INTERN ■ Technical Apparel Research & Projects Administration

[the-intern]

Greetings Folks! And welcome to the 30-day DIY Techwear Challenge.

My school and industry mentors have challenged me with the task of trying to create a new product - from scratch - everyday - for 30 days...

I'm a second year Student of Fashion Design - studying in the city of Vancouver. Since September I've been interning at a local research and design firm to gain exposure to technical fashion design, construction techniques, and the real-world process behind bringing wild ideas to life...
The studio where I intern is very tight-lipped about their outputs and involvements, however I am allowed to say that they have been quietly responsible for many of the innovations and products seen across the market - some of which I see posted quite regularly in fits around the community. My roll is still at the utmost bottom of the ladder (see:gopher), however my mentors are incredibly supportive in including me in and teaching me the in-and-outs of the nuances fashion design.

To be honest I'm a bit overwhelmed by the idea of trying to create 30x products from scratch, I've never done anything quite like this before... I'm going to give it my best shot to not only come up with a new product everyday, but also document every aspect of the patterning, construction, materials selection, etc. all the way through to a finished product.

I'm taking this online in hopes that of getting feedback/suggestions/criticisms as to what I should construct each day, at this point I've only a very vague plot of where to begin and what to make. Its my hope that I can share with the community a behind-the-scenes look into the production of the products we all love, while being able to experiment with new ideas we'd like to see but don't yet exist.

My obsession with techwear has become clinical at this point, made worse by the simple fact that I'm a broke student very much unable to afford the level of craftsmanship in my attire which has come to haunt me. To try and fix this I've been saving every penny I can since this 30-day challenge was presented to me last November. I'm happy to say -with the support of my friends and family- I've been able to put together a small pot of funds that I can put towards financing 30-days of techwear design.

At the end of this project, I'd like to be able to assemble the 30-day log and the products created into a portfolio which I can use to find a job. I'm still very new to this but it's clear to me that technical apparel and accessories design is where I want to focus my ambitions and career. With any luck this project will be an appealing application for a design position with one of the larger industry players.

The 30-day countdown begins!

Edited August 18, 2018 by the-intern

[the-intern]

DAY 01 - SLINGPACK

 
There's a tonne of sling packs out there, but none have every really appealed to me much. So in the spirit of exploration I decided to try and make one that suits me.  
 
My inspiration came from a few different packs out there, I put together a little gallery of my favorite ideas below:  
https://imgur.com/a/fKBbE  
 
I'll begin with the material selections - for the slingpack I chose the following:  
- Fidlock "SNAP" series buckles  
- Genuine Dupont CSM Aramid Hypalon (not the fake stuff you see everywhere)  
- The latest Dimension Polyant VX07 ripstop X-Pac  
- Apex Mills 3/8 aerospace mesh  
- Schoeller 3layer Softshell with Micorfleece backing  
- Custom webbing milled by Chun Wo Ho Co
- And misc. hardware from Woojin Plastics  
 
Take a looksee at the gallery of the finished product below:  
https://imgur.com/a/gnFii  
 
And lastly here's the project log:  
https://imgur.com/a/G5d7f

I also spent the evening digitizing the patterns for this project. I did it quite quickly so the labeling is lack but feel free to ping me if you have questions.
You can download the AI file here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/5el4ok16rz41u4b/01-30day-slingpack_theintern.ai
 
Any and all questions, comments, suggestions are welcome. Please share your thoughts!  
 
Thanks for reading. Tune in tomorrow. I'm going to make some small organizer pouches for EDC goods that can be strapped to the sling pack.  
 
-end-

Edited February 7, 2018 by the-intern

[the-intern]

DAY 02 - ORGANIZER POUCHES

Today I decided to see what can be done with a simple yard of fabric - whatever it may be. I got up early and spent the morning folding small rectangles of fabric until I found an idea that seemed like it had legs. The concept seemed simple enough so I intended to make several variants from several types of fabric but I ended up taking more time than expected so I stuck mostly to VX21 HS DWR X-Pac, Gore-Tex 3L Proshell, and some various leftover scraps of Liteskin LS07, and coloured VX21 Soft X-Pac.  
 
