October 6, 2015October 5, 2015 by retoolsf

Custom Order Roundup

Here are some of the latest custom .retool. creations:

Justin wanted a pair of seatbelt pouches.
David B. wanted a little bit of everything – a seatbelt wallet with coin pocket, grommet, ID pocket, extra card pockets, and an elastic band closure.
Amy wanted a wallet with velcro and elastic.
Douglas didn’t want velcro or elastic, but he did want an extra bill divider.
Britt wanted a batch of brightly colored wallets.
David N. wanted a triple stripe wallet with an ID pocket and elastic band.
Damian wanted a triple stripe wallet with a coin pocket and ID pocket.
Caroline wanted a small seatbelt bag for daily use.
Sean wanted a wallet with 2 ID pockets and an elastic band.
Kevin is a San Francisco Giants fan who wanted an orange and black triple stripe wallet with coin pocket and ID window.
Rod wanted a small billfold with an ID window and lots of places to put cards. In addition to the interior card pockets, there are two exterior pockets – one top load and one side load.

July 9, 2015 by retoolsf

Sporty Vegan Bags

I’ve been working on a new batch of bags just in time for Renegade Craft Fair at Fort Mason Center on July 18 & 19.

Sporty vegan bag in black and blue

Here’s the low down:

The bags are made of nylon pack cloth, so they are lightweight, water resistant and sturdy. The interior and pocket linings feature a recycled nylon fabric made entirely from post-consumer materials.

Interior zipper pocket

There are two zippered pockets – one on the flap for easy access without having to open the bag and one interior lining pocket. The adjustable strap can be worn crossbody or over one shoulder.

Magnetic snap closure

The flap closes with a magnetic snap. Flap fronts come in solids and stripes. As an added bonus, the small pieces that make up the stripes give me a way to use scrap pieces of fabric left over from other projects.

Flap fronts in progress

There are two sizes. The small version is approximately 7″ X 10″ X 1.5″. The standard version version is approximately 9″ X 12″ X 3″.

Come see them (and me!) in person July 18 & 19 at the Renegade Craft Fair. The .retool. booth will be in the Herbst Pavilion.

November 26, 2014November 26, 2014 by retoolsf

What’s New?

Jacob recently took a break from making wallets to work on some new products (just in time for the holidays!).

A small selection of the newest items are posted in the shop already, but most will be making their debut at a couple of local holiday shows – the SF Etsy Indie Holiday Emporium on November 29/30 and San Francisco Bazaar on December 13/14.

Here’s a sneak peek:

Tote Bags

We’ve updated our Tote Bag to include a zipper top closure. The new batch features eye-catching prints paired with durable nylon. The bags have one exterior zipper pocket, two side pockets and a small interior zipper pocket.

Laptop Cases

We’ve got a fresh batch of laptop cases ready, too. They have an exterior zipper pocket and a layer of 1/8″ closed cell foam.

Yoga Mat Straps

We’ve been planning to make a batch of yoga mat straps for ages and finally got around to it! The straps are available in three sizes to fit mats ranging from 1/16″ to 1/4″. The straps can be worn crossbody or over one shoulder and can even be used during class to assist with various stretches. Check them out in the shop here.

Seatbelt Webbing Pouches

Our new seatbelt webbing pouch is great for everything from pencils and pens to makeup. It even has a d-ring so you can clip it to a bag or attach keys or a strap.

June 30, 2014June 30, 2014 by retoolsf

Behind the Scenes

Here at .retool. headquarters, we love a good outdoor photo shoot. Here’s a behind the scenes look at our most recent one.

Location: Tank Hill (San Francisco)
We chose Tank Hill because it has great views, the rocks make a good background texture, and it’s a pleasant walk from the .retool. workshop.

Subject: Belts
We wanted to get some action shots of our seatbelt webbing belts. We took five of them with us – black, dark blue, orange, lime green, and grey.

Models: Us
Yup, that’s us in front of the camera. Jacob is in the grey jeans and Jamye is in the dark blue jeans.

Photographers: Us again
We do it all ourselves – it’s more fun that way!

Weather Conditions: Windy!
At times, we were concerned we might actually be blown off the hill. Don’t be fooled by the bright, sunny June day – It was quite chilly here in San Francisco.

Outtakes:
Here are a few photos we didn’t end up using. Click on the photos for a closer view. Enjoy!

