Interesting project. As someone who has spent the last two decades designing backpacks and other outdoor gear. I would say there is one massively important step missing from your timeline. In fact, I'd venture to say it's the most important step. At least it is for me. It's also one of the most time consuming and depending upon the pack, costly. Testing, testing testing. I designed and built a travel pack, prepandemic. Spent several years and multiple prototypes. Along with numerous test trips in US, Asia and Europe. After a two and a half months trip to Europe this summer. I scraped the entire pack. Carrying it 300 miles on the Camino in Northern Spain convinced me the harness was too uncomfortable. In the two months back. I've completely redesigned the pack with two prototypes. Yes, I do the design, make the patterns, then cut out and sew the prototypes. These days I can take a new design from my head to working prototype in under five days. I don't take any designs to the factory until I've done my own test. The latest pack will travel with me for the next five months as I travel around the world. Including several hundred miles hiking on the Camino again. Only after that will I take it to the factory. Anyway good luck with your project. Just make sure to test it!
Great comment! And totally agree, I didn’t mention that in the process of all this prototyping we will be testing like crazy. My goal is to make dozens of prototypes and hand them to friends/piers to test over the year that we are prototyping. Plus the factory does rigorous testing to ensure the durability of the packs
Signed up to the emails over the weekend. Made a few purchases based of the reviews on your channel and have been super happy with them. Looking forward to supporting this where possible and buying whatever backpack you end up with.
Aaron, you've laid out a solid foundation. Your critical thinking skills are sharp. Trust your instincts. You are on the right track. Continue to build momentum and excitement. (Mike in Ohio)
Thanks for sharing. And so much respect for making your own bag. Everything you mentioned basically reflects everything that I learnt in my documentary "how to make a bag" and is the reason why I personally haven't dared to make my own bag. I currently plan a small pouch for my Patreon and that alone has been so difficult to make a reality. I wish you all the best with this project. Love how you approach this
Thanks for the love Bo! It's definitely not an easy process, and can be quite intimidating, but it's a great learning experience and I think it will all be worth it in the end. Also, I didn't realize you had a Patreon - I just signed up! Looking forward to getting a behind the scenes look at your content and supporting the launch of the pouch 💪🏼
I’m excited that you’re letting us in behind the scenes to understand all the intricacies of bringing a product to market. I’m really looking forward to the journey!
Thanks so much! I think this episode lacked enough context, but my goal is to make them better and better to show the journey of building a backpack as entertainingly as possible
Same. I’ve bought a few aer products thanks to this channel and pack hacker and you’re both very great reviewers and great on camera. Good luck Nomads Nation 😁
I hope this project goes the way you planned, I think you guys deserve it. I'm a guy that uses backpacks and slings every single day to work to the gym to travel and to walk the dog🐕😅, and every purchase I did i always come to Nomads Nation to the final decision, so I'm really looking forward to this and helping the best I can.
Damn Gabriel, I’m so happy we were able to help! And thanks so much for the support. Even if you can’t end up buying a pack, just following the journey means a lot to us
thanks for the update and I'm sure everyone is like me and can't wait for the finished product keep up the great work and hopefully yes it will be done around a year from now
Do you consider making the bag in the US? That will drive the cost up, but the prototyping process could be much more easier and there will be no strict lockdowns like in China for example, so less suppy chain issues?
Definitely something I’ve considered. We are going with China at this point in time, but I’m going to also try and find a few alternative factories (in the US and Vietnam) in case we get significant delays
Love seeing new backpack concepts come out, and the idea of making it a series. Good luck (I'm sure you'll need it to get it wrapped up in just 1 year)!
Please do correct me if I'm wrong, but there might be a stage missing in the timeline - between the illustration phase and technical drawing phase - in design school there is usually a "model phase" where the designer makes a super rough model of the product using cardboard, bits of wood, spit and glue, whatever is at hand, to figure out how the design will feel and work, so that any concepts can be improved or discarded. Maybe its different for soft goods, but for hard goods, getting a factory prototype is usually the last step before production, as each one is very expensive
Great points Tav, and yes you aren’t wrong, the design/prototype process has many steps, a few that I didn’t highlight in this breakdown. I need to do a better job planning out the content for this project and putting everything together in a way that is thorough, but also not too long/drawn out. 😬
G'day mate.! It's very important that you get your timing "spot on" considering of course the current situation. Back ups for back ups is advisable but most importantly surround yourself with people you can trust. It's a concrete jungle out there. When the goings gets tough, the tough gets going matey. Building a product that you are passion about usually takes "time" with your estimation of its timeline, it's quite fast. Gutsy mate, then again that's one of the ingredient towards success. You have our encouragement & support. By the way what's the theme of this backpack? Stay true. Stray safe mate.Stay cool. Rock on mate. Greetings & support from Australia.
