Inside The Factory: Early Fall 2024 Updates

Maia Hamilton
2024-09-20T12:24:36-07:00

It has only been a few weeks since our last Inside the Factory blog, but we’re staying busy and want to share a few additional updates with our community before we head into the craziness of the holiday season.

Mid-Sized Synik Debuting Next Week!

It’s no secret that we’ve been working on a mid-sized Synik for some time now. Many of you have told us that while the Synik 30 is a bit too large and the Synik 22 a little too small, the perfect size lies somewhere in between—and that’s exactly what we’ve been crafting. Get excited for a first look next Thursday, September 26th, followed by a pre-order window from September 28th to October 15th. Unlike previous years where we saved a big new design for Cyber Monday, we’re taking a different approach this time. The new Synik will be available for pre-order with a holiday shipping ETA.

The pre-order period is also longer than usual to give you more time to think through your purchase. Keep an eye on our socials, blog, and newsletter for more details. Stay tuned—we can't wait to share more with you!

Bellevue Square Store Opening Celebration on September 27th!

We’re throwing an all-day party from 10 am - 9 pm to celebrate the opening of our Bellevue Square Store. If you’re local or planning to be in town, we would love to see YOU there! Bring your favorite TOM BIHN bag or make a purchase in-store to score an exclusive, limited-release TOM BIHN t-shirt! We’ll also be holding a raffle where you could win a one-of-a-kind rare bag. Plus, don’t miss the special unveiling of our new mid-sized Synik—available for pre-order soon, with 10 pre-production models available for purchase that day. (1 per customer)

Bixi is Moving Along the Production Floor

If you pre-ordered a Bixi, your bag is currently halfway complete on the Production floor! We ran into a slight delay (we sold more of the Zest option than we had enough fabric for so we had to wait for the next shipment of Zest to arrive before resuming Production), but rest assured everything is staying on track. If you missed out on a chance to pre-order, there will be more Bixis available for purchase after the pre-order ships in mid October. We made more than the pre-order quantity to ensure that those of you that missed out on the pre-order will still have an opportunity to purchase the bag!

Material Updates

We’re excited to share that our custom YKK #8RC metal pulls, found on the majority of our large and medium-sized bags, are now branded with the “TB” logo! If you made a purchase recently, you may have already noticed this new detail.

In our Summer 2024 blog, we mentioned that Cerise (our bright pink!) and another surprise 200d Halcyon color were expected to arrive by the end of summer. However, due to unforeseen shipping delays, these colors are now scheduled to land at our Factory in mid-fall. We're doing our best to fit them into our busy production schedule so you can still shop them in time for the holidays. We've seen some of your guesses on the returning color and some have nailed it! We hope you love the return of this shade, inspired by bright, crisp evergreens.

On a brighter note, we did receive a new 210d Cerylon color last week. We’re planning to debut this new hue during the holiday season. It has an autumnal vibe and reminds us of a color we once offered in the past. We’re currently deciding on the perfect name and will be sharing more sneak peeks soon!

Additionally, we’re also making some adjustments to our Ballistic nylon color offerings. For now, we’re phasing out two colors - Wilderness and Constellation. As you may know, we rotate our colors to make room for fresh options. Last month, we introduced Raspberry and Saguaro. While we wish we could keep every color in production year-round, we need to create space for new additions.

Product Updates

We’ve made the difficult decision to discontinue all current styles of Nik’s Minimalist Wallets. We understand this may be disappointing for those of you who are fans of our wallets and have been waiting patiently for a restock. You might be thinking this feels sudden and wondering if we will be doing a final restock. Simply put, no, we aren’t satisfied with the performance and durability of the current design, and we believe we can do better. Our team is actively testing several design improvements, but we don’t have an exact timeline for the debut of the updated wallet just yet. If you have any suggestions or feedback for our wallets, feel free to share them below!

We’re also winding down on the production of Caches. Our local foam supplier for our Caches has unfortunately shut down, so we’re currently reassessing how to move forward with this product. While we still have some remaining foam in stock, we’re setting these aside for products that currently use Cache foam (Paramour, Paradigm, and Paragon).

Limited Quantity Restocks

Some of you may have noticed small batches of bags appearing in rare, retired fabrics—like the recent Nordic 400d Halcyon Bantams or the limited Iberian 200d Halcyon All-Fabric 3D Organic Cubes. Rest assured, these aren’t mistakes or returns! We’re making a conscious effort to use up roll ends—smaller fabric remnants that aren’t enough for our regular production. To do this more efficiently, we’ve created new custom dies that allow us to cut roll ends precisely. While most roll ends will be used for Mystery Grab Bags and Mystery Organizer Pouches, we occasionally reserve these special fabrics for exclusive, small-run bags we know you’ll love!

Shipping

We’re now partnering with DHL eCommerce to ship small packages domestically and internationally (medium + large packages are still handled by UPS domestically and DHL Express internationally). The final delivery will still be done by USPS or your local delivery company, so you may not see any visible difference at all. So why the change? Previously, we were using USPS for pickups, but we started experiencing inconsistent service, leading to packages sitting in our factory for longer than expected. DHL’s facility is right next door and now we can ensure consistent pickup times.

Sustainability

On the sustainability front, we’re proud to share our progress toward the C0 DWR initiative. All of our 630d HT Ballistic Nylon, with the exception of the color Cloud, now features a C0 DWR finish. Additionally, all 210d Cerylon colors and our Racquet coil zipper chains are C0. We're also collaborating with our suppliers to transition the Aquaguard zippers on the Syniks, as well as our beloved Halcyon fabric, to C0 in the near future. Currently, they still have a C6 DWR finish.