This ended up being a really fun project, the idea was to use completely one full yard of fabric and try and create a pouch system that can be manufactured easily in volume while also leaving little to zero waste left-over for the landfill. All in all I made quite a few little pouches today, some less successful than others... but once I got the idea dialed I sorta got carried away!  
   
Check out the final goods here - No-Waste Travel/Organizer Pouches:  
https://imgur.com/gallery/rXlcW  
 
I've gotten some requests on how to construct the no-waste pouches so I made a post with a bit more detail for those here:  
https://imgur.com/gallery/SSFeF  
 
And check-out the build process in the project-log here:  
https://imgur.com/a/KkdkA  
 
There's A LOT of varieties of X-Pac out there, all made by one company called Dimension Polyant, who up until a couple years ago focused primarily in the sailcloth industry for boats and tarp structures. When they released X-Pac they stumbled across a kind of holy-trinity of materials for the outdoor gear industry. The three factors that make X-Pac fairly incomparable are:  
1. It's cost under 12USD/yard is really reasonable. (so... those acronym pouches that cost 240euro likely cost <$3.00 to manufacture by my estimate... so... yeah...)  
2. It's laminate structure makes it very easy to cut, sew and work with. The latest lots I've worked with from DP also lay much flatter than earlier this year where all your pattern pieces rolled up into annoying tubes (one had to sort through a pile of scrolls after cutting). The structure is also fully waterproof and easy to seam-seal.  
3. It's durable as all hell at 1/3 of the weight of comparable Cordura w/ the same strength. The laminate structure also prevents tears from propagating... especially in the new ripstop lightweight options like what I used on the slingpack yesterday.  
 
Here's a few pics of samples from the full X-Pac/Liteskin and related product line:  
https://imgur.com/a/MNtJB  

 
A full write-up on the differences, benefits and suggested applications for each will be coming in the near future... I have a giant box of samples from lots of companies, including interesting things like the new transparent lightweight "Apparition" leather from ECCO!  
I'll document as many fabric types as I am able in the near future. If there's any requests for specific material write-ups let me know and I'll do my best - what I don't have I can likely source sample quantities of pretty quickly.
 
As always please share your questions, comments, etc below. And if you have any suggestions for future projects please don't hold back!  
 
Thanks for taking the time to read this text-wall too!  
 
Tune in tomorrow, I think I'm going to explore this no-waste construction concept a bit more in some different applications.  
-end- 

Edited February 7, 2018 by the-intern

[the-intern]

DAY 03 - MINI MESSENGER

 
Today I played around a bit more with the no-waste pouch design, this time as an interior pocket within a small messenger bag.
Simple enough in concept... wildly frustrating to execute!!!  
I started out with what I thought was a clear idea... but everything went horribly wrong in the final steps so I had to start all over again. So you'll see in the project log two separate bags this time, one in bright orange x-pac VX21, and the second and final product was made from the yard of 3M reflective I had cut yesterday along with GoreTex 3L Pro.  

Check out the final project here:  
https://imgur.com/a/nStNJ
 
And read the step-by-step project log here:  
https://imgur.com/a/xTBAo

All in all I'm going to call this one unsuccessful. It's certainly a functional little bag, and it looks cool enough - with a big helping hand from the reflective mind you. When all is said and done I feel that the shape it a little too unrefined and it could do with some more features. However I think the idea is strong and I plan on revising this project once the 30-day challenge is complete. I'm going to tackle one more small bag project tomorrow before I get into more radical things and apparel. I think tomorrows project is going to be a duffle of some kind, and I plan on using the successful aspects of this project again there.
 
Thanks for reading! If you have any questions, comments, requests, etc. Please do share and I'll do my very best to make it so.  
-end-

Edited February 7, 2018 by the-intern

[the-intern]

DAY 04 - MODULAR DUFFLE

Today I'm working on a small fully lined duffle bag with a number of modular features and a Hypalon bottom so it's going to be a later post as the fabrication is quite involved.