Thanks so much! Yes, my timeline is ambitious, and I'm prepared for it to take much longer if need be - I'm in it for the longhair! As for the theme of the backpack, it's a new idea for an EDC. I'll announce it to email subscribers first so be sure to subscribe to get a first look :)
Looking forward to this! Do you know if you anticipate making different sizes of the bag or a one size fits all? Regardless, I'm sure it'll be great, best of luck!
Thanks mate! We will def only start with one size due to minimum purchase requirements from the factory. But it will be a very versatile backpack capable of many different carry needs
Looking forward to watching this project move forward. My ears perked up when you said something about "paying influencers" for their time. I'm a little bit of an "influencer," but I haven't heard of this among the reviewers I know. Do you mean like IG influencers or marketing or some such? Or should I be charging for my reviews? ;)
Thanks Mike! As for charging for reviews, it depends. We don’t charge for reviews on Nomads Nation, but I’ve spoke with a few influencers (100k+ subs) who do charge. But it’s important to take into consideration the strategy I’m going for. I’ll be launching a kickstarter on a certain date, so I’ll need as much exposure as I can get right before that date to build hype. Many ppl charge for a promotion like this
Great series. Looking forward to more. I was wondering if you know how much quantities can reduce your costs? I'd imagine that once everything is ready, ordering 1k backpacks vs 10k will be a huge cost difference, no? And are there minimum quantities?
Yes, so factories have MOQs (minimum order quantities) and they vary from factory to factory. The lowest I've been able to find so far is an MOQ of 500 backpacks. Many of the bigger factories have MOQs of 1000 or more. The more backpacks I order, the cheaper the cost per backpack. Also it should be noted that for some of the smaller factories you CAN order lower than the MOQ, but they add hefty surcharges (25-50%) which really cuts into the margins.
I'm excited about this project but one thing that concerns me is that your cost estimates seem very optimistic ( though I've never done soft goods development so it's possible that they're much cheaper to develop than electronics / other consumer goods )
Thanks Scott! I think my cost analysis is fairly accurate, but I could also be wrong 😂 . Only time will tell! Be sure to sign up to the email list to see how it goes
The communication is very important, Aaron! Vasco backpack had terrible communication when they were asked about logistics. Now it turns to be one of the biggest scams on kickstarter!
Don’t worry, when it comes to this project transparency and communication is priority #1. Also thanks for showing me Vasco - really unfortunate situation there
Hi Aaron, this is a solid content, i got questions about 20k $, or what you called design and product, can you explain why you need designer, you have a solid experience in bags and i believe you know exactly what you want and how it should be look, i know maybe it is a silly question, but how designer can help you and why you put design and product in same category is it done by same person? also you didn't tell ( maybe in future video you will) how you will chose the workshop/factory that will produce the bag, what country and what was you criterias for the factory, and finally your budget is 40k$, how much bags the factory will mad with that amount of money thanks for your content
Hey dude, thanks for the great feedback and questions! I am hiring a designer because although, yes, I have reviewed hundreds of backpacks... I have zero design experience whatsoever. Designing a backpack isn't just about having an idea, it's a technical skill that requires you to draft and design 2D/3D/CAD blueprints of a technical, and complex soft goods product. Now I certainly could have attempted to do it myself, but having worked with Jon before, I know his skills are top-notch, and teaming with him would allow me to create something greater than I ever could have myself. It should also be noted that the backpack we are making is not a basic concept - it is highly technical idea that requires expertise that I frankly don't have. Having worked with Jon on this pack for the last 3 months, I can confidently say without a shred of a doubt that teaming up with him has allowed us to create something 10x's better than I ever could have done myself. We work together to collaborate, think of ideas, and iterate the best ways to execute the design. And yes, for your 2nd question, another huge reason I went with Jon is because he not only handles the designing of the pack, but he also handles something called 'production management'. I realize now I didn't explain this well enough in the video, but in essence, Jon is not only designing the pack, but he sends the drawings to the factory, and communicates with them to create the samples. Again, this is another skillset I do not have, and although I could teach myself, I would rather spend my time focusing on the marketing/branding/sales side of things. As for the factory - yes, all of that will be covered in future episodes. The 40K will make ZERO bags. This is just the cost to get a backpack designed, samples made, and marketing materials ready. From there, we will launch a Kickstarter campaign and whatever funds we raise will then go to ordering the actual bags. The KS campaign + the MOQ/price of the bags will dictate how many bags we order. It should be noted that you do NOT have to spend this much money to launch a backpack. You can parter up with a designer/production manager and spend significantly less on marketing. Hope that answers your questions! I'm an open book so if you want to chat more feel free to email me aaron@nomadsnation.com