One of the things we like about San Francisco is that no matter where you are, you’re almost always really close to nature and to a more urban environment. Jamye captured that nicely in this photo with the city peeking out behind the rocks.
This photo gives you a hint of just how windy it was that day. No matter which side of the rocks we were on, the wind always found us. Jamye is pretty much plastered to the rock in this shot.
If you look closely, you can see the goosebumps on my arms in this one. We kind of like the idea of taking a series of photos throughout the city with our .retool. shirts visible.
King of the Rock. This one is reminiscent of a scene from Godzilla. Watch out city!
This one has a bit of a ’70s vibe to it. We’re thinking of including it in our Pin Up Calendar. (Kidding.)
The belts take a well-deserved break from a hard day’s work in front of the camera to enjoy the view.

April 6, 2014April 6, 2014 by retoolsf

Sneak Preview

We’ve got some new products in development that we are planning to unveil in the next couple of months and wanted to share them with you first.

We’re branching out of our bag/wallet/case niche and expanding into belts and straps (it’s about time, really – we’ve got lots of seatbelt webbing around the studio).

Here are some photos of the prototypes:

The seatbelt belt.

We picked up a small batch of airplane seat belt buckles and metal end caps for our belts.

The camera strap.

The strap is adjustable, durable, and it looks great, too!

March 29, 2014 by retoolsf

Custom Order Roundup

It’s been a while since our last roundup post and we’ve had a bunch of custom orders lately – everything from credit card wallets to messenger bags. Have a look:

Credit Card Wallets

The simplest custom job we’ve had in the last few months was a custom color combination for our Classic Credit Card Wallet – black and foliage green.
Jim contacted us about making a variation of our slim mini credit wallet. You can see an example of our standard version here. He wanted an extra row of pockets and a strip of velcro running the full width of the wallet.

We posted photos of Jim’s wallet on our Facebook page and one of our customers saw it and wanted one for himself in red and black.

ID Wallets

We have had a couple of recent requests for variations on our ID wallet.

Brett wanted an ID wallet in one of our favorite color combos – grey and foliage green. He also wanted an extra row of card pockets and an extra bill divider.
Matt wanted an ID wallet in custom colors – blues on the outside and purple on the inside. Colorful!

Standard Billfold Wallets

Donald wanted our standard billfold wallet with a twist – no velcro. All black, with just a hint of grey in the inside. Nice.

Coin Pocket Wallets

Here’s an orange and black coin pocket wallet in a non-standard height and width (smaller in both dimensions). We overlapped the webbing and trimmed off as much length as we could.
Mathilde wanted a coin pocket wallet with grommet hole in custom colors – blue and yellow.

Messenger Bags

Yes wanted a custom M-8 messenger bag in black with a red inside pocket and no velcro. We were happy to oblige.

That’s it for now. Keep those custom orders coming!

March 16, 2014March 17, 2014 by retoolsf

Weekend Bag v2.0

.retool., Design
.retool., tote bag, vegan bag, weekend bag
Leave a comment

One of the first bags we made for .retool. was our vegan Weekend Tote Bag. It’s made of 1000D nylon and has interior and exterior slip pockets and a magnetic snap closure. It works great for a quick weekend getaway, a trip to the store, or even for carrying your daily essentials Here are a couple of photos (click to enlarge).

Our original Weekend Bag.

Fully loaded.

We’ve tweaked the design and are working on a small batch of them to bring along to upcoming shows. Next up are the Glen Park Festival in April and Maker Faire in May.

Here’s a rundown of the changes.

New lining material: We’re now using 4oz. pack cloth (commonly used in backpacks) for the lining. It’s light and durable, two things we like.

Pockets: We replaced the interior slip pocket with a zipper pocket in the lining. We added a zipper to the pocket on the front of the bag as well.

Hardware: We switched over to hidden magnetic snaps (they are strong!), changed the hardware from plastic to metal, and added a clip for keys.

It probably would have easier to list what we haven’t changed!

At any rate, we’re having fun with new color combinations and are looking forward to debuting the bags at San Francisco’s Glen Park Festival on Sunday, April 27 from 10 – 4:30pm.

.retool.

Go Vegan. In style!

Tag / .retool.

Custom Order Roundup

Sporty Vegan Bags

What’s New?

Tote Bags

Laptop Cases

Yoga Mat Straps

Seatbelt Webbing Pouches

Behind the Scenes

Sneak Preview

The seatbelt belt.

The camera strap.

Custom Order Roundup

Weekend Bag v2.0