Fabric Swatch Kit

[sweetwert]

I did a search to see if this had ever been suggested, but did not find anything, so here goes:

For those color hounds like myself, have you thought about offering a swatch kit of the different fabrics & colors, for a price of course? Knitting companies & furniture stores offer them routinely. It would be so helpful when trying to decide between plum/olive vs. plum/wasabi, or punch/steel vs. punch/navy, etc., etc.

Also, turquoise would be a great addition to your stable of colors - it would be great with cocoa, olive, navy, cork, sand, steel, black . . .

[bluedawg]

i love this idea! the colors look different depending on what monitor i use (home vs. work), and i remember being really surprised to see a plum/olive imago in person, because the colors didn't seem how i had imagined them.

[timothy]

This is also something that could cost a few dollars (to prevent freebie hounds), but come with a same price or nearly-so discount. (As in, it costs $5 + USPS shipping, but comes with a $5 voucher off a Bihn product.)

With a little card of swatches, people could hold it up to whatever it is one holds swatches up to ... harder to do (and less accurate) with an on-screen photo.

timothy

[Nana8]

I did a search to see if this had ever been suggested, but did not find anything, so here goes:

For those color hounds like myself, have you thought about offering a swatch kit of the different fabrics & colors, for a price of course? Knitting companies & furniture stores offer them routinely. It would be so helpful when trying to decide between plum/olive vs. plum/wasabi, or punch/steel vs. punch/navy, etc., etc.

Also, turquoise would be a great addition to your stable of colors - it would be great with cocoa, olive, navy, cork, sand, steel, black . . .

What a great idea! I love the idea of charging a fee but then having a coupon for the cost of the swatch kit off the future purchase of a bag!

[Buzzard]

I love this idea! My general experience has been that, at least with my monitor, the colors look lighter on the screen than they actually are. This was especially true with my steel/sapphire Medium Cafe Bag. The sapphire is quite a bit darker in reality. That's not a bad thing - I like it anyway, but the fabric swatches would be a lot better than relying on the screen.

[timothy]

I also think that having a bunch of swatches around causes (for good or ill) a constant stream of temptations. "Hey, this goes great with the trunk of my car! Bookshelf! Favorite sweater!" This is a general claim, not specific to bags, etc. Paint, tile, same thing. And because the Bags of Bihn are mail-ordered, I suspect having a swatch-collection around would make people feel more like managers of their own supply chain, rather than (a word I despise) "consumers." Isn't "customers" much nicer? In that color choice is very personal / subjective, it might also lead to more group orders, sort of like (but not much like) tupperware parties do

timothy

[maverick]

you know, you could have some fun with this and make a swatch bag!

for example, take 3" square pieces of each color of a 1000d cordura, and stitch them together to make the outside of the swatch bag. use 3" square peices of 500d cordura stitched together to make the lining of the bag.

do the same with 3" square pieces of each color of the 1050 ballistic nylon for the outside and a similar lining with the 500d cordura.

this bag could be the swatch organizer pouch if you add a zipper.

i know it is a bit labor intensive to create, but boy would it be beautiful!

what do you think?

[Nana8]

It sure gets my vote!

[timothy]

A color-sample, toy-sized bag is a cool-sounding idea, but another thing which strikes me is this: a wheel-in-wheel "calculator" of fabric on some sort of ultra-tough paper or thin plastic, so someone could dial up a combination ("Yes, olive and punch is *actually* what I want!"). Along the lines of old-style (round) slide rules, constellation finders, etc.

Or with a 3d, innermost wheel that could have the (smaller) number of available dyneema choices. The whole thing could be perhaps 4" round, with a magnet on the back, reinforced thumbtack hole towards the top, airplane logo in the very center, URL and phone number around the outside in the same font as the "Tom Bihn" of the airplane logo. To be displayed on the finest of refrigerators and corkboards

timothy

ETA: wrt sweetwert's comment below: Yes, that (color calculator) is a blue-sky idea, of the kind that I would laugh and mock if it was done by a typical company A split-ring with small squares of fabric (with little grommets on each) would actually do just as well, more elegantly for being simpler -- swing out the relevant colors so they're visible, while the others are tucked in the user's hand. This is why I am not paid the big bucks as a designer of product samples, I guess!

[sweetwert]

Wow, I'm starting to see how the Tom Bihn forum folks contribute to the creative synergy of projects! I had been thinking of a simple sort of set up; something like a key ring with the fabric swatches hanging from it. Now we've got color swatch bags and color wheels!

[MsMoon]

Also, turquoise would be a great addition to your stable of colors

I would LOVE to see turquoise! A shade similar to the Caribbean Sea!

[backpack]

I would LOVE to see turquoise! A shade similar to the Caribbean Sea!

Me too or even a dark teal. Maybe both

[MsMoon]

Me too or even a dark teal. Maybe both

We could just have a Caribbean-themed palate! I just might have to re-purchase all of my bags in those colors...

[timarelay]

I would LOVE to see turquoise! A shade similar to the Caribbean Sea!

Me too or even a dark teal. Maybe both

I love teal and turquoise! Sorry, just had to say that. =D

[scotlib]

I am reminded of a recent blog entry, http://www.tombihn.com/blog/node/916, about wanting to use fabric strips, to not waste anything. Some kind of swatch kit would be a creative use :-)