This was a LONG day I started around 8 this morning and wrapped around 1am... and now I'm hungry and sleepy... and very happy with todays results! Later post than has been the past few days because I wanted to produce something particularly well finished with a number of modularity options. The result is a little TANK of a durable Duffle bag showcasing a LiteSkin LS42 exterior upper, a fireproof Hypalon bottom, and an ultra swanky merino wool softshell liner (The same, or a very similar, wool softshell seen in the new wool Veilance goods from Arc'Teryx)  
 
Gallery of the finished project can be found here:  
http://bit.ly/techwear30day-04-gallery  

Project Log is up here:  
http://bit.ly/techwear30day-04-projectlog

I'm going to share a write up I put together last night on the future of Leather, and how it's earning a high-ranking position among the top tier technical fabrics. Most of the 'cool shit' in leather has been coming from one place: ECCO Leather! That's right, the folks who make your grandad's sneakers are paving the future for a whole new world of animal hide innovation.  
I've put together a gallery discussion of a selection of the most interesting leather samples that I have access too - sourced from ECCO - which you can check out here:  
https://imgur.com/a/qduc6

 
IMO, the top three exciting new leathers to keep an eye out for are:  

1. Apparition Leather - this new ultra lightweight, semi translucent, water repellent leather is unlike any fabric I've encountered before. This stuff is really the bridge between tech and organic, and in the near future we will no doubt see this stuff showing up in a whole new generation of products. Lightweight leather coats, and bags excite me most, but already there are things like wallets and footwear making early appearances.
 
2. Dyneema Bonded Leather - Dyneema (aka Spectra) is an incredible material in the same family as Kevlar and Nomex - although it does not share their Abrasion or Heat resistance characteristics. Technically called Ultra High Molecular weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE) it's historically been marketed as 'synthetic spider silk' being that it is among the strongest lightest materials man has ever produced. The strength-to-weight ratios for these materials range from 8 to 15 times higher than that of steel! ECCO has found a way to bond these fibers into the leather texture during tanning, providing an incredible waterproofing and strength upgrade to typical leather; opening the door to a new market of waterPROOF lightweight durable leather goods.  I got a copy of the ECCO overview on dyneema-leather, available on dropbox below if you'd like to learn more about what's coming and check out some more example photos and videos: http://bit.ly/techwear30day-04-dyneema  

3. GLOW Leather - I unfortunately do not have a sample of this to share nor have I been able to see it first hand as yet - it's made strictly on demand. However from what I've heard and read this stuff is incredibly cool. There is a glow-in-the-dark element infused into the leather hide itself, providing a beautifully textured and subtle glow effect within the leathers natural texturing. Check out a pic from ECCO's site here: https://imgur.com/e4SOWbB  
 
Thanks for reading! 
Hopefully this is the type of content some of you have asked me for. If there's any suggestions on format or details I'm more than happy to do what I can to share.  
 
Tomorrow I'm going to play with Velcro... I think it's gotten a bad rep lately.  
Also I'll get into a discussion on Hypalon, wtf it actually is? and the types of variations on the market and in use today... because very little of it is genuine chlorosulfonated polyethylene (CSPE or CSM for short) and I find that to be very dishonest. The price variation between Hypalon-esque and genuine Hypalon is MASSIVE! <$20usd/yard for whats usually a neoprene based look-alike compared to $90-$200usd/yard for the real thing which has kevlar(aramid) core and is totally indestructible against water/salt/fire/acid/uv/abrasion and dragons too I reckon. It's become a marketing hype thing, and I cannot put the designers who use it to blame, the resellers of fabrics are the ones who are slanging the lies... several years ago Dupont stopped producing the materials and now there is only one reactor on the planet -in japan- that currently produces raw CSM and they do so in small quantities. Tune in tomorrow for that!

 

 

Edited February 7, 2018 by the-intern

[the-intern]

DAY 05 - MODULAR NOTEBOOK

30-day DIY Techwear Design Challenge - Day05 - Modular Notebook  

Today we are on day 05 of the 30 day long challenge of producing a technical product everyday from scratch; idea -> pattern -> materials -> cut'n'sew. Todays project started off as a way to store and showcase my velcro pouches; however the idea turned into something so much more than that... a totally modular notebook with an X-Pax VX21 exterior, giant #10 waterproof zippers and removable Hypalon 'pages'.  
 
