A quick post about a couple cool things we’ve been up to lately. First off, our friends at core77.com have invited us to be guest judges for their back to school 1 hour design contest. If you think you’ve got a good backpack design, and can bust out the concept in under an hour click here for all the details. First prize is a one of a kind backpack designed and made here in SF by our design team. Doors close Monday, Sept 1, 2008 9 PM PST so get on it!
In related news, when my friend Emily from Global Exchange contacted me about Timbuk2 donating a bag for their 20th Anniversary Event and fundraiser, I happily agreed; but then it occurred to me that she should make the bag herself! It just seemed appropriate for a member of an organization focused on human rights in a global economy to come into a San Francisco factory and make something. Hui, one of our lead sewers, was awesome as always and helped Emily make a great bag. I’m hoping this can become a more regular thing where we can bring other non-profits in to make a bag for a fundraiser. It just seems more meaningful to be bidding on a bag that was hand made by someone in the organization.
I recently took all the women in my life to Europe for a vacation and alloted them one lex pack each for all their luggage needs. My daughters are 9 - 13 years old, so it was quite a feat that they lugged their own stuff. They were stars on the streets of Budapest.
I saw Habib Koite perform at Yoshi’s in Oakland last night and was blown away, yet again. The man is so talented! He’s from Mali and gave a shout-out to Timbuktu. Some day I will get myself there
Want to experience his music for yourself? Get yourself over to Yoshi’s San Francisco location tonight and tomorrow night and you can watch Habib live. Otherwise, enjoy Outside Lands with the rest of San Francisco.
Our man Dan lives a charmed life. He’s been married for 100 years, has a gorgeous daughter, lives in Napa, and runs SF manufacturing for Timbuk2 (we all love to do what Dan says). Dan’s house in Napa is full of life - literally. He grows, tomatoes, grapes, and . . . FIGS! If you know anything about me, you know that I have an unreasonable fondness for figs and today, Dan brought me fresh figs from his fig tree. Dan, thank you for helping us keep the localvore train running at Timbuk2 with your home-grown delights. I love you almost as much as I love figs. Fresh figs from Dan’s fig tree in Napa. The man behind the figs (and SF manufacturing).
Timbuk2 fan Sonia, has been through quite a lot. She wrote to us explaining how her beloved bag was stolen from where she was working at an event for Girls Rock Camp. Not only had her bag been stolen, just a few weeks before she had decided to join the Low Car Diet Challenge, a national program encouraging people to give up their cars! Whoo hoo, who doesn’t love that. Well, after building her very own custom messenger bag to carry all her crap around by bike, bam it was gone. She even put out a Craigslist ad!
Someone out there knew the importance of this bag to her, and it found it’s way back. A few hours later we got this email: “Cycle Oregon is located just 2 blocks away from where I work and that’s where the bag was dumped. My Timbuk2 bag made its way to Cycle Oregon and Cycle Oregon saw my craigslist ad. I started to tear up a little when I saw my bag. I think getting a custom bag makes the attachment just a little stronger. But there is sadness no more. We are united once again!
I’ll never let this bag out of my sight again.”
A Timbuk2 fan recently posted on Get Satisfaction that he was seeing Timbuk2 bags everywhere in Switzerland. Given the outrageous beauty of the Swiss and their landscapes, we asked him to show us what that looked like. He followed up with this killer photo of his T2 bag at the Matterhorn. The only thing that could possibly make this photo better is if it included Heidi or Federer.
Timbuk2 donated a bunch of messenger bags to Students for International Change (SIC), a non-profit org based in Arusha, Tanzania that focuses on HIV/AIDS education and testing. Their staff commutes long distances by bike and foot to reach the communities they educate and test. Their work is critically important and Timbuk2 is really stoked to support them. Perhaps the day will come when we’ll see a What’s In Your Bag photo that features HIV testing supplies and teaching materials . . .
This bag got built yesterday - unreal work making an old 2nd hand fireman’s jacket and pants into a nice bag - Chris and Donald did a great job in our San Fran Factory. See more photos of this bag here.
20 pounds of tomatoes arrived at Timbuk2 headquarters today. The gorgeous heirlooms are a tasty (big)little treat from our friends at Eatwell Farms in Northern California’s Sacramento Valley. Yes, we ride the localvore train.
How many of these beauties do you think you could fit in your messenger bag?!
Sarah Beth’s Timbuk2 bag has traveled to North America, South America, Africa, Europe and Asia! But the photo of her Timbuk2 messenger being carried by a camel in the Moroccan Sahara stole the show. Her bag is also personalized with some rad Massai art. As if that wasn’t enough, the winning photo was taken within a relative distance of the real Timbuktu! Frankly, I want to be Sarah’s bag.
Overall, Sarah Beth’s bag seems to be supremely adventurous and creative, two things we really value at Timbuk2. As the winner of Timbuk2’s first online bag give away contest, Sarah Beth will receive a $200 gift certificate to make a new custom bag.
Whew! That was a lot of fun. We will definitely be doing this again sometime soon. If you have ideas for what the next contest topic should be, let us know!
