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I’ve decided to make some changes in the way obtaining Zugster bags works. Up until now I’ve been taking names down on a waiting list/build queue. And if everyone on the list followed through with an order, at the present rate it would take me somewhere between 3.5 and 4.5 years to work through that list.
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So, effectively immediately I’ll be finishing up the few custom orders that are currently in progress, and then I’ll be putting the custom-ordered Zugster queue on hold indefinitely.
Click through for more details.
I guess it was inevitable, and I’ve been lax in updating the website about it — but people keep getting in line faster than I can sew, so the inevitable happens; the wait gets longer. Realistically, it’s somewhere over 3 years now. Honestly, I’m not going to bother making estimates any longer – at that time length the variables are impossible to predict.
I thought it would be interesting to look back at 2009 and count up what I produced under the banner of this tiny business called Zugster. Here are the counts of all the bags I made in 2009, both stock and custom ordered. Its’s possible I missed one or two in this count, but not many.
Counts by Bag Type
14 – rando bags
8 – errand bags
6 – deluxe messengers
6 – standard messengers
4 – walkabouts
1 – backpack
Total: 39
Things may have been rather quiet here on the blog, but I have been chugging along at a slow but steady pace. I’ve just finished a double order of waxed canvas bags (better photos to follow soon).
I’m going to take a pause from filling customer orders for a week or two while I get a few other Zugster projects in order. I have a lightweight messenger bag design that I’m calling the Errand Bag nearly ready. You may have seen this diptych of two of them on flickr recently. I have 7 of them in stock, waiting for me to finish the shoulder pads before they can go up on the website.
Speaking of stock bags, I also have two stock rando bags and a couple of messenger bags nearing completion. I’ll probably wait for them all to be done then post them all at once. Keep your eyes on the RSS feed, twitter, Facebook, or subscribe to the email announce list (subscription box at the bottom of every page on this site) to get notified as soon as they’re available for purchase.
I’ve also just received 15 yards of MultiCam ® Cordura ®, which has been fairly popular in the past. I will be re-ordering more Cordura and pack cloth colors in the next couple of weeks as well, so I’ll have a wider selection of colors for the next batch of orders. If you’re patiently waiting for your spot in the queue to come up, I appreciate your patience! I’m going about as fast as I can.
There’s a Zugster Bags page on Facebook now — if you prefer to get your updates in your facebook feed, now you can:
I also have a new lightweight bag design in progress, and will have some stock bags hitting the store soon. You’ll see it here (and on facebook & twitter), when they do.
I’ve decided that I will no longer offer applique’d and embroidered artwork as an option on my bags, effective immediately. The reasons for this are multiple, but the primary one is time. Zugster Bags is a part-time operation, and the artwork takes a lot of time, both to accomplish on a day to day basis, and to become really good at. What it comes down to is that I’d rather spend that time designing new bags and experimenting with new materials, not making the same thing over with different artwork – that part’s just not interesting to me. So other than a couple of orders currently in progress, no more. Anything that’s doable with a straight-stitch is still on the table – stripes and multi-color flaps, for example.
For anyone whom this disappoints, I apologize. I highly recommend Under the Weather, RELoad, Seagull Bags, and PAC as folks who can do a far better job than I could at turning anything you can imagine into high quality flap artwork.
If you’re interested in ordering a custom Zugster bag, please read the order details at zugsterbags.com/about/ordering. I’ve copied the relevant paragraph below:
The current wait time is two and a half years.
Yes, you read that correctly. Place an order now and you won’t get it until 2012. That, of course, is subject to everyone on my current queue actually following through with their order. Some do, some don’t, some write up detailed specifications of their dream bag and then disappear, never to be heard from again, when they get a price quote, so it’s possible that it could be shorter, but that’s where it stands right now.
Please keep in mind that Zugster isn’t even a small business, it’s more like a nano business. I complete 3 bags per month, on average, sometimes more, sometimes less.
I just received four rolls of binding tape from a new source, restocking on Navy Blue and Dark (aka Charcoal) Gray, and adding two new colors – Burgundy and Orange, which I’m rather unreasonably excited about.
I’ll get the website updated with photos of the new colors soon. If anyone currently on the queue wants to see a photo of a particular color combination to help you make up your mind, feel free to drop me an email and I’ll get it done.
So, with that in mind, here’s the complete list of binding colors they have available. Colors in bold are colors that I currently have. Any votes for which colors any of you out there would be interested in for the next time I order binding?
Air Force Yellow (Gold)
Black
Bright Yellow
Brown
Burgundy
Camo Green
Dark Gray
Jade
Kelly Green
Lavender
Navy Blue
Olive Drab
Orange
Pink
Powder Blue
Purple
Red
Royal Blue
Sage Green
Silver Gray
Tan
White
I’ve recently received some more material, and have yet more on the way. Just arrived are more brown trim and a new purple trim color. Celery, Silver, and and Purple Cordura™ are back. Gray, yellow, tan, burgundy and red VCP for liners are also on the way. The colors page has been updated to reflect that (‘though I still need photos for the brown & purple trim).
Multicam™ camouflage Cordura™ is also available for ordering again. I will probably stock up on some of that later this summer. It costs more than twice what the solid colors do, so it will have a surcharge.
The Rando bags have proven very popular — 9 of the first 12 orders on my queue are for rando bags! SF local JimG got the first production model off the “line”, and fitted it with a really nice custom decaleur made with aluminum stock from a local hardware store. Speaking of decaleurs, the Velo Orange blog reports that decaleurs are about to go into production again, so I’ll be able to offer those pre-installed on rando bags when they’re available again.
The waxed canvas backpack I made recently has been very well received, having been blogged about twice in the 8 hours between when I posted the first photo and when it was delivered to its owner. It’s shown up on trackosaurus rex, Cycle Zine, and Bike Hugger
And if you like that, keep an eye out for the waxed canvas rando bag coming later this week.
I just received an order of Cordura™ today, bringing Red, Navy Blue, Black, and Gray back into stock. The gray is, I think, slightly lighter than the Pewter Gray that I’ve just run out of. I’ll know for certain when I get it home to compare – that may take several trips on my porteur bike.
In another one to two weeks I should also be getting more Celery, Brown, Eggplant, and possibly Royal Blue.
Available Bags
Click a bag for details.