You can view the final product gallery here:  
http://bit.ly/techwear30day-05-gallery  
http://bit.ly/techwear30day-05-gallery-pt2  
 
And check out the making of behind-the-scenes here:  
http://bit.ly/techwear30day-05-projectlog  
 
I have a lot of velcro patches that I like to wear on my backpack to suit my mood. The idea today was to make a little booklet with velcro pages that I can use to store my pouches but still be able to access them quickly each day. I wanted to be able to 'tear' out pages from this booklet so I used a really cool new type of teeny-tiny buckle called 'sewable tracking' to accomplish this. At the end of the day I realized that this little notebook can be SO MUCH more than just patch storage.   
 
With a little bit more time I'd like to design all kinds off different types of modular pages to suit just about any need. To illustrate I whipped up a couple extra pages that hold pens, and have mesh stuff sacks.  
 
This project was so successful that I ended up taking a bit of extra time to create a second -smaller- pouch with non-removable Velcro pages... then I modified a couple hats I had sitting around with some Velcro fronts to hold patches too! In other words things took longer than expected so my write-up on Velcro varieties and Hypalon will come tomorrow instead.  
 
I appreciate more than anything your feedback.

I'll be back again tomorrow with... something... not sure what yet... perhaps a bit of binge watching Altered Carbon for the rest of the night will give me some ideas!?!  
 
Thanks again.  
-end-

Edited February 7, 2018 by the-intern

[the-intern]

30-day DIY Techwear Design Challenge - Day06 - Shoulder Rig  

Welcome to day 06 of trying to produce a finished product from scratch everyday for 30-days straight! Todays project is a bit of an oddity in itself, however I plan on spending the next few days of the challenge producing add-on components that compliments it. Today I made a Shoulder Rig base. This will act as the base component for a series of items ranging from rain protection to chest pouches, backpacks and the like.  

Check out the project log at the gallery link below  
http://bit.ly/techwear30day-06-gallery  
 
The inspiration as hoped came from Altered Carbon. specifically a neat little shoulder harness system worn by one of the characters in the show:   

 
With this shoulder harness as my intention, I based the proportions off an Arc'Teryx jacket I had in my studio with pattern lines on that provided a decent start to getting the shape foundations. The rest I just made up as I went, trying to get to some kind of tech'd out vietnam era flak-jacket upper.  
 
This thing is incredibly comfortable and I very much look forward to creating more components that work along side this shoulder rig system. Tomorrow I'm going to create a slim profile backpack that can be mounted onto the back of todays project.  
 
Thanks again for tuning in. I'm going to spend the rest of the evening putting together my Hypalon write-up, I'll toss that up tomorrow afternoon sometime.  
 
As always, questions comments. suggestions are very much welcome.   
-end-  

 

[eloq]

this is just outstanding work. honestly one the best set of posts I've ever seen..only thing that comes close is Geoffrey B Smalls posts on SZ. Keep this up please, I would love to see where this goes. 

As a fashion design educator, this is just gold.

Id love to see you incorporate some of this tech wear into an entire look, something crazy (perhaps for a summary of this 30 day challenge?)

Aside, what ecco is doing is brilliant. Any chance you know what they are charging for said leathers? In particular the Apparition 

[Haackk]

30 minutes ago, eloq said:

this is just outstanding work. honestly one the best set of posts I've ever seen.

Word. This is beyond impressive. Wow. 

Edited February 8, 2018 by Haackk

[danii]

Not sure how you do it, I find it impossible to create a single item from concept>pattern>construction>execution in one day without making any mistakes. Even if I am lucky enough to create an item on saturday and it works I doubt I will be able to create another on sunday. So maybe I am already too old/slow/not-talented to do this. Good job.

[the-intern]

@eloq - first of all... holy crap thank you for the kind words! wold you mind linking me this geoff smalls article you speak of, I'm unfamiliar with "SZ". re:lookbook, I plan on doing a few summary posts and photoshoots at the end or perhaps every 10-days or so. The ecco Apparition and Dyneema leathers are the same price. Typically Ecco has a minimum order quantity of 3500 sq ft, you can do custom orders less than this with an additional $0.25/sqft surcharge as long you order at least 2x hides (about 115sqft), the leathers themselves are $7.25usd/sqft.... So you're looking at a barrier of entry of about ~$1000USD after shipping/duty to get a sample quantity of 100sqft, or roughly $27,000usd to get into production volumes.

