Discussion of New Colors, New Designs

[BigBadD]

What are the chances of Tom Bihn offering customers the option of choosing their own colour combinations for bags when ordering? It may mean a longer wait for the bag to be made, but is that a possibility or too hard to implement?

I like the idea if TB had a stock of the most popular colour combinations, and then other customer chosen colour combinations made to customer pre-paid order with some increased leadtime based on TB workload.

[Kevo]

What are the chances of Tom Bihn offering customers the option of choosing their own colour combinations for bags when ordering? It may mean a longer wait for the bag to be made, but is that a possibility or too hard to implement?

What about an occasional contest to win your own bespoke bag - choose your own fabric/color combination and maybe a couple of minor customizations? Could be a way to "beta test" a new bag and/or color combo before starting mass production.

[Shortie]

We must have been really excited about Ursa/Acuity! Thanks for spotting that, fixed it



That's actually a photo of the new Halcyon, but that's not the real color: I made the photo black & white just to tease @sturbridge The actual color will be revealed late this year or early next.

I just updated the blog post to include info on the Design Lab PCSB. Pasting it below:

Design Lab Edition Packing Cube Shoulder Bag

Note: the page for the Packing Cube Shoulder Bag will be updated within the next few weeks to show the Design Lab edition bag, which features the Design Lab label, original shoulder strap attachment style, and a new type of zipper. It'll also be available in a potential new fabric: a blue 6,6 ripstop.

New colors!

NW Sky 200 Halcyon
Solaris 200 Halcyon
Coyote 200 Halcyon
Sitka 200 Halcyon
Ultraviolet 200 Halcyon
Island 200 Halcyon
Acuity 200 Halcyon
Black 210d Ballistic
Coyote 210d Ballistic
Cobalt 6,6 210d Ripstop

@Darcy On the Cubelet page the photo for the Solaris Cubelet is missing.

[backpack]

What about an occasional contest to win your own bespoke bag - choose your own fabric/color combination and maybe a couple of minor customizations? Could be a way to "beta test" a new bag and/or color combo before starting mass production.

Darcy has explained in many posts, when the topic started to come up, many years ago.

Tom and now, Nik and Darcy design items, then Tom Bihn Crew set up to make prototypes, usually in black, because this is the easiest color to get, and change the designs because of the Crew feedback.

Then a final pre-production item is made and the Sewing/Cutting Crew give more feedback, and one final design is made.

At that time, Darcy will start to give tantalizing clues about the type of bag.

We wait and wait and wait and wait, well... you get the idea, and, one day, Darcy on the forum, says "look there is a new design, check that link"

Then, everybody on the forum looks at the link, says oh and ah, I like it...

Then sometimes later or at the same time, like for the Year End Holiday Season and in the Spring and late summer, she will talk about, then show new fabrics or new colors in present fabrics.


New potential fabrics need to be tested, re-tested, then a sample color send and tested then approved, produced and send to the factory to be made into bags.

The fabric tests are extremely thorough and the people at Tom Bihn usually are the beta testers, sometimes, a fabric is not strong enough, too difficult to get, too difficult to dye, etc... And it doesn't make it to the product lineup, so there is no need for us, the customers to know about it.


Bespoke colors are not possible because Tom Bihn Inc is a small factory that need to combine peak efficiency, with first class sewing that combines strength and beauty.

For example, a fabric color batch is cut, then sewn together to form (an outside or inside), then bartacked (ultra strong sewing made with a bartack machine) then zippers, buckles, and the famous o-rings are added.


Now, because Tom Bihn Inc has a worldwide following of aficionados, new designs and colors have debut days. The day that items "in production" are actually in stock and able to be bought, sometimes are purchased and out of stock, one minute after they are available for sale.

When that happen, people who could not get the items, ask for them and the Crew has to make more, right away.

Imagine the chaos, if from those same people, 10% wanted another lining color, 20% wanted another lining and zipper color and the majority of people wanted the same bags as the one they could not get during the debut.

It is not possible in such small factory.



This year was really different because The Crew, the people who work at Tom Bihn Inc, had to stop making bags because, in Seattle, it was not considered essential.

This is when, Tom showed us the simple pattern for the mask the Crew was producing.

The ultra efficient people of Tom Bihn made lots of masks and they had a buy one/give one, for that first mask design. So many rushed to buy the first mask design that Tom Bihn Inc was able to donate thousands of masks to non-profit and essential workers.

Users of the first mask design, called V1, gave feedback and Tom and the Crew made and are making 4 mask versions. Color choices are also limited because it is more efficient.


Tom Bihn Inc has only be able to produce and sell bags and accessories since the Seattle area authorized non-essential productions to start again.


I personally "bespoke" my Tom Bihn Bags, by buying Tom Bihn Accessories such as Pouches, Key Straps and others that match or contrast with the colors of the inside or outside fabric.

Look at all the pictures of Tom Bihn Bag/Accessories combos and I can be sure that you can find so many permutations, no two are alike.