@@Nomads.Nation thanks for your extended answer, i would suggest if you may allow me, is to share your ideas, videos and concepts in Facebook group Carryology classified, as this is the biggest group where you can found people "bags fan", that will support you and your kickstart i believe you will success 🙌, and cant wait till your next video, i love bags and interested to hear more secrets. you are great and your content is dope,
@@SAFiW0RLD thanks so much mate! And yes, I've thought about promoting the project in the Carryology Classified group but I don't want to come across as self-promoting. As someone who is active in the group do you have any tips?
I’m very excited for your project! I’m always looking for the perfect backpack and I’m sure this one is going to be awesome. I worked 23 years at Nike (Demand planning, purchasing & inventory), so I will follow the process to help you in any way I can!
Thanks so much Ivette! And so cool that you worked at Nike for so long. I can definitely say that one of my biggest weaknesses and area of concern is logistics/purchasing/inventory. I’d love to pick your brain sometime, if interested please email me at aaron@nomadsnation.com
Not that I doubt you, because I know you are One With The Hustle, but one year seems really ambitious. Still, fingers crossed. Interesting video. Really looking forward to this series
Telegram is not very well known in the US (where most of my audience is based). Facebook is a good solution but they own the platform which means in a worst case scenario they could take the group away from me or start charging me. Email is 100% owned by me - no one can take it, which is why in the marketing world even though email is a bit ‘ancient’, it’s always considered the greatest way to grow a business. But having said that, eventually I would love to improve the group and add another layer on Slack or Discord, but that will be sometime in the future.
Interesting project.
As someone who has spent the last two decades designing backpacks and other outdoor gear. I would say there is one massively important step missing from your timeline. In fact, I'd venture to say it's the most important step. At least it is for me. It's also one of the most time consuming and depending upon the pack, costly. Testing, testing testing.
I designed and built a travel pack, prepandemic. Spent several years and multiple prototypes. Along with numerous test trips in US, Asia and Europe. After a two and a half months trip to Europe this summer. I scraped the entire pack. Carrying it 300 miles on the Camino in Northern Spain convinced me the harness was too uncomfortable.
In the two months back. I've completely redesigned the pack with two prototypes. Yes, I do the design, make the patterns, then cut out and sew the prototypes. These days I can take a new design from my head to working prototype in under five days.
I don't take any designs to the factory until I've done my own test. The latest pack will travel with me for the next five months as I travel around the world. Including several hundred miles hiking on the Camino again. Only after that will I take it to the factory.
Anyway good luck with your project. Just make sure to test it!
Great comment! And totally agree, I didn’t mention that in the process of all this prototyping we will be testing like crazy. My goal is to make dozens of prototypes and hand them to friends/piers to test over the year that we are prototyping. Plus the factory does rigorous testing to ensure the durability of the packs
Signed up to the emails over the weekend. Made a few purchases based of the reviews on your channel and have been super happy with them.
Looking forward to supporting this where possible and buying whatever backpack you end up with.
Also the quality of the content is great.
Thanks so much for the support Swiftie, and I’m so glad that our reviews were useful for ya :)
Aaron, you've laid out a solid foundation. Your critical thinking skills are sharp. Trust your instincts. You are on the right track. Continue to build momentum and excitement. (Mike in Ohio)
Thanks a lot Mike! The journey has only begun but I’m really excited to see how it unfolds
Thanks for sharing. And so much respect for making your own bag. Everything you mentioned basically reflects everything that I learnt in my documentary "how to make a bag" and is the reason why I personally haven't dared to make my own bag. I currently plan a small pouch for my Patreon and that alone has been so difficult to make a reality.
