Custom made gear

I used to be the product development manager for a company that made army gear, so I can give you some tips on the construction of good quality gear if you want?

If you can try to use 1000 Denier cordura, it's abrasion resistant, very durable, not too heavy and comes in a ton of colours including DPCU, DPDU, ACP etc and for zips, use no.10 (10mm wide) COIL zip (moulded zips [plastic chunky zips] are weak and don't last long when abused)
And as far as buckles go, try to get hold of FASTEX military buckles (khaki coloured ones)they are also very durable, your standard black buckles are made from acertel and snap easily, the fastex ones are made of a special nylon that can be abused a lot and not snap easily. I have run an industrial sewing machine up the centre of a side release clip, and when I plucked the threads out, it worked as normal.

This is my 2nd biggest seller, featured on the army website, he MkVII ALice Pack
www.army.gov.au/Our-work/Equipment-and-clothing/Soldier-Combat-Ensemble/Large-Field-Pack

Here is my most popular design, the SF BattleBra, sold heaps both to soldiers in Aust and also group buys to those already on post OS and customised just as many





Any other info you want to designing stuff ask away

would love to be able to custom made bags. my budget is S$150 each.

Draft up a design myrrph and I will let you know how much it would cost to make.

I am becoming a fan of this system.

webbingbabel.blogspot.com.au/2014/04/canadian-army-rucksack-cargo-pack-pack.html

Hey Baney, I am just saying it would cost around that price to make to give you a ballpark figure. I would have to make the patterns then cost out, could be cheaper could be more but that is the ballpark figure I think it would cost to make.

If you had the patterns I could give staff, then yep $60 would cover it I'm sure. If you wanted me to do the patters then it would be a while before I had time to make up the patters. Happy to make any bag or just about anything people want at cost, however they will have to send me the patterns so I can give them to staff to make. Paying staff to make some one off items isn't an issue however paying to have patters drafted up takes time and money so it is a matter of design your own and I will have it made at cost.

I have only offered this on this forum, this isn't something I do normally otherwise I wouldn't make any money. Just bugs me that there are so many companies out there putting stupid markups (very bad in Australia) on products that don't cost much at all to produce, and to kick people in the guts more they sell the poor quality stuff.

Wife got into kids cloths because we paid $65 for a dress in Thailand for our daughter when she was born, it was a nice dress and well made. In Australia we tried to look for something and it was more like $100 for a poorly made dress, standard dress was around the $65 mark in Australia with cheap material. So she decided to start her own line.

The cost make make the cheap kids cloths in Australia is around $3 per item, that is shirts, dresses, shorts etc. And they are selling for about $20 through to $65, that bugs me. Our stuff cost about $10 per item to make as we are using good material, we sell for about $15 per piece, so we make about $5 per item and companies in Australia make about $18 to $60 per item.

Most of our online stores are the same, we either buy stuff from factories and sell them on with very little markup or we get the factories to make items to our specs. When I first opened ispydeals I was in direct competition with ozspy, I did this because they where selling cheap crappy spy gear with massive markups (one item I could get for $3 and they where selling it for over $100). So I imported the same cheap crap and sold it at cost plus 10%. They don't really sell much spy gear anymore.

Dicksmith, Jaycar, ozspy, Kmart, BigW are some of the companies that we go up against. I walked into Jaycar years ago and asked if they had a USB to RCA adapter,they looked at me like I was stupid and said there is nothing like that and it couldn't be possible to make. I said I ordered one online however wanted to buy one now to do some testing (needed it for a job and had to test as there was delays in shipping). I paid $15 for it. 1 month later I walk into the same store, they had them on the shelf for $120, same model from the same factory.

Yep companies have rent and staff wages to pay however that is no excuse, if you have to put markups like that on products you shouldn't be in business as your income is too small. Either only sell online or close the doors.

If you look at some of the products on my site you may find some cheaper in other stores however they are not the same product, they will more than likely be cheap mockups or the original product the factory makes not to our specs. So if there is an item you can buy for $1 online and it is going for $80 on one of my stores it is due to them being custom made to my specs and better quality not because or massive markups.

We are looking at taking on ikea in the next couple of years, that will be more fun than business for me.

Were you quoted already? Only saw your budget was $150. 

I'm sure it'll be cheaper in beach road. Even the current army backpack has MOLLE stuff and very similar to Condor system. There's a student in my class who carries it around. 

For the civilian look, which you prefer.. from the Qoo site you showed me.. those prices are really hard to beat. 

I'm still dreaming about my canvas rucksack.. LOL.. dreaming of going retro. 

happygolucky

haha... will be popping by queensway shopping centre (thats where their retail store is at) gotta find a day the missus is not around :X

but yeah, their prices are hard to beat. The other option are the Qoo10 Wenger Swiss Gear bags. I'm on my second one. design wise is really good.

Hey guys and gals,I,m having a bit of trouble with who's talking with who and what's getting built ???if the one Baneys design incorporates gets built can a few of us jump on that wagon or will it be a one off.Like I mentioned before I,m still looking for decent bag as I walk and bus everywhere and all my shopping I carried home so my bag is an important piece of my clothing and its harrrrrdddd to find anything food that's under 150 bucks.I thought I,d got on a winner shoulder sling style bag but with huge compartments only to get it and it was friggin tiny.they must have had it on a kid size mannequin.Filthy I was.my bob is son no name Chinese brand molle but actually seems pretty damn durable and has three molle compat attatch pouches with it.like what was said the Aussie ones are wayyyyy mrked up.I wanna by Australia but not at those prices and its still coming cross sea anyrate.Just ranting now really.lol.So yeah if Baney,s design boots off and there's more than one I,d love to finally get a decent bag I dont have to pay the earth for.Also does anyone have any leads to decent 35-40 litre size molle packs at a reasonable price that you dint need to pay 300 bucks because its got a couple of numbers on it?Still working on photo bucket so I can get the no name pack up for opinions and possible what the heck ot is.