@Haackk - thank you very much for the comment!

@danni - I'm totally speechless... you're one of my fucking idols! What you've done with Aoku and the amazing presence and contributions you have in this community are a big inspiration to me - and I'm sure so many more. There's no way you're too old of this!!!! Aoku is fire, and I'm always looking forward to your announcements (you're also how I learned about this forum!)... thank you so much for the kind words, you literally made my week by showing up here to post.

Edited February 8, 2018 by the-intern

[hjpx]

This is indeed impressive, and inspiring!

I'm thoroughly enjoying your documentation of the material, the process and the results here and over on imgur. Much appreciated.

 

[danii]

oh thank you, support means the most to me! also not showing up here and posting how I feel about your contribution would be ignorant and denying your work. keep up the next level stuff and I hope you accomplish this (for me) impossible looking goal! Good luck!

[TEKsevenZERO]

Well I have to say that you are quite the inspiration and if this is just the start of your journey then I feel that you have a very bright future ahead of you, you come across as passionate and humble, quite rare in this age of talentless spotlight hogging wannabees, I kanye think of names right now(!)

Thanks for sharing what can be done when driven, I look forward to seeing your own brand sit alongaside AOKU, both have a fitting place in this world.

[Inkinsurgent]

those projects show an uncanny grasp of proportion and detail. you're going places, dude. keep us posted!

[X.bee]

Wow.. I watched Altered Carbon last night & was just thinking that I needed someone to commission that shoulder harness. You have a great eye and execution is amazing! Looking forward to the rest of these days.

[the-intern]

@hjpx - Thank you for following and posting!

@danii - Thank you again my man! All the things to you!

@TEKsevenZERO - I'm in awwe at the response here... thank you so much for you kind words and support.

@Inkinsurgent - I verymuch appreciate that. Tune in for more soon. Thank you thank you.

@X.bee - Hahaha amazing, that little harness jumped off the screen at me immediately. Thanks for following

 

30-day DIY Techwear Design Challenge - Day07 - No Waste Backpack

Okay, almost though the first week of the 30-day challenge!!! Today I'm working on a backpack based off the construction technique shown in day 3's organizer pouches project. The pack itself is going to mount onto the back of yesterday shoulder rig project.
While I work on that today... likely into the night... I've put together a small discussion and gallery on my most favorite thing ever: Hypalon!

[edit]

Another late night today, I wrapped this project up around midnight and drafting the started around 9 this morning! Today I took the no-waste pouch concept from day 02 quite a bit further. After have a few days to play with the no-waste pouch concept I was able to figure out a way to make more complicated multi-pocket variations. Today we applied the theory to a small backpack designed to strap to the Shoulder Rig project from yesterday.

Check out the gallery and project log here:

http://bit.ly/techwear30day-07

I'm really happy with todays results in a number of levels...

• this project produced no textile waste (except for an exterior mesh pocket that didnt work so that ended up in the trash bin)
• from a manufacturing standpoint this couldn't be simpler and I'm betting the cost to produce this pack would be shockingly low,
• this thing works WONDERS with yesterday shoulder rig project... surprisingly well!
• and lastly it's a great proof of concept for the no-waste pouch idea... clearly this method can be applied to all manner of projects beyond small pouches.

This has been a long day so I'm off to bed, no idea what tomorrows project will be quite yet. Something else that'll work with the shoulder rig I think.

Thank you for reading! If you have any comments, or suggestions for future projects please post an let me know.

Tune in again tomorrow for Day 08!!!

[/edit]

Okay... Hypalon, AKA - Chlorosulfonated Polyethylene, AKA - CSM, AKA - CSPE.  
This is kind of a big topic to cover so I'm going to start at origins in order to help illuminate where we are today with this material and why... The reason I want to get into a discussion on this material is simply that it's my favorite bit of man-made chemistry, and it very well be the most indestructible textile on the planet... and it's extinct!

