Behind the Scenes: the San Francisco Wallet IS the J, L and N lines

The San Francisco wallet is not just any wallet. Besides being 100% Cowhide leather, handcrafted locally in the Bay Area and with an wrist strap you can clip around anything, it is also custom die cut.

When working with leather, it is best to cut using a cutting die. It basically cuts the leather out in one sharp slice, much like a cookie cutter cuts out cookie dough. Many leather manufacturers have dies in house, but we designed a specific die to create a wallet that is shaped like...the lines of the San Francisco Muni!

Yes, the Muni can be extremely annoying. And we've all heard stories of humor, hate and utter ridiculousness (if you haven't, read the Muni Diaries or my own bus drama here). But we still love it. It gets me from point A to point B, and sometimes then to point C and D. Living in San Francisco, I have a healthy transportation diet of Muni, Bart, foot, bike, cab, Lyft, Sidecar, Über...but Muni is often the connector. Or the one I debate the most--to wait for Muni or not to wait for Muni and walk in the same amount of time (yet, maybe up a steep hill after which you will be sweaty and still cold). That's living in SF.

My favorite line is the J. It is the prettiest ride (if you start up in Noe and go inbound). Whether I am taking it to meet friends in Dolores or going all the way to the Embarcadero, it is always a fun ride for me. It reminds me of a rollercoaster for some reason. Hence, the front flap of the San Francisco Wallet is the J line. See pattern development below:

The right edge of the wallet is effectively the T, which gets you to Giants' games and the Dog Patch. Then there's the K and the M, which, honestly, I have never taken, but take you to SF State and City College Main campus. The bottom pocket is the L line, which takes you to the zoo! And the top pocket is the N, which is my second favorite because it takes you through the Sunset to Ocean beach, my favorite lazy day ride. I usually walk back. See? Healthy transportation diet.

So there you have it, the San Francisco Wallet isn't only inspired by the public transportation and lifestyle of San Francisco, but it is literally modeled after it (to scale!).

The San Francisco Wallet is only available online here: http://etxe.tictail.com/

Happy Friday! You made it!

Hope you are having a great Friday. If you want to try some ping pong + karaoke, check out this event:

I will be the one singing with very unsuccessful pingin'. In Berlin, it's called 'Chinese-style ping pong'...and I somehow always ended up at my favorite place with a ping pong expert, you know that person that wins or is runner up for every match. I have yet to check out this event in San Francisco, mostly because I am scared people here are just as good.

OR

If you are in Berlin, you should go to Balkan Tripps and then Kosmonaut für tolle Musik:

And tomorrow, if you are in fact in San Francisco, stop by Noise Pop's 20th street block party, but go on the later end so you can come by the after party.

Enjoy!

Kickstarter Love to four women with four amazing projects

Some of my favorite things (by my favorite people) from Kickstarter. The shiny hoodie you'll want to wear everywhere...Beastwares releases it's  INCANDESCENT ARMOR: The Cutting Edge in Hoodies. Phoenix and I met in design class at CCSF, where I would stare at her shiny leggings for hours. So glad to see she's doing a hoodie that is space age and form fitting. Yes, you will spot Beastwares at burning man (if they are are skinny and sleek it is beastwares, if they are bagging they are Betabrand's Disco pants).

If you are more of the subtle type, check out Scout's Honor, clothing for the modern tomboy. I love the plaids Clare handpicked and the innovative ways she's using darts. We met in illustration class at CCSF. She just reached her goal yesterday!

And for the man in your life. Or the yogi in you. InYo ended it's kickstarter campaign last week to rave reviews and they also released a men's version! Ladies, you have a million prints to choose from, too. Rachel and I met when I worked at Betabrand, and we've been friends ever since.

Having a baby? Nesting Days also ended its Kickstarter last week and already orders are coming in on their online store. I keep hearing 'That's the baby carrier I want'! from new moms. And they are right -- it's the baby carrier I want and I don't even have a baby. I met Julie through Rachel and full disclosure, I help her out on the internet.

And there you go. Four super amazing Kickstarter campaigns by four super amazing women in the Bay Area, all manufacturing locally and making their ideas come to life the good old fashion way. No venture capital needed, just a little love from a lot of people around the world. Magic happens when we all come together to support each other.

Behind the scenes: Meet Lili and Sandie, sewing your garments right here in San Francisco

The first day I went to a sewing factory I had no idea what to expect. I was nervous and felt totally unprepared to explain the design I was supposed to explain. It didn’t help that I was most likely carrying a hastily scribbled sketch and various reference garments with no final sample and a tight deadline.

Luckily, the first shop I ever worked with was managed by Lili and Sandie. They taught me from day one everything I needed to know about manufacturing a sewn garment, no matter how crazy or ridiculous. Anytime I brought a garment in, I would hang out and ask them how they made it so that I would know for next time. I would find out how to get a garment to work better for both the person that would eventually wear it and the sewing construction. That’s how I learned how to design and work with the sewing factories that make garments.

Meet Lili. Lili was born in Indonesia. She learned to sew at a design school and worked in a ‘super size’ garment factory that exported garments to the US.

