Every backpack starts somewhere.

For Sam, our lead softgoods designer, it starts with paper.

Before fabric gets cut or a sewing machine starts humming, the first version of a bag begins as a shape mock-up built by hand. Manila pattern paper, rulers, pencils, scissors, and a clear idea of what the bag needs to do — that’s where the process begins.

Sam starts by sketching and cutting the rough shape of the bag, working through the challenge of turning individual parts into one cohesive system. The outline of the backpack, the placement of seams, the way the back panel transitions into the sides and top, where the pockets should sit, where the zippers should land, where the curves should be — all of it gets worked out long before the first finished sample ever exists.

Once the shape is right on paper, the process moves to fabric. Pattern pieces get marked by hand, fabric panels get cut one at a time, and the first real build begins to take shape. Then comes sewing — the part Sam knows best. Stitch by stitch, panel by panel, the backpack starts to become something real.

But the first prototype is never the end of the story.