You can see a gallery I put together which showcases the CSM samples I have in my collection below: 
http://bit.ly/techwear30day-07-hypalon

To begin, the word Hypalon is a brand name; much like Kleenex is to tissues, or Chapstick is to lipbalm. The name comes from Dupont, the first company to really get into producing CSPE based textiles about 40 years ago. In 2009 Dupont closed it's reactor facility which produced the raw CSM materials used in Hypalon production. As result the worlds supply shrank by orders of magnitude and the cost rose nearly 7x. The reason Dupont left Hypalon on the table appears to be result of innovations in roofing product technology; for decades Hypalon ruled the worlds industrial roofing market providing the most durable, UV resistant, waterproof membrane for sealing roofing. Around 2007 new market alternatives in the form of lightweight inexpensive plastic films began to replace the demand for Hypalon (which is sad, because these new solutions although cheaper do not last 1/10th as long as a Hypalon roof membrane).

Fun fact! There are varieties of CSM textiles which can be produced without curing. This means that the textile literally gets stronger and stronger with age - much like how concrete constantly gets harder with age. I've spoken to a veteran of the roofing industry -when trying to source my Hypalon supply- who showed me samples of fabric that had been on a roof for 30+years and still looked nearly new, only change it had developed was an entirely new modulus and hand feel. I imagine if applied to long-wearing products this material variant would break in and become better with age much like an antique leather coat.

Today there is only one reactor (to my knowledge and research) that still produces raw CSM for manufacture into finished goods. It belongs to a company called Tosoh Corporation - a big Japanese chemicals holding firm composed of over a hundred small labs - and they offer about a dozen different types of raw CSM ingredient components. Their CSM brands are called Toso-CSM, and Extos. Anything CSM based made today can eventually be traced back to these guys by my research.

Whats on the market today that is being sold as Hypalon? My preferred supplier of unusual CSM and Neoprene based textiles is TriVantage Corperation whose CSM based textiles are branded as Coverlight. This is the best alternative to genuine Hypalon that I have currently come across without having something milled custom. The differences between Coverlight and Hypalon are few:
- Coverlight is an existing product readily available for order where Hypalon is an extinct species and finding a source is a Grail quest in itself.  
- Hypalon's core textile inside the rubber-like coating was Aramid based as opposed to the Nylon core of Coverlight (Aramid is the family name for fabrics like Kevlar and Nomex, which are also both Dupont brand names). This means that Hypalon was truly resistant to belt sanders/fire/dragons etc.

Now I have to take a moment to note just how far above and beyond the properties of Dupont's Hypalon are... its like seeing an F35 in WW2. And still today despite the Nylon core Coverlight is among the MOST indestructible textile I've worked with, it's properties in every category outshine just about everything. So at the end of the day, as much fun as it is to use the words "Genuine Hypalon" it's really the most unnecessary over-built thing you can possibly add to a product. For reference the inflatable zodiac boats used by Seal Teams are made from a single layer of thin Hypalon.

Almost everything I see used today in products claiming to be made from Hypalon are actually made from the lowest price Coverlight which is not at all CSM based whatsoever... it's Nylon coated in Neoprene. But at the purchasing level these two textiles are utterly indistinguishable (until hit with fire) and the Neoprene variant is nearly 1/2 the cost.

Now lets talk price... it's obscenely high. A single roll of about 60yards of genuine Hypalon will set you back as much as a brand new luxury sedan. If you're lucky enough to find it you'll likely be paying $200-250USD/yard. Coverlight CSM is about $45/yard, the Neoprene variant being about $25.

If you have any further questions or want me to go into further detail please don't hesitate to ask! Thanks again for reading!

Edited February 9, 2018 by the-intern

[Yoshiii]

As someone who is into product (Amongst many other things, so many that I actually think it's a bad thing) I'm really enjoying this thread.

I wanted to go on about how, when I was young(er), I dreamt of pursing a career in product / clothing design and production. But, it's late, I need to go to bed and I can feel my girlfriend giving me evils from across the room. So I'll keep it short and sweet. This thread is amazing. Incredibly inspiring and I've enjoyed reading everything tonight. I look forward to seeing more and wish you the best for the rest of challenge. 

Keep up the great work!

