Seeing the first foil stamp test print on the Kickstarter-green leather was unbelievably satisfying.
Mary and I are ecstatic with how these turned out. It took forever, but the custom Kickstarter-green leather that Pergamena formulated for us and the black foil stamp make these look truly amazing.
Hey Kickstarters!!
Information about sewn wallets is still coming together. The problem was that I had Swish print out all the shipping labels back in December even though all the sewn wallets weren't ready to ship yet. Compounding the problem was that thread & leather was sent to a number of different people around the country for sewing. Because of this I need to manually figure out what has shipped and what hasn't. The guys at the tannery are helping with sewing now and have ~150 mahogany & ecru wallets sewn up, on top of ~300 or so of various colors that have already shipped. I'll have more accurate info on this asap.
The Kickstarter green leather has been dyed and looks great, but the laser etching doesn't leave as dark a mark on the leather as I would like. I'm working with a bookbinder located between the laser cutter and the tannery to have "Kickstarter" foil-stamped in black onto the Kickstarter wallets. This should look amazing with the black thread, and I hope you will feel it was worth the wait.
Custom cuts have all been cut out. I'm sorting out logistics for sewing and fulfillment for them. That should happen in the next few days.
Refunds have been sent to everyone that requested them.
Thanks for all the positive messages over the past few days, I really appreciate it.
Best,
Dave
All but two of the refunds have been successfully issued through PayPal, the remaining people I have personally emailed to clarify account situations.
Now that the refunds are out of the way, I'd like to address all of the active supporters who haven't yet received the wallet(s) as promised. First, thank you for your patience with this process. You may have received an email from me about a months ago stating that the wallets would all be out within two weeks. Obviously due to unforeseen challenges the shipping did not go as planned.
I'm sure many of you have sent numerous emails in the meantime in the vein of "WHERE IS MY WALLET?" and in order to make the best use of my time I will post all wallet updates here on the updates page instead of responding individually to each of the many, many emails sent through this website. If you do have a specific concern such as change of address, missing parts, or are unsatisfied with the product you received and have sent an email I will respond personally to your individual concerns.
Thank you and have a great week!
This is Mary writing to you. For those of you waiting on your refund, I have just completed over 90% of the refund transactions. The remaining 10% will be finished as soon as the specific issue is resolved - for some their paypal account is not active, for others their name does not match our records, etc.
Next up I will be working to get all of the materials to the right people to ensure your wallets get out as soon as possible. Considering we have suppliers and sewers in several states, this is a real logistical challenge.
Thanks for your continued support through the completion of this project.
Cheers,
Mary
]]>Thanks for bearing with me since the last update. That gave me a chance to regroup, gather info and recruit assistance.
I'd like to introduce my friend Mary. She has been doing customer service for Coffee Joulies for a few weeks now and has just started doing customer service for Thread & Leather. For those of you who requested refunds, she will be sending them starting today. She will also be coordinating the final sewing efforts to make sure nothing falls through the cracks. Be nice to her!
Now some numbers. We've shipped 80.49% of Wrap Wallet Kits so far. Here's the breakdown:
That adds up to 2,344 unsewn wallets that have been shipped out of the 2,912 pledged for.
That number would be higher but a miscommunication on my part resulted in the latest shipment of cut leather to Swish being returned to sender. That will make its way back to Swish soon, raising the number much closer to 100% for unsewn wallets.
Thanks again for your patience and understanding. I'll post an update about sewn wallets tomorrow.
Best,
Dave
]]>As has been the case in each of the last few updates, I owe my backers an apology for the ongoing delays in the Wrap Wallet project, as well as the lack of communication. After listening in on a webcast about guilt by Ramit Sethi last week, I realized that feeling like I need to apologize has actually become the reason for the delays.
This project started optimistically. I set my goal as low as possible, knowing there was a possibility for the project to do very well but wanting it to at least succeed if it reached a level that would let me break even.
Early support from friends & family helped get things off the ground, but everything kicked into overdrive after emailing my backers from the Coffee Joulies project. The attention of all these existing Kickstarter members put the Wrap Wallet at the top of the list for “Popular” and “Product Design”, leading to attention from tens of thousands of other Kickstarter members and boosting the project to a level that I knew was possible but hardly thought would actually happen for yet another Kickstarter wallet.
But it did happen, and early decisions made to manage a small project made certain aspects of the project better, while making other aspects more challenging. Most tiers stated that wallets would ship in December, and we actually did ship over a thousand kits and over 200 sewn wallets in time for Christmas, and another thousand or so by the end of 2013. What I should have done is set limits on each tier so I wouldn’t guarantee more than I knew could be made and shipped in time, and then add more tiers that would ship later.
