maybe 3 weeks ago the Techonaut would've entered this stage which would tell customers "in the next 6ish weeks this product will likely enter TBL pre-order status"

In this way, right from the web site, customer would know where every product stands and have plenty of head's up on pre-orders & limited runs

Apologies for the lack of brevity and/or of course, just my 2 cents!

Thanks for these thoughts GrussGott -- much for us to consider and think about!

Re: tagging products on the collection pages with "design lab" or "pre-order" or "coming soon" ~ that's something that's in the works and will be part of a future website update.

I think there's three things that prompt hesitancy regarding the other suggestions. !!! Bright-flashing-lights warning !!! that I'm thinking out loud here, any thoughts shared here are more tools than truths and ideas may or may not materialize:

1. Our natures as designers: it depends on the design, but we err on the side of being more thoughtful and methodical, so there's some discomfort around putting anything out there that feels "experimental".

2. 2020 resulted in a lot of pent-up design energy and delayed designs ~ and now, in 2021, we're debuting more new designs than ever before. If a design is done, we want to get it out into the world so people can start using it sooner rather than later. That's all to say that a lot of our photo taking/description writing/product page building time is completely booked right now working on designs that, while they might be Design Lab designs, they really are totally done and ready to debut. There's basically two of us that do all of the new design launch work, if you can believe it!

3. It's always been a fine line for us to share details re: the design process. Some folks appreciate it or find it helpful and it's frustrating or annoying for others. It's impossible to make everyone happy yet we do like to offer specificity as much as we can: in our minds, it's a demonstration of respect to give folks information that can potentially help them navigate whatever it is that they are navigating (bags in this case!) And we do like to aim for the possibility of mutual understanding and benefit. I think your suggestion here of the bright-lights-flashing-disclaimer could help.

I'm actually working on some bare-bones preview pages for the upcoming two women's small backpack designs that'll be available for pre-order in August: they'll have simple software line drawings as the placeholder photos and just a few details to begin with.

Some additional thoughts:

I'm thinking of writing a blog post about Design Lab and what it means to us, the intention behind it. Here's what I wrote for the Techonaut page:
"The intention behind Design Lab is to create a stage for our spontaneity, creative inspiration, and need for exploration. It’s not so much experimental — we wouldn’t release something that didn’t meet our own standards and tests — as it is a way to celebrate the joy of design. Design Lab is our attempt at recognizing spontaneity and creativity, all balanced by thoughtfulness, thoroughness, and conscientiousness."

There's an upcoming design that could be a candidate for some kind of variation on some of the suggestions you've shared above: perhaps just a blog post series, opening up the comments to sharing questions and feedback as the design gets closer to being debuted.

[Darcy]

I would be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed with the Trinity news, but then I went to look for my "Plan B" bag and it's even worse.. It looks like the WF is no longer available in Halcyon, do you know if it will be restocked at some point Darcy ?

We do plan to make more Western Flyers and Tri-Stars! And they'll be offered in Halcyon. The production schedule is so packed at this point that I'm not sure when we'd be able to fit them in, so no ETA on those (yet!)

Did you reach out to [email protected] to ask if we by any chance had a Halcyon WF in the warehouse?

[sturbridge]

I'm actually working on some bare-bones preview pages for the upcoming two women's small backpack designs that'll be available for pre-order in August: they'll have simple software line drawings as the placeholder photos and just a few details to begin with.

Jumping up and down with excitement!! The Luminary didn't really work for me (too tall) , and the Sprout was >this much< too small. I'm hoping one or both of these hit that sweet spot for this short person.

[Darcy]

Jumping up and down with excitement!! The Luminary didn't really work for me (too tall) , and the Sprout was >this much< too small. I'm hoping one or both of these hit that sweet spot for this short person.

Yay! Glad you're excited. Sprout too small as in, the backpack straps or the capacity of the bag itself?

[GrussGott]

I love the existing WF/TS and while I'd love a few tweaks - like a pilot-like front org section with its own room - I'm definitely willing to wait for the design that TB loves.

My grail travel bag is still a briefcase-style mix of the techonaut & Synik 30 & WF:

• Briefcase style,
• Tech sleeve, maybe w/ a tablet space too
• Hideaway edgeless BP straps,
• Lots of org (e.g, like the Pilot or Synik) with its own space incl for a water bottle,
• Clamshell or beavertail opening,
• Quick access pockets,
• Luggage pass-through
• Great duffle carry handle
• Max size to fit under an airline seat (30+L)
• Two-tone halcyon version
• Two-tone 1050d version

[sturbridge]

Sprout too small as in, the backpack straps or the capacity of the bag itself?

Straps. I could just barely put the bag on fully extended with a tee shirt- so with a coat or a sweater this would not work at all.. The capacity was perfect, as were the pockets. I really tried to make it work. And it was so stinkin' cute. Even without a stuffie hanging out the top like the Yellowstone blog pictures.

[BowTrek]

The further delay of the Trinity bag is analogous to when your favorite band promises that their next album will be a return to their classic sound, but then the album gets delayed a year, and then another year.

Adding to the disappointment is that none of the other TB bags that have debuted over the past few years are remotely similar to the Tri-Star or Western Flyer. As mentioned in an earlier post, I never carry a bag in backpack mode. I have a Western Flyer that is either carried by handle or strap. While I like the WF, it is slightly too large (in length) to be a EDC bag, and in most instances it is too small to be a primary travel bag.

The early posts about the Trinity were extremely interesting, as the small size would perhaps be the ideal EDC briefcase, and the large size would be the ideal primary travel bag. I still hope that is the case when the bag debuts in late 2022?

Exactly! <3 I want a primary travel bag that is more like a giant pilot than anything... and while I don't expect that, I do expect some differences from the Tri-STar / WF and am excited to see what they are.

[BowTrek]

Darcy - no chance of a tentative answer to my question about the interior organization including straps/zippers (similar to Tri-Star) versus pockets (like the Pilot)?

No worries if you can't answer yet, just wanted to make sure it didn't get lost in the slew of recent posts! You are all amazing.

[Darcy]

Darcy - no chance of a tentative answer to my question about the interior organization including straps/zippers (similar to Tri-Star) versus pockets (like the Pilot)?

No worries if you can't answer yet, just wanted to make sure it didn't get lost in the slew of recent posts! You are all amazing.

I'm glad you tagged me because I missed responding to your question!

I asked Tom and he said he's still working on that aspect of the design, so it remains to be seen.