[Tancata]

We must have been really excited about Ursa/Acuity! Thanks for spotting that, fixed it

I just updated the blog post to include info on the Design Lab PCSB. Pasting it below:

Design Lab Edition Packing Cube Shoulder Bag

Note: the page for the Packing Cube Shoulder Bag will be updated within the next few weeks to show the Design Lab edition bag, which features the Design Lab label, original shoulder strap attachment style, and a new type of zipper. It'll also be available in a potential new fabric: a blue 6,6 ripstop.

I noticed the standard PCSBs will be available on November 30th. Will the Design Lab version(s) be available then, too? And, is there any chance of a picture of a Design Lab PCSB for the page, as well as the new text? :P

[Fluff]

The Design Lab PCSB description page doesn’t mention O-rings....Are there any?

[Darcy]

I noticed the standard PCSBs will be available on November 30th. Will the Design Lab version(s) be available then, too? And, is there any chance of a picture of a Design Lab PCSB for the page, as well as the new text? :P

It's actually only the Design Lab PCSBs that'll be available on 11/30. Photos have been updated to show the DLPCSB (hehehe! what an acronym!)

The Design Lab PCSB description page doesn’t mention O-rings....Are there any?

Yes! Same O-rings as the original PCSB; we'll update that tomorrow.

[Darcy]

Update on the 11/30 debut!

These bags will debut on 11/30 for order:
Original Small Shop Bag
Original Large Shop Bag
Small and Large Travel Trays
Design Lab Edition Packing Cube Shoulder Bag
Monster Truck

And there's lots of new photos of each bag — click above to see them. (Well, except for the Monster Truck, no new photos of that one.)

By request, we've split the debut into two different times. You'll see the following date message on each of the pages:

On Monday, 11/30, the first 1/2 of the inventory of this bag will be available for order at 7:00am PT and the second 1/2 of the inventory will be available for order at 1:00pm PT. We’re releasing the inventory at two different times on the same day to give folks in different time zones or with different work/family schedules more opportunities to order.

Bags that *might* be finished in time for the 11/30 debut or a early/mid December mini debut:
Truckāsana (we're still building that page)
Truck
Shadow Guide 23

[autolycus]

@Darcy , for those of us who are interested in a shop bag or two, and maybe a Monster Truck (More likely want a Truck rather than Monster) to go along with a SG23... in case the SG23 doesn’t debut on 11/30, will there be a way to place an order and hold for other items like there has been with preorders?

Thanks!

Edit: and now I realized that I skipped over the Truck as a possible for 11/30. So I guess my scenario could be varied! But I know I want at least one or two shop bags on 11/30 and an SG23 when it’s available and probably a Truck when it’s available. So many wants! 🙂

[Darcy]

@Darcy , for those of us who are interested in a shop bag or two, and maybe a Monster Truck (More likely want a Truck rather than Monster) to go along with a SG23... in case the SG23 doesn’t debut on 11/30, will there be a way to place an order and hold for other items like there has been with preorders?

Thanks!

Edit: and now I realized that I skipped over the Truck as a possible for 11/30. So I guess my scenario could be varied! But I know I want at least one or two shop bags on 11/30 and an SG23 when it’s available and probably a Truck when it’s available. So many wants! ��

It's looking very likely that the SG23 and the Truck will join the other bags for the 11/30 debut. That said, we are working up some options in an effort to help folks save on shipping just in case there will be a second debut in December. It won't be the hold order option, though: the logistics with held orders get a bit hairy if they aren't tied to a pre-order.

[pammy]

Life has been super busy, so I’m probably behind on what’s new, but I’m liking the Cobalt 210 cerylon fabric. It’s pretty cool. Colorwise it looks like Island. Can the mods weigh in on how Island and new Cobalt compare in color?

@Darcy , are swatches available to order? I always like to see new fabrics and colors in person before I order.

[Darcy]

Life has been super busy, so I’m probably behind on what’s new, but I’m liking the Cobalt 210 cerylon fabric. It’s pretty cool. Colorwise it looks like Island. Can the mods weigh in on how Island and new Cobalt compare in color?

@Darcy , are swatches available to order? I always like to see new fabrics and colors in person before I order.

This all came together so last minute that I've realized the moderators haven't even received samples! Yes, you can request swatches, although they will be limited to scraps from the cutting process (we want to make sure to save the Cerylon on the roll for another batch of DLPCSBs.)

[pammy]

This all came together so last minute that I've realized the moderators haven't even received samples! Yes, you can request swatches, although they will be limited to scraps from the cutting process (we want to make sure to save the Cerylon on the roll for another batch of DLPCSBs.)

Oh, that's excellent. Thanks so much!

[ayazgood]

I thought there were hints awhile ago of possibly adding interior pockets to the PCSB. Maybe that was just on someone's wish list?

I know some folks don't like the offset strap attachments on the current PCSB, but I like them that way. The straps get in the way of opening and closing the zippers on my EC and my Sidekick.

[b1gsky]

@Darcy The DLPCSB looks great! I really like the look of it with the new zippers. Can you say when the Halcyon Side Effects are going to be available?