[Flatearther]

alright I'm just gonna come out and say it: there's no fucking way you're getting each of these projects done in a single day. everything you've posted is professional quality and looks like it took several days if not weeks to design, and that's assuming a full-time schedule. if you really are banging these out day after day then consider my skepticism the highest of praise because I straight up don't believe you lmao

[in_limbo]

I share a little of Flatearther's skepticism, but the writeups, pictures and patterns are all really cool. I'm enjoying reading about some textiles that I didn't know about before. Nice post, looking forward to more.

[the-intern]

@yoshii - Thank you very much!

@flatearther - Then a resounding thank you for the praise my man. Much appreciated!

This pic should back me up. Once tonight's project log is up, you'll see the below is what i've been working on today.: 

I'm doing each of these in one day, each day, every day, for thirty days. Nothing is pre-planned. I'm just making this up as I go.

@in_limbo - Thanks for the post and support.

Edited February 9, 2018 by the-intern

[fritzmey]

Wow! I am amazed you can create a new design everyday. But as they say, you improve little by little if you always keep creating!

[the-intern]

Oh my word! Yesterdays post exploded on me... I woke up late today and had 1000's of messages, PMs, emails ontop of the comments.

I never in a thousand years could have imagined this level of response to my work. Just wow... THANK you so much to everyone for your support!

I don't even know where to begin managing all this correspondence, I had to upgrade my email plan this morning because i was over capacity... rip inbox.

 

Now we're onto week 2! Time to get to work on day 8's project, tune in later this evening for that post.

Thank you ALL again and again!

[the-intern]

30-day DIY Techwear Design Challenge - Day08 - Ballistic Backpack 

 

Greetings again everyone! Welcome to day 08. We're into week two now and things are only just beginning to get really exciting.

Yesterdays post got more response that I could have possibly imagined, I woke up this morning to thousands of notifications and messages... many of which came of representatives from Law enforcement, Military, and Search and Rescue. So this post was inspired by their response.

I decided to make an ultra slim pack that can be worn under a jacket or over-top in a more typical fashion, and is meant to be a slim laptop or book carrier... but I also added an internal pocket for a Medium Swimmers Cut SAPI Ballistic plate... because why not?

Check out the gallery and project log in the link below!

http://bit.ly/techwear30day-08

Forgive the short write-up today... it's 4am here in my studio and it's been one hell of a day. Long past time for some bed.

Tune in again tomorrow for day 09!

[///A]

Amazing work. Truly brilliant

[the-intern]

30-day DIY Techwear Design Challenge - Day09 - Casual Shoulder Rig

Day 09 already! Today I decided to revisit the shoulder rig concept from day 06 with a more streetwear casual vibe to it this time. I got A LOT of response from the tactical world last week with some of my designs, so for the next few days I'm going to change gears into "street casual 2049" for the aesthetic goals.

I wanted this version to act more like a harness rig for under-arm pouches. Later I'll come up with a different twist on the Acronym style JacketSling that uses this component worn under the coat to hold the the coat in carry mode.

Today we deviated from the Xpac and technical accessories fabrics and got into textiles more suited to garments, both of the fabrics used come from Schoeller,

The first is a beautiful merino wool faced three layer softshell backed with a microfleece. This fabric was used earlier in the 30-day challenge to give the modular duffle from day 04 an unnecessarily swanky interior liner. This looks to be a very similar textile to what Arc'Teryx is using in the new Veilance wool garments.

The back side of today's project uses a lightweight merino wool faced spacer mesh (I got this fabric earlier this year when I decided to make myself some technical tee-shirts that I haven't had the time to tackle yet).

Check out the result and project log gallery here: http://bit.ly/techwear30day-09-gallery

Like the shoulder rig from day 06, this unit is designed to work alongside other accessories, so I'm going to revisit this project again later tomorrow and add some holster pouches that are compatible with both of the shoulder rigs.

Thats all for DAY 09. Thank you so much everyone for reading. Please do chime in with your comments, suggestions, requests, criticisms. The feedback I've received so far has really encouraged me to kick on the afterburner and push myself to the limit. Thanks again. Tune in tomorrow for day 10!?!

-end-

Edited February 11, 2018 by the-intern

[the-intern]

30-day DIY Techwear Design Challenge - Day10 - Holster Pouches

Day 10 in the bag and I am 1/3 of the way through this challenge! In very large part to your support and messages, spirits are high.

