Working in South America (a historical summary, part 3)

In December of 2010 I was laid off from one of the largest BMX companies in the world. I decided it would be a great time to focus on my own business, the only problem was I didn’t know what I was doing. I had ideas for the clothing, but I didn’t know how to make it a reality.

I spent about two months developing “sketches,” colorways, and patterns. I bought a thread-puller and painstakingly took apart my favorite shirt so I could mimic the fit. This was very helpful from a brainstorming perspective, but completely pointless from a production standpoint.

Conation Collective early sketches

Early Sketches

Southern California was too expensive so I hopped a flight to Ecuador and spent a month sitting on the beach and sifting through the international trade website Alibaba.com.

Conation Collective's Office

The view from my “office” in Ecuador wasn’t so bad

If you’re trying to make a product that’s already been made and just want to make minor tweaks then Alibaba, and similar trade sites, are amazing. Unfortunately, I spent most of my time beating on a brick wall. The language barrier was a huge problem, as was the culture of innovation in larger factories.

A particularly frustrating exchange occurred this way:

·      I emailed a factory asking if they could make a “western” or “cowboy” shirt. I specifically said my garments could not have ANY cotton.

·      The factory said it was no problem to source 0% cotton fabrics

·      I asked if they could send me pictures of the shirts they had made in that style.

·      The factory sent me several pictures of decent looking shirts in the style I wanted. They were a little square, but I thought I could tweak the design so they had more taper and would fit a cyclist’s body type better.

·      I asked what the fabric content was.

·      The factory said “100% cotton” as if that was a mark of their superior quality

The factories thought that if I wanted bike apparel I must want lycra road gear, and if I wanted casual apparel then their 100% cotton fabric would be the most cost efficient and comfortable option. With my experience and vocabulary, there was no way to convey that I didn’t want either of these.