I already had way too many tiers, however, which I needed so I would know how much thread & leather of each color I would need so I could place the order before the Kickstarter project had ended. For me to add even more tiers with revised shipping times on them would have made things even more complicated.
Starting just before Christmas, suppliers that had been working around the clock for the holidays took well-deserved holiday breaks. Holiday demand for thread led to partial shipments that left many orders without the materials needed for fulfillment. Holiday shipping mistakes left a few dozen sewn wallets unshipped because shipping labels didn’t arrive until two months later.
All of a sudden I went from being happy, confident and on top of the project to behind, anxious and feeling guilty for letting people down. I would wake up every morning with twenty things to accomplish, and even if I was able to get ten of them done it meant I would wake up the following morning with thirty things on my to-do list.
Despite having over $100,000 in my business checking account, I turned down a New Years trip to Cabo San Lucas with many of my best friends because I felt like I didn’t deserve it. I actually let myself go on an electronic music cruise in the Bahamas in early January that I had booked in September, and spent much of the first night in my cabin catching up on customer service emails until we sailed out of Miami's data service range, despite the fact that a raging dance party with world-class DJs was happening on the top deck.
All the while Wrap kits and sewn wallets were actually still shipping, albeit at a slower rate than initially planned due to reasons ranging from blizzards and burst pipes to leather not being available for people to sew. This is what this looks like from inside the project:
20% of wallets ship in time for Christmas: most people are excited; a handful are annoyed that they won’t be getting their wallets in time for Christmas.
40% of wallets ship by EOY 2013: lots of people are excited; more people start messaging that they are mad they haven’t received their wallet in December as promised.
70% of wallet kits have shipped by January: the majority of people are happy; the number of unhappy customers steadily rises, with many quite angry about not receiving their wallet yet and others beginning to ask for refunds.
This continues in an 80/20 type of pattern where more people continue to become satisfied while many others experience increasing levels of fury over not yet having received their reward.
The effect of this on the creator is profound. With every passing day my anxiety and guilt increases, while the feedback from backers becomes increasingly negative. A small fraction of backers who received their wallet would post a note saying how much they like it, but these are lost in the maelstrom of negativity from the ones that haven’t received anything yet. The reward for getting closer and closer to finishing the project was increasing levels of hate from those who had not yet received their reward. Not very motivating.
You can ask my girlfriend how this impacted me personally. As you can see, my productivity has decreased drastically. My ability to concentrate on the important parts of the project became almost nonexistent. Nothing I could post would be good news until it was “hey, we’re done!”
I never would have admitted this if it weren’t for a few brave friends and mentors posting about their own struggles with issues common among entrepreneurs. Tim Ferriss, Noah Kagan, Charlie Hoen, and Ramit Sethi, thank you for bringing these issues into view (click on each name to read their post - or in the case of Charlie, entire book).
So let’s get back on track. Reservations made on threadandleather.com are fully refundable. Please email support@threadandeather.com and we will process your refund as soon as possible. I appreciate your support and apologize for the delays and lack of communication. I hope to win you back as a customer in the future.
In exchange for this I am allowing myself to shed the weight of all guilt that has plagued me for the past few months. I am going to happily go about my business getting the remaining wallets cut, sewn and shipped. I am going to merrily post about progress and things I have learned along the way. And I am going to make sure the best wallet in the world actually makes it out into the world.
Sincerely,
David Jackson
]]>Thank you all so much for your patience. The tail end of Kickstarter projects is always painful, with plenty of loose ends to tie up. This tends to be a variation of the 80/20 rule:
The one major loose end with the Wrap Wallet up to this point was that we only received a partial thread shipment back in December, which has delayed sewing and/or shipping for many of our backers (particularly for Mahogany & Ecru, our most popular color combo). We finally received word from our supplier in France that the rest of the thread has shipped!! Kits delayed by this will ship pretty much as soon as the thread arrives, and sewn wallets will ship as they're finished.
To clarify how the shipping process is going, everyone is being sent one wallet first, with additional wallets sent in a following shipment. This ensures that all backers get an award as soon as possible. Keep an eye out for a shipping confirmation email from hello@swish.com that will go out when your wallet ships.
Custom wallets were a much bigger logistical challenge than anticipated. I will be working with the laser cutter in Beacon NY next week to finish all of those and get them shipped.