I wish you all the best with this project. Love how you approach this
Thanks for the love Bo! It's definitely not an easy process, and can be quite intimidating, but it's a great learning experience and I think it will all be worth it in the end. Also, I didn't realize you had a Patreon - I just signed up! Looking forward to getting a behind the scenes look at your content and supporting the launch of the pouch 💪🏼
@@Nomads.Nation thank you very much. Appreciate it. My pouch is just a small quantity. So your project is much bigger and cooler than mine 😂
I’m excited that you’re letting us in behind the scenes to understand all the intricacies of bringing a product to market. I’m really looking forward to the journey!
Thanks so much! I think this episode lacked enough context, but my goal is to make them better and better to show the journey of building a backpack as entertainingly as possible
Same. I’ve bought a few aer products thanks to this channel and pack hacker and you’re both very great reviewers and great on camera. Good luck Nomads Nation 😁
@@gus-reed thanks so much for the support!!
I hope this project goes the way you planned, I think you guys deserve it.
I'm a guy that uses backpacks and slings every single day to work to the gym to travel and to walk the dog🐕😅, and every purchase I did i always come to Nomads Nation to the final decision, so I'm really looking forward to this and helping the best I can.
Damn Gabriel, I’m so happy we were able to help! And thanks so much for the support. Even if you can’t end up buying a pack, just following the journey means a lot to us
thanks for the update and I'm sure everyone is like me and can't wait for the finished product keep up the great work and hopefully yes it will be done around a year from now
Thanks for the support my dude!! I too cannot wait - hopefully we can get the bag live sooner than a year
@@Nomads.Nation Signed up for it! Can't wait. I'll be purchasing you backpack, mate!
@@justbrowsing81 thank you so much! It’s gonna be a fun ride 😏
Do you consider making the bag in the US? That will drive the cost up, but the prototyping process could be much more easier and there will be no strict lockdowns like in China for example, so less suppy chain issues?
Definitely something I’ve considered. We are going with China at this point in time, but I’m going to also try and find a few alternative factories (in the US and Vietnam) in case we get significant delays
This is an exciting project Aaron. I’m pumped for you, can’t wait to rock your bag in a couple years. I’m excited to see what direction you take it.
Thanks a ton Mitchell! It’s going to be a crazy journey but I’m already loving it and your support like this is what keeps me going 💪🏾
Love seeing new backpack concepts come out, and the idea of making it a series. Good luck (I'm sure you'll need it to get it wrapped up in just 1 year)!
Thanks for the support! Yes, 1 year is an ambitious goal lol but I think we have a chance :)
Please do correct me if I'm wrong, but there might be a stage missing in the timeline - between the illustration phase and technical drawing phase - in design school there is usually a "model phase" where the designer makes a super rough model of the product using cardboard, bits of wood, spit and glue, whatever is at hand, to figure out how the design will feel and work, so that any concepts can be improved or discarded. Maybe its different for soft goods, but for hard goods, getting a factory prototype is usually the last step before production, as each one is very expensive
Great points Tav, and yes you aren’t wrong, the design/prototype process has many steps, a few that I didn’t highlight in this breakdown. I need to do a better job planning out the content for this project and putting everything together in a way that is thorough, but also not too long/drawn out. 😬
intriguing project, not only for the backpack itself, but also, or above all, for the route
Appreciate that Giovanni! And yea, I think the journey by itself could be interesting to anyone who wants to start their own business as well
G'day mate.! It's very important that you get your timing "spot on" considering of course the current situation. Back ups for back ups is advisable but most importantly surround yourself with people you can trust. It's a concrete jungle out there. When the goings gets tough, the tough gets going matey. Building a product that you are passion about usually takes "time" with your estimation of its timeline, it's quite fast. Gutsy mate, then again that's one of the ingredient towards success. You have our encouragement & support. By the way what's the theme of this backpack? Stay true. Stray safe mate.Stay cool. Rock on mate. Greetings & support from Australia.