In the mid-90s she moved to the US. Her sister was already in the Bay Area and within three weeks she found another job in a local sewing factory.

It was in this factory that she met Sandy, who had come to the US from Hong Kong around the same time. After over five years, their boss recommended that Lili and Sandie open their own shop. He even offered to help them out with equipment. They opened shop in SOMA, which is where I first met them.

They got their first order, a big one, and it just so happened that another factory was closing down and many garment sewers needed a new factory. Lili and Sandie welcomed them with open arms and were able to fill their order. Many of those original sewers are still with the shop, all these years later.

Lili really loves what she does. She loves to go to work and connect with people, to take care of people. Every piece she works on, she treats it just like her own and does so out of love. Many of her customers have been with her since her first day. She’s seen many companies start very small and has watched them grow.

All of Lili and Sandie’s work and employees come from referrals. Lili speaks English, Mandarin, Cantonese, and Indonesian.

Advice for manufacturers:

“The most important thing is to keep your promise. If you say you’ll finish in two weeks, you have to finish on time. You have to provide high quality and good communication. You eliminate mistakes with good communication.”

Advice for designers:

“Is the design workable? Does the market accept your product? Can you get it produced? You have to design something that is possible to do.”

We interviewed Lili and Sandie in their shop in SOMA. Thanks Lili and Sandie for letting us share your story!

Wanderlust Wednesdays: Sopelana sunsets and approaching dreamscapes

Sopelana, País Vasco

"For whatever we lose (like a you or a me) it's always ourselves we find in the sea." - E. E. cummings

Living in a small beach town on the Northern coast of Spain was an absolute dream. I'm wandering in my memories right now, ready for the onset of dreamscapes that always materialize when I'm reminiscing. I'm pretty sure I'm still technically a resident.

"I could never stay long enough on the shore; the tang of the untainted, fresh, and free sea air was like a cool, quieting thought." - Helen Keller

The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever. - Jacques Cousteau

behind the scenes: Meet Gary, cutting your fabric since before I was born.

Have you ever wondered how garments are actually made? Well, one of the first steps is that the pattern pieces have to be cut out of the fabric. When making a sample, this can be done piece by piece, but if you are making more than one garment with the same pattern pieces, you have to do it differently or you will go nuts.

The way to do this is to put all the pattern pieces for all the different sizes and pieces of a particular garment on one long piece of paper, this is called a 'marker'. Markers are like little puzzles, as you have to make sure you have the correct pieces, going the correct direction, for the correct number of sizes, colors and units ordered. (we'll talk to a marker maker in a future post!) A marker maker makes this magic marker and then you take it to the fabric cutter and they lay out all the fabric in stacks and put the marker on top and then cut out many pieces at a time. This can be done with a blade manually or electrically.

Sew shops often have a fabric cutting service in house, meaning all you have to do is drop off the marker and the fabric and they will cut it all out then push it through to sewing. But, due to many factors, especially the expense of having fabric cutters on staff, many sew shops do not have their own service in house and you have to find your own.

Meet Gary. Gary owns and operates a cutting service in San Francisco. He's been doing it for decades, and here's his story:

Gary was born in Chinatown in 1937. He went to Sacred Heart High School and then did one semester at SF State, but wasn't a fan and instead took night school at USF and studied accounting. He started out working delivery in a department store and then got into jewelry and engraving at a trophy store. He quickly learned how to engrave and five years or so later decided his to start his own business. What was it? A trophy store, naturally.

The first day his new trophy store was open, his wife went into labor. When his second child was born, it snowed in San Francisco. Gary says you could see the snow from the tops of the trees in Golden Gate Park. Crazy. Gary has three children, though the third one's birth wasn't as eventful as the first two.

Gary's sister-in-law used to have a sewing factory. One day Gary walked into the shop and asked the fabric cutter if he would show him how he cut the fabric. The fabric cutter said why, of course. It wasn't until several years later that Gary went back and actually learned how to spread and cut fabric from that friendly fabric cutter.

Gary went on to work for many different companies and was then asked to assist in a cutting room with 30 fabric cutters. I can only imagine how many long tables with lots of fabric cutters working out the shapes of hundreds and hundreds of yards of fabric were in that space, this was when local manufacturing was much more common. After a while, the sewing factory decided they'd rather just contract work to a fabric cutter (most likely to save money) and so they offered to sell the equipment to Gary. He took the opportunity and has been in business ever since.

All his work and employees come from personal referrals, as they have from day one. When you support local manufacturing, you are supporting people like Gary.

Gary is third generation Chinese-American from China and he lives in the Richmond district. He speaks English, Cantonese, and claims he can understand Spanish ;). His grandparents were here during the 1906 earthquake. Now that is history.

Gary's advice for manufacturers:

"If they are going into the garment industry, I would talk them out of it. It's a dinosaur."

Gary's advice for designers:

"Come up with an idea and pursue it. If you have an idea, go for it, but it is very tough. Money is not the problem, it's who you know, how to do it, and who can help you."

We interviewed Gary in his shop on Mission and S. Van ness. Gary has no computer and no email and writes out everything by hand. Thanks Gary for letting us interview you!