The Kickstarter green has been made and looks great. Unfortunately I forgot that the Kickstarter logo had to be etched into the leather in place of the "&" so I have to redo those. I'll be taking care of them at the laser cutter this week as well.
I'm working through the message backlog now. If you've sent me a message it will be answered in the next day or two. I really appreciate your patience.
I hope you understand how much I appreciate your support through this process, and I can't wait to have all of you finally enjoying your Wrap Wallets.
If you have any specific questions about managing a Kickstarter project (or anything else) please ask in the comments below and I will answer in the next update.
Sincerely,
Dave
]]>I hope you all enjoyed the holidays and are off to a great start with 2014. We are in the home stretch with the Wrap Wallet. Leather is being cut every day (with the exception of a few days where the laser cutter was dealing with a burst pipe from the "polar vortex" in the northeast) and then makes its way to Swish in California for fulfillment (packaging & shipping to you) or to various people on both coasts for sewing. You will receive an email from Swish as soon as your wallet ships.
We all appreciate your patience and understanding as we work out all the bugs in manufacturing and fulfillment. I truly believe the Wrap Wallet is the best wallet in the world, and I stand behind every one. If you aren't completely satisfied with your Wrap Wallet please let me know at threadandleather.com/contact and we will do everything we can to remedy the situation.
Sincerely,
Dave
]]>It's been over two weeks since I posted the last update. I sincerely apologize. The logistics of leather/thread/lasers has been a little overwhelming. I promised to keep you updated on everything that was going on and I haven't held up my end of the bargain (the "experience" side of Kickstarter). Let's fix that now.
Before I forget, here is the link to the Sewing Instructional Video (in case you missed it in Update #7)
What's going on?
This is version 2.0 of this update. Version 1.0 (slightly more extensive) was eaten by the internets, but rest assured I will be on top of this communication thing now that the holiday season is over.
If you need to get in touch please use the contact form at threadandleather.com/contact
Thank you again for your patience & support. The Wrap Wallet wouldn't be possible without you.
Happy holidays,
Dave
]]>At the post office buying 1000 stamps. That's all for now.
]]>Dave walks up to a car parked on a dark street in San Francisco. Guy gets out of car and pops trunk, displaying thousands of dollars worth of "the highest quality product". Dave inspects product to make sure it's what he asked for. Everything seems to be in order. Dave shakes guy's hand and walks off with two boxes full of the good stuff.
That's actually how it went down last night. Luckily I wasn't mugged on the short walk home... not that anyone else would know what to do with 19.5 miles of waxed linen thread.
Now I have everything I need to send out your kits and sewn wallets! I have two laser cutters hard at work cutting out the leather pieces and my friends are hard at work sewing. I'm heading to E&M Labs in Mountain View, CA as we speak to start packing up needles & thread.
Many of you have been worried about not receiving a survey. This was because your survey hadn't been sent yet. Well guess what, YOUR SURVEY HAS BEEN SENT NOW!! Please check your email inbox and/or Kickstarter account page and respond to the survey as soon as you can.
DISCLAIMER: Things are going well. Almost too well. Murphy's Law still exists. I'm doing my best to get these out ASAP but it's still early and a number of things still can and will go wrong. Please aim to be pleasantly surprised when your kit or sewn Wrap shows up sooner than you expected, rather than disappointed if it shows up a week or two later than you thought it might. This will make us all much happier.]]>0. ONLY THE SURVEY FOR THE BLACK & BLUE WRAP HAS BEEN SENT OUT. Not the kit, just the sewn wrap. I'm sending the surveys out as needed in case people move or something else happens that messes everything up.
1. Pergamena (the tannery) is awesome. They tracked my Kickstarter campaign, proactively coloring leather for us and shipping it to California before receiving a single nickel from me. Thanks to you I was finally able to cut them a (huge) check for all of their hard work.
2. The laser at E&M Labs broke, but don't worry, they fixed it. They initially said they could guarantee 1000 wallets by Christmas, but have since increased their estimate to 3500. I found three other laser cutters that are willing to cut leather for me too, and am working to get them online to increase capacity.
3. I have three people sewing wallets now and more coming soon. Jemma (from the video), her friend Olivia and my friend Mary all have some black leather and blue thread and are sewing as fast as they can. If you chose the Black & Blue Wrap, well, good choice. You'll be getting your wallets first. Black & Blue Kits will be going out next (but the survey has not been sent out yet).
4. All of the needles are in, but the thread (aside from blue) has not arrived yet. This is really the biggest unknown at this point. I'll be getting all the kits packed up so that when the thread gets here we can just stuff thread in all the envelopes and stick them in the mailbox.