Todays project was to create some accessory pouches for the casual shoulder rig from day-09. The intention was to create a matching set of underarm holster type pouches with functionality at the forefront. I used the same softshell merino from yesterday and paired it up some fancy black soft-faced 3L Goretex from one of their Japanese mills.. 

Check out the gallery and project log here:
http://bit.ly/techwear30day-10-gallery

 

I have to say that I am super pleased with these pouches. They hang very comfortably even when overloaded and they are very easy to use when worn. They look pretty slick on their own but IMO they really shine when peaking out beneath a jacket.

Tune in again tomorrow for day 11. Thank you for reading.

 

[edit]

I got a lot of comments asking about the flip-over-the-head action on the no-waste and ballistic packs so I sent some friends out into the wild today to take some pics, below you can see the flip action in an animated gif below:

[edit]

 

Edited February 12, 2018 by the-intern

[the-intern]

30day-Techwear-Design-Challenge-10day-Review-PT1

GALLERY: https://imgur.com/gallery/1EgvU

 

 

 

Tune in tomorrow for day 11. I'm going to start posting the gallery project log the day after I complete a project so that I can put more energy into the log and materials reviews and such.

 

Thank you again for reading!

please do share your feeback, comments, criticisms, suggestions etc... I'm very excited to be able to post my work to such a knowlege rich community of techwear enthusiasts. And thank you all for the 'rep points'! If you have the time, please do share your thoughts!

-end-

Edited February 13, 2018 by the-intern

[danii]

damn! I told you I was slow, I have a sketch for same operation of the backpack for more then a year. also nice 247 supply! keep going mate!

[the-intern]

@danii - Thank you so much for following along! This is kind from left field but maybe you wanna do a thing together?

 

30-day DIY Techwear Design Challenge - Day11 - Tech Baselayer Top

Welcome back to the 30-day challenge! We're on day 11 now; for those of you keeping track wondering where day 12's post is... I'm going to mix up the format a little bit because these projects are taking me well into the early hours of the morning most days. So from here-on-out I'll be posting my results the day after I complete them so that I can put more effort into the documentation and project-log. I'm also going to bite the bullet and start modelling my wares myself due to the high demand for on-body fit shots. And to do that I've recruited my friend (who took the photographs in the 10-day review gallery) to pop by the studio in the afternoons to take pics for me.  

Onto day 11! Today I made my first actual clothing article for the challenge. A technical base-layer top from the Schoeller Merino-faced technical polyester-mesh textile used in the casual shoulder rig project. This is a really luxurious textile, with a GREAT next to body feel and all the technical wicking and breathability one would want from a base layer.   

The only real drawback with the fabric used is that it has very little stretch to it, so I had to be very careful with my fit and patterning in order to get a shirt that moved well on the body and took advantage of the directional stretch of the fabric. To do this I used my measuring tape to literally measure my skin size in a grid layout, I then added about an inch all the way around to get the size of the shirt.  

Unfortunately my friend had my camera for most of the day yesterday shooting the 10-day review so I was unable to document the first 1/2 of the project. But the process was the same as every other day, spend a few hours in the morning measuring my body and hashing out the plan. Then patterns are made, traced to fabric and sewn.  

I made two shirts in total yesterday, and on one I played with some heat-transfer reflective to create a hat-tip to the film Akira. I'm really happy with how these items turned out, the fit is almost spot-on without any movement restrictions whatsoever. I'm really excited to play with this heat-transfer reflective material also, I'll inquire around town to see if I can get it lasercut for more line accuracy. The reflective I applied today came out little janky in the line work, but I figure Kaneda's coat would've been hand applied so I'm very much cool with it!  

 

[edit]  
my friends talked me into making an instragram account. They say posting video content is easy enough... ill start to add content there soonly!:  
https://www.instagram.com/techwear.intern/  
[/edit]  
. 

Check out the gallery and project log at the link below:
http://bit.ly/techwear30day-11-gallery  

Thanks for reading. Tune in tomorrow for day 12, I'm going to explore the shirt idea more and make a full technical long-sleeve with multiple textiles!  
-end-

Edited February 14, 2018 by the-intern