- [female voice] Production funding for Making It Up North is provided by the citizens of Minnesota through the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.

(whimsical music) - Fashion is just looking good.

This is much more powerful and much more needed.

- The best feeling is when you flip that bag inside and you've made it, you've made the thing.

Invulnerable.

(laughing) There's not much you can do to really mess it up.

It's a low tech solution in a high tech world.

(uplifting music) (upbeat percussive music) - I'm just sad I missed it!

- I've got my keys.

- You need stuff to go with you.

And I've always enjoyed, you know, the making and so, bike bags and fanny packs and backpacks and things like that were kind of what I was inspired to make.

Something that I use that sewn.

(laughing) And so that's kind of how romp has been discovered, I guess.

Charlie and I were talking outside, just chit chatting about what is this, what do we want to call this?

Sully's Workshop, cause a lot of people call me Sully, that's fun.

Treks said Romp.

I'm like, I love that.

And I was out on a bike ride; I'm like Romp, Romp, Romp talking to my friends about it.

I'm all stoked about it.

And like, well, that's short and sweet, that could be a sweet acronym.

And then Rad Outdoor Multi-Purpose came out of that.

People see romp and then they read the fine print and they read that and a grin comes on their face.

And so that's kind of where the name came from is just kind of brainstorming.

(sewing machine Whirring) - [Zach] My name is Zach Sullivan and I'm the Romp Bag Seamster.

Not a seamstress, not a sewer cause that's too close to the word sewer.

So I'm a seamster.

Spend most of the time just lining stuff up, not even sewing.

(laughing) I like the design process and making the things and making them have the functions that I want to have and the product, but I'm not an excellent sewer, I guess.

I mean, the machine does it.

Like I can put it in there and make it go straight and keep it in line and make sure I have enough seam tolerance and do it correctly.

But I'm not like a top, top tier sewer.

I just like the process of creating the things and designing them.

09/16/20.

That's when I started making Fanny Pack.

That's the prototype.

Kind of like a cheat sheet on a test I guess.

I haven't really used it since I made it I don't think.

(laughing) Just the act of making it was like very helpful in remembering what sizes everything is.

When the sewing machine came about, everything has just like exponentially grown, I guess.

And I started buying more material and thread and spending a lot more time drawing designs and thinking about things that, you know different ways to make things and making them faster.

(gentle music) So this machine is kind of cool.

I bought it from Vivette Botner, who is the woman that sews all of the tents for Frost River.

she does all the custom work.

And then those big canvas tents.

And this use to be in her personal basement for like 15, 20 years.

She decided she wanted to get rid of it.

Got it tuned up, figured out how to use it.

It's been really fun.

That's kind of the story.

That was in the end of January, or early February, that I acquired the sewing machine.

So it's only been a year.

Pretty much exactly.

Which is crazy to think actually now.

I haven't even thought about that.

It's been a year.

And it's been... quite a bit has happened.

Working at the Folk School was a great stepping stone because it really, really, really connected me to all of this community of crafters that are local here.

And just getting to know this large group of crafters that are all really good at doing their own thing and making some really really awesome stuff, that positive energy, sharing that and people will share it back.

Yeah.

And then the fun part comes when you get to flip it inside out and see what you made.

This is a burrito bag.

It's made to go on the handlebars of your bike.

I can, you know, cost my bags so that when I sell one I make money.

But if I have to spend a bunch of money on the media and on sharing what I'm doing, that's where I see myself Taking it for a spin!

falling short on being able to actually make this a successful business.

It's all on Google Docs.

It's all spreadsheets.

It's all, as somebody's contacting me, that's starting.

That's, "Oh, I got a message on Instagram.

They want a Fanny pack."

Okay.

Right over to the spreadsheets.

We're putting that order in.

We're gonna make sure that everything is in order, getting produced in order and things are running smoothly in that way.

But, that's what we're working with.

Yeah, maybe, I like that term.

That's fun I'm a MacGyver of sorts, maybe, I don't know.

I like to tinker.

I've heard a lot of people say that.

A lot of people say that and I don't know how true it is.

I like to work with wood and I like to sell.

But there's a lot of things that I can fall short on, like cooking.

(laughing) (whimsical musical) I have my own product line of a small accessory bag, the Burrito Bag that goes on your handlebars, and then the Fanny Packs.

And soon to be coming is a backpack design that I was showing you a couple prototypes that I have done for.

And hopefully that will be coming out within the next few weeks.

I can have a couple of those done.

I'm still looking for a good name for those too.

I don't think I want to just call it a backpack.

I want to come up with something fun.

I still get a really big kick out of just finishing a product.

Going from these like, raw materials, And you flip it inside out, as you saw.

And it's like, that's the first time you really see it.

And that's really satisfying.

Especially when I know it's for somebody and being like this totally speaks to that person.

Like this is their colors.

This is what they wanted or whatever it is.

And that's really satisfying.

Making something.

Creating something.

Just made something that didn't exist before.

(upbeat whimsical music) (intense percussive music) (whimsical music) - [Natalija] I never have rested on my laurels, because that's not what designers do.

(laughing) You always have to best yourself over and over and over again.

My name is Natalija Walbridge and I'm the designer and artist and entrepreneur behind DOCK5, a home-based studio business formerly focused on making canvas bags with my artwork and now focused on making masks with my artwork.

What I say to myself, "Is it striving towards excellence?"

So whatever I did it's, "This is good.

How can I make it better?"

(sewing machine roaring) This is living the life.

(laughing) In that I've converted basically 95% of my living space into a full-time workspace.

And the freedom to do that, of like just deciding that what I need most in my life is a creative space to work.

I needed certain tools, like even a table is a tool.

I need light.