What does this mean for you concerning delivery time? It is still too early to tell. Many of you will get your reward in time for the holidays, but I have no idea where the cutoff is yet. The way things are going, this initial setup period will take a few more days and then wallets will flow out of the system at an alarming rate. If your reward doesn't arrive in time for the holidays it will certainly arrive shortly afterwards. Keep an eye on the updates to find out more. I really appreciate your patience, understanding and words of encouragement.
]]>EVAK Glass Food Storage Container - My friend Ed designed these awesome air-tight food storage containers that change volume to displace any extra air inside to keep your food fresh. The best part is that this happens automatically, no levers to flip or pumps to use.
Lexell Stone Watches - Tim has created watches with bezels and bracelets cut out of stone. They have a unique look and the stone is much harder than metal, making it more resistant to scratching. As an engineer I always appreciate unique materials applied to products in new ways.
Orbitkey - Rex has tackled another pressing pocket problem: key management. His solution expands to fit up to nine keys and keeps them neat and not jangling around in your pocket.
Update on the Wrap Wallet:
The Black & Blue Wrap survey has been sent out!! We have enough black leather and blue thread to make all of these now, so I need to know where they're going. I'll be printing out shipping labels as soon as the survey results are in and giving them to the people sewing these wallets so each Black & Blue Wrap can ship out as soon as it's finished.]]>REMINDER: Kickstarter is not a store. It is an experience. I promise to do everything I can to get your Wrap Wallet to you as soon as possible, as long as you promise to be understanding about the fact that I now have to produce around 30x more wallets than my initial goal had accounted for.
Lucky for you (and me) I knew this level of funding was possible and I have an amazing network behind me to produce Wrap Wallets very, ahem, wrapidly.
I have already been working tirelessly to get manufacturing up and running. A little over a thousand wallets' worth of leather has already been dyed at the tannery and is either already at the laser cutter or is in the mail on its way.
Evan was cutting wallets on Thanksgiving Eve in California while I was sewing in New Jersey. Thread & needles are on their way from Europe. Things are aligning well for an extremely rapid Kickstarter fulfillment.
The only unknown at this point is sewing. Jemma obviously can't sew 1000 wallets herself. I have been working on this for two weeks now and have a number of prospective shops that do hand-sewing. Getting this aspect of production up and running is my #1 priority now, and I will do everything I can to get these shipped as soon as possible. Wallets will ship as soon as they are sewn in the order that they were pledged for.
So what should you expect? Expect me to notify you every step along the way about which colors are getting dyed, cut and sewn. Expect to learn a lot about American manufacturing. Expect to be entertained. And expect to receive the best wallet in the world in as timely a manner as is possible.
It's a Wrap!!
Sincerely,
David Jackson
]]>Black Leather & Blue Thread (this was sewn by my girlfriend on her first try!):
Mahogany Leather & Ecru Thread (not the exact ecru that will be used - the actual thread will be significantly thinner but should be very close in color):
British Tan Leather & Blue Thread (sorry, I don't have black or green yet!):
Natural Leather & Red Thread (baseball):
Red Thread & Leather (I used this actual wallet for about a month):
Blue Thread & Leather:
Green Leather & Blue Thread (sorry, I don't have green yet, though that blue actually looks pretty fantastic):
Hope this helps!! I'll be posting another update soon with some final details as the Kickstarter campaign draws to a close. Thanks for your incredible support!!
]]>]]>
I finally had time to record a Wrap Wallet sewing instructional video yesterday. Just a single cut showing how I sew Wrap Wallets. Please watch this if you've ordered a kit so you know what you're in for.
Just after I shot the video I figured out a trick that makes it twenty times easier to thread the sewing needles. I'll show you that sometime soon.
And this is what I was up to last night on Thanksgiving Eve (the biggest party night of the year):
Yep. Sewing Wrap Wallets. You can see four of the different colors on my computer. I'll post pics of those later today. And those "baseball" Wrap Wallets? Those will be going to "Baseball Wrap" backers :-)
Now if you'll excuse me I have some confit turkey legs to finish on the grill.
]]>This will be my personal wallet for the next few days so we can see the character it develops over time.
I'll be sewing up other color combinations as soon as I can. I'm still waiting on most colors of thread, but I have another brand of black and ecru so you'll be able to see what those thread colors look like (they just won't be the same thickness/quality). We'll have to wait for my thread shipment to arrive to see the the final black & ecru thread and to see the green thread at all.
