We caught up with the brilliant and insightful JONATHAN BAKER a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
JONATHAN, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with what makes profitability in your industry a challenge – what would you say is the biggest challenge?
A big hurdle about making (especially sewing) products is folks have a misconception about how much talent and time it takes to produce a sewn good. And the products we do receive that are sewn have artificially low prices because, let’s be honest, we take advantage of others’ economic situations, even looking past their political systems in order to manufacture products “cheap enough ” for the American consumer. I know no place is perfect, but working with people “as close to my home as possible” just feels right. Supporting a local culture of creative and hardworking employees seems like a really healthy addition to our towns and cities and it’s important that we understand how important these people and businesses are. But money is absolute and when trying to encourage someone to purchase our bags for $25 or a competitor’s bag for $12.99, it’s tricky to explain all the reasons why . . . but there is honesty in our pricing, and it contributes to a healthy local economy of good people.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
After designing premium outdoor gear for 12 years, I really wanted to create something for a wider audience, that was useful on a daily basis, that didn’t need to get redesigned year after year, and could be locally manufactured in my rural town of 1,200 people. After almost 2 years of prototyping dozens of ideas, we came up with a simple and durable bag we titled – “the LastBag” and it’s unlike any duffel or tote you’ve used before. Our signature handles, ability to fold flat and simple, utilitarian design all contribute to a surprisingly useful bag around the jobsite, or as a daily carry. LastBags are incredibly strong, practically tearproof and well constructed. We’ve been selling LastBags for over 8 years now and folks continue to discover new and versatile uses for them; from storing sports gear to hauling crushed stone, and everything in between. We are also continually developing new products, like our BucketCarry that continues to build upon our commitment to practical, easy to use bags that help organize the clutter of life.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
I left an extremely comfortable life in New England as a freelance designer to move 3000 miles West and start my first business in “the middle of nowhere”. I needed a fresh start. I wanted to meet new people, solve new problems and use my design and manufacturing experience to help a community . . . not just a single business. Little did I know starting and running a business is nothing like being a designer (even a self employed one). It takes an entirely new set of skills to juggle the complexities of a start-up, and it practically ate me alive. My East Coast lifestyle had me prepared for the harsh winters in the PNW, but not the wildfires. Which if you haven’t experienced, are just terribly stressful and unhealthy. In the past 8 years we’ve persisted through 3 major fires, months of smoke events, evacuated twice and been declared an Emergency Disaster Zone once. Like most businesses, 2020 and COVID shut us down hard, until we pivoted and retooled to building facemasks. The stress of these years really took its toll on me, creating chronic pain in my hips and back and draining my motivation. But with all this challenge, came some real personal growth, and maybe even some wisdom about how to build a business and keep your happiness. These past 2 years my business has transformed dramatically. We are more prepared for the unexpected nature of living in fire country, and we are making decisions that are not only better for my business, but healthier for everyone my business includes.
Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.
One of the foundational pillars my business is built upon is a very tight relationship between designing and manufacturing. When I started eqpd I knew from my previous career the amount of energy and resources it takes to “make things”, so whatever I came up with had to be extremely simple so I could build it here . . . but it also needed to be unique and not involve a large start-up cost. This is when being a designer really helped. Our designs embrace simple manufacturing techniques used in clever ways, to ensure our products have the features they need to perform, without unnecessary labor or costs. This philosophy has not only helped our bottom line, it has also brought my production team closer together, as we all have a common goal to truly make simple things that are enjoyable and efficient to manufacture.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.eqpdgear.com
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