It's a new year, which means a new way of doing things here at North St. I've finished up the (quite long) list of of orders I got over the holidays, and have now shifted my focus to the next phase of growth for the business. In short I want to make more bags.
I've decided to focus on building up a stock of bags. This is a bit of a change, as up until now I've been making bags to order, one at a time. I've been doing some redesign and redrafting of patterns to accommodate this shift (as well as some price adjustments). The first design to undergo this change is the hip pouch, which is now made in less time and produces less scrap waste than before. As I complete stock bags and post them to the site, I will also be raising the price of custom orders to reflect the extra time it takes to do them. I will do my best to keep the stock prices close to what they are now, but I do expect that some prices will be going up over the next few months, so get your orders in now! These price changes also allow me to get into some more retailers. I hope to get bags into several more shops by the time summer rolls around. I've also increased my Etsy presence quite a bit, and will be working on my pedalr account as well.
The switch to assembly style production also allows me to delegate more of the work. Mara is back doing most of the cutting and marking, and I'm pleased to add Jennifer to the North St Team - she's a talented sewer who will be taking over on some of the sewing. This frees me up to focus on design. I'm thrilled to announce the new duffel bag design, with options for bike attachment! My current project is a much simpler (and cheaper) convertible backpack pannier. It will be waterproof! I'll be posting photos and a better description soon. After this I'll be working on some smaller accessories, and then gearing up for a redesign to the Woodward.
Hope the new year is treating you well,
Curtis