]]>People have asked about ID window placement options, and also about choosing to have no ID window and either one or two slide pockets, or even just no holes at all.
The standard configuration shown on the Kickstarter page (ID on the outside, slide pocket on the inside) will remain as standard for all normal pledge levels.
If you would like a wallet with an unusual ID/slide pocket configuration:
Order a "Custom Kit" and you can choose whether you want the ID/slide pocket, two slide pockets, one slide pocket and one pocket with no hole, or two pockets with no holes. This is available with any color thread & leather combination, and you can assemble this in any orientation. You will select your colors and pocket configuration using the survey sent out after the project ends.
Order a "Custom Wrap" and you can choose whether you want the ID/slide pocket, two slide pockets, one slide pocket and one pocket with no hole, or two pockets with no holes. This is available with any color thread & leather combination, and will be assembled in the orientation of your choice. You will select your colors and pocket configuration using the survey sent out after the project ends.
Kickstarter Green Kits and Kickstarter Green Wraps also will come with your choice of pocket configuration. The Kit can be assembled by you in any orientation, and the Wrap will be assembled for you in your preferred orientation. You will select your pocket configuration using the survey sent out after the project ends.
The Stingray Wrap will be whatever you want. So far this applies only to my dad. Thanks dad! To everyone else: my dad's wallet is cooler than yours. Unless you get a Stingray Wrap too. Then you'll be cool like my dad.
I have leather samples in every color except Kickstarter Green now and will sew them up and post an update as soon as I can.
Thanks so much for your support!! $100,000 is simply unbelievable.
Best,
Dave
]]>As my way of saying "thank you" I've added three new tiers:
I also have a question for those of you ordering the Kickstarter Green wallets. I originally intended to make this limited edition, but I think the color is awesome and I feel like not offering it later is a bit of a waste. What do you think? You would still have the only ones with the Kickstarter logo etched onto the inside. This is your tier, you are the ones supporting me, and I'd only want to make this available later if you are okay with it. Otherwise I'll just save it for my next Thread & Leather Kickstarter project ;-)
I also had a secret plan to use the cutouts from the ID & slide pockets to make little bonus things like logo keyring tags and leather business cards but I didn't want to tell you until I was certain I could do that. I'm researching grommets to strengthen holes in the leather, and I think a T&L keychain tag for the little piece and maybe a luggage tag for the ID window piece. What would you like to receive?
I also hear all of you that want to choose between an ID window & slide pocket, two slide pockets and even a solid piece of leather with no holes. I'm trying to figure out how I can do that logistically while still delivering by the holidays. I also hear those of you that want these features and are willing to wait until after the holidays to receive a wallet exactly how you'd like it. Look for an update on that in the near future.
I was up at the tannery on Tuesday and have a few pictures for you:
I'll be at the laser cutter this week getting samples cut out of all the different colors of leather, and I'll sew up as many of those as I can. I'm still waiting on a few thread colors so you won't be able to see all of them but I'll do what I can.
Have an amazing Saturday!!
]]>E&M Labs started their laser cutting business on Kickstarter with the Trebuchette, a miniature desktop trebuchet made from laser-cut baltic birch plywood. I got one of them two years ago and love playing with it, launching things across the house. They're now rounding out the set with Siege Toys, including a ballista and a catapult, and you can even order the original Trebuchette. I'm rounding out my collection with the "Christmas Delivery: Battle Pack". If you pledge soon you'll be able to get them delivered in time for the holidays!
Hope you're all enjoying your weekend. I sure am. My family is in town from Detroit, Houston and Long Island, NY for my grandfather's 97th birthday party.
I'll be heading up to the tannery on Tuesday to watch them dye the first batch of black leather (enough for 300 wallets), and then a batch of mahogany will be next. Look for an update on that soon!!
Best,
Dave]]>Thank you so much for your support. I was actually pretty nervous launching my second project, Coffee Joulies is such a tough act to follow! Thanks to each and every one of you the Wrap Wallet is now a reality and will be made in the USA.
I have samples from the tannery for all of the leather colors on their way to the laser cutter. As soon as they're cut I will sew up wallets in all of the standard & bonus color combinations so you can see exactly what each one will look like.
The tannery has agreed to start coloring their first batch of black ASAP so we can get the manufacturing process started and have wallets to send out as soon as the Kickstarter campaign ends.
I'll be making a Wrap Wallet Sewing instructional video in the very near future too, so you can see exactly what goes into assembling a Wrap Wallet.
Please share this on your Facebook walls and encourage your friends to share as well. Friends don't let friends use crappy old wallets.X]]>