Thanks so much! Yes, my timeline is ambitious, and I'm prepared for it to take much longer if need be - I'm in it for the longhair! As for the theme of the backpack, it's a new idea for an EDC. I'll announce it to email subscribers first so be sure to subscribe to get a first look :)
I agree with this comment but also may pick up and move my family to Australia solely based off of how many times “mate” was used in different ways
@@RyaniVice 😂😂
Looking forward to this! Do you know if you anticipate making different sizes of the bag or a one size fits all? Regardless, I'm sure it'll be great, best of luck!
Thanks mate! We will def only start with one size due to minimum purchase requirements from the factory. But it will be a very versatile backpack capable of many different carry needs
Looking forward to watching this project move forward. My ears perked up when you said something about "paying influencers" for their time. I'm a little bit of an "influencer," but I haven't heard of this among the reviewers I know. Do you mean like IG influencers or marketing or some such? Or should I be charging for my reviews? ;)
Thanks Mike! As for charging for reviews, it depends. We don’t charge for reviews on Nomads Nation, but I’ve spoke with a few influencers (100k+ subs) who do charge. But it’s important to take into consideration the strategy I’m going for. I’ll be launching a kickstarter on a certain date, so I’ll need as much exposure as I can get right before that date to build hype. Many ppl charge for a promotion like this
I already want to buy the bag when it comes out!!
Appreciate the support John!!
Can’t wait to see the ideas
Coming soon! Be sure to sign up to the email list to get the first look 👀
Lets goooo!!!!! I'm so stoked to watch this product develop!
Thanks Bernie! It’s gonna be a hell of a journey
So dope dude! The dedication is real and I’m so excited to watch this come into fruition
Thanks so much for the love Catherine! It’s gonna be a lot of fun
Great series. Looking forward to more. I was wondering if you know how much quantities can reduce your costs? I'd imagine that once everything is ready, ordering 1k backpacks vs 10k will be a huge cost difference, no? And are there minimum quantities?
Yes, so factories have MOQs (minimum order quantities) and they vary from factory to factory. The lowest I've been able to find so far is an MOQ of 500 backpacks. Many of the bigger factories have MOQs of 1000 or more. The more backpacks I order, the cheaper the cost per backpack. Also it should be noted that for some of the smaller factories you CAN order lower than the MOQ, but they add hefty surcharges (25-50%) which really cuts into the margins.
this was AMAZING. wow
Cheers Billie! Can’t wait to publish ep 2 :)
Sure hope you can hit the one year. Good luck
It’ll be tight but I’ll try!!
I'm excited about this project but one thing that concerns me is that your cost estimates seem very optimistic ( though I've never done soft goods development so it's possible that they're much cheaper to develop than electronics / other consumer goods )
Thanks Scott! I think my cost analysis is fairly accurate, but I could also be wrong 😂 . Only time will tell! Be sure to sign up to the email list to see how it goes
@@Nomads.Nation already signed up and hope you're right / looking forward to following the journey either way !
@@smenor thanks dude!
The communication is very important, Aaron! Vasco backpack had terrible communication when they were asked about logistics. Now it turns to be one of the biggest scams on kickstarter!
Don’t worry, when it comes to this project transparency and communication is priority #1. Also thanks for showing me Vasco - really unfortunate situation there
Best wishes man!
Thanks Leonardo!
Hi Aaron, this is a solid content,
i got questions about 20k $, or what you called design and product, can you explain why you need designer, you have a solid experience in bags and i believe you know exactly what you want and how it should be look, i know maybe it is a silly question, but how designer can help you and why you put design and product in same category is it done by same person?
also you didn't tell ( maybe in future video you will) how you will chose the workshop/factory that will produce the bag, what country and what was you criterias for the factory,
and finally your budget is 40k$, how much bags the factory will mad with that amount of money
thanks for your content
Hey dude, thanks for the great feedback and questions!
I am hiring a designer because although, yes, I have reviewed hundreds of backpacks... I have zero design experience whatsoever. Designing a backpack isn't just about having an idea, it's a technical skill that requires you to draft and design 2D/3D/CAD blueprints of a technical, and complex soft goods product. Now I certainly could have attempted to do it myself, but having worked with Jon before, I know his skills are top-notch, and teaming with him would allow me to create something greater than I ever could have myself. It should also be noted that the backpack we are making is not a basic concept - it is highly technical idea that requires expertise that I frankly don't have. Having worked with Jon on this pack for the last 3 months, I can confidently say without a shred of a doubt that teaming up with him has allowed us to create something 10x's better than I ever could have done myself. We work together to collaborate, think of ideas, and iterate the best ways to execute the design.
And yes, for your 2nd question, another huge reason I went with Jon is because he not only handles the designing of the pack, but he also handles something called 'production management'. I realize now I didn't explain this well enough in the video, but in essence, Jon is not only designing the pack, but he sends the drawings to the factory, and communicates with them to create the samples. Again, this is another skillset I do not have, and although I could teach myself, I would rather spend my time focusing on the marketing/branding/sales side of things.
As for the factory - yes, all of that will be covered in future episodes.
The 40K will make ZERO bags. This is just the cost to get a backpack designed, samples made, and marketing materials ready. From there, we will launch a Kickstarter campaign and whatever funds we raise will then go to ordering the actual bags. The KS campaign + the MOQ/price of the bags will dictate how many bags we order. It should be noted that you do NOT have to spend this much money to launch a backpack. You can parter up with a designer/production manager and spend significantly less on marketing.
Hope that answers your questions! I'm an open book so if you want to chat more feel free to email me aaron@nomadsnation.com
@@Nomads.Nation thanks for your extended answer, i would suggest if you may allow me, is to share your ideas, videos and concepts in Facebook group Carryology classified, as this is the biggest group where you can found people "bags fan", that will support you and your kickstart
i believe you will success 🙌, and cant wait till your next video, i love bags and interested to hear more secrets.
you are great and your content is dope,
@@SAFiW0RLD thanks so much mate! And yes, I've thought about promoting the project in the Carryology Classified group but I don't want to come across as self-promoting. As someone who is active in the group do you have any tips?
Good luck man I will follow you in this journey 🤞
Appreciate it Fabrizio!
I love how Marketing is your forte, but marketing itself was spelled wrong lmao 🤣
Omg I saw that too haha 😂 we have so many spelling errors on this channel I just stopped caring 😅
A bit faster and cheaper than i imagined lol, hope the design is good
I think both are conservative estimates, but let’s hope I’m right lol
Thanks for doing this!
Thanks for the support Eric, it's been a lot of fun so far
hahaha at first I heard "400,000 usd so I had to go back and check! Super excited to see this journey. Wish you the best of luck.
Thanks my dude! If it was 400k I’d say F that lol
@@Nomads.Nation yeah that's retirement money haha
@@CannabisTechLife seriously haha
I’m very excited for your project! I’m always looking for the perfect backpack and I’m sure this one is going to be awesome. I worked 23 years at Nike (Demand planning, purchasing & inventory), so I will follow the process to help you in any way I can!
Thanks so much Ivette! And so cool that you worked at Nike for so long. I can definitely say that one of my biggest weaknesses and area of concern is logistics/purchasing/inventory. I’d love to pick your brain sometime, if interested please email me at aaron@nomadsnation.com
Not that I doubt you, because I know you are One With The Hustle, but one year seems really ambitious. Still, fingers crossed. Interesting video. Really looking forward to this series
Thanks Marian! (If that’s your real name lol). A year is quite ambitious, but it’s the goal and if it takes longer than I’m prepared for it :)
@@Nomads.Nation It's my real name :) but - full disclosure - I'm not a librarian, lol
@@marianthelibrarian2274 Im strangely upset by the fact that you aren’t actually a librarian 😂
@@Nomads.Nation lol, I get that - I was strangely upset admitting it 😄 Just a programmer wishing she were 🙂
Great 👍🏻
Thanks ✌️
Oh yeah...Cowabunga.!!
hell yezzz
Email list sounds ancient. Why not use Telegram or at least Facebook group?
Telegram is not very well known in the US (where most of my audience is based). Facebook is a good solution but they own the platform which means in a worst case scenario they could take the group away from me or start charging me. Email is 100% owned by me - no one can take it, which is why in the marketing world even though email is a bit ‘ancient’, it’s always considered the greatest way to grow a business.
But having said that, eventually I would love to improve the group and add another layer on Slack or Discord, but that will be sometime in the future.
One year doesn’t sound like a lot of time, however this isn’t your first time
It’ll still be tough - I think 1.5 years is probably more realistic but let’s see what happens 😏