I need the feeling of positive vibes in the air to keep me inspired and keep me happy.

When I started DOCK5, I really wanted to be about functional things, things that are durable, things that are built with lasting quality.

Not throw away fashion that is used for a season and tossed.

So I felt like bags was an item that people would use for years at a time, rather than just a season at a time.

And of course, knowing that there's a lot of great bags out in the world that are also good quality; The way that I set my bags apart is with the original artwork.

And that's part of the inspiration for my whole studio here, which is truly unique to be both a sewing studio as well as a printing studio.

(sewing machine whirring) Now in this time of COVID, I'm more grateful than ever.

I've always been happy here.

But I think in recent months I've had even more of a sense of gratitude in a daily way.

That I've got beautiful nature outside my back door.

That I've got all these beautiful fabrics and colors and things to keep me visually inspired.

And I've got all the tools I need to keep producing.

(soft jazz music) The idea for change came like literally over night.

So back in March, I was in the process of, in production, making bags, getting ready for the American Craft Show.

Which is a very well-known show in St. Paul.

I was really in the finish line of getting all my bags ready.

And the day that the CDC updated the recommendations to say that, yes, everybody should be wearing masks, even if it's a fabric mask.

So I set aside the bags and I immediately started making masks out of basically cutting up my bandanas to make into masks.

And I knew right from the start that it didn't make sense to make masks to sell.

I thought about, should I donate Ansell or do some kind of pay it forward?

If you buy this thing, it'll help support the donated ones.

But none of that made any sense to me because I felt such urgency.

I almost couldn't sleep at night.

I felt like I was compelled to do this, to do as much as I could.

And I thought of it really from day one as sewing to save lives.

(sewing machine roaring) And especially in those early days, and I spent the first few months full-time of the pandemic only donating.

I had people begging me to buy them.

And I'm like, no, no, you must wait because these people need it more.

(clothing iron hissing) Once we got past the emergency situation, and especially as more PPP became available for healthcare workers in particular, I knew then I could turn to making more masks to sell.

And that had been my intention because I want to stay in business on a personal level.

That's also my goal.

If we all need this new accessory in our lives, I want to do the best I can to make something that actually works for what you need.

(upbeat ambient music) So it really became my mission to do two things.

One to make a mask or a face cover that was actually gonna deliver on the best possible function that I could make.

So it's about having the right fabric.

It's about having the right fit of the mask.

So those pleated masks are easier to sew.

But they often, for one, move around more when you're talking, or fall off.

But also you don't want to have any gapping at the sides or even at the bottom.

And that I'm using a metal piece that really helps the mask sit down along the sides of your nose.

You'll notice when I'm talking, my mask is moving in and out.

Took me a little while to get used to that at the beginning.

But that's actually a good thing because that means all the air coming and going is going through the fabric and not out the edges of the mask.

(slow ambient music) Knowing when I get out of bed every day and whatever hard work I put into that day that I am actually making a difference.

One, mask at a time, one person at a time, is building and building and building to bring something positive, to bring some help.

The ability to pivot into making something that is so useful and so needed, and to have that path be so obvious and so compelling to me, it has motivated me in a way that I have never felt in my life.

I've always enjoyed my work.

I'm lucky my whole life.

I've been able to find ways to both be creative and a professional at the same time.

I feel like all the things I've learned both as an artist, as a seamstress, as a business person, what I've learned from marketing, the fact that I already have a studio and I'm already able to work from home; all of those things I didn't even know were leading to this moment, this calling of being able to use my art and my sewing to help people.

(whimsical music) (gentle music) (sewing machine clicking) - [Kevin] It's my hobby gone feral.

It's where my brain goes when it's allowed to do whatever it wants to.

I just, you know, think in patterns.

(laughing) (sewing machine whirring) My father taught me how to sew when I was younger and it was great.

I watched him put together a vest and looked at this towering six foot man with, you know, a mustache and went, "Wow.

If he can put something together, I can do it."

And it was game on since then.

It is the hobby that has outlived everything else.

No amount of education or training could have prevented this.

(laughing) (sewing machine ticking) I've been sewing in some capacity or another for about 35 years.

And in that time I've had a lot of chances and requests to fix things so...

Things that I see go wrong; grommets, snaps, buttons pulling out.

I make a point of not letting that happen.

(laughing) (soft upbeat music) My name is Kevin Kenny and this is the Empire Wool and Canvas Company.

And I manufacturer outdoor clothing from wool canvas and game leather.

I only make winter clothing.

Empire Wool and Canvas is a deep cult winter clothing thing.

I've got a niche and that niche is moderate to slow moving people in very cold weather.

(laughing) It's perfect for where we are in five, five eight Oh four Duluth, Minnesota.

But I have found that I've branched out into some places I didn't think I would go.

I sell a lot to Canada, Alaska, Northern Europe, folks who live and work in cold weather.

And they have to have clothing that works the same way every day no matter what.

I purchased this company, Empire Woolen Canvas, about 15 years ago.

And with that were three very simple designs.

One of them was a wool blanket shirt.

Like a mountain man rendezvous kind of thing.

And for several years after that people kept bothering me to put a hood on it and put a pocket on the front.

And I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, no.

(Laughing) And I finally relented and made one and wound up creating something of a (sewing machine whirring) an instant success.

We called it the Boreal Shirt.

That was how this started.

I do a few now and then, a semi-custom where folks will actually send me a blanket.

Which has become really fun.

You know, they get a little participation in the thing and I have been converting them ever since!

So I am actually, right today, building what I'm wearing.

This is an Italian Officer's Blanket a really good tough European surplus model.

And at this point I've probably made a thousand or so of these in my time.

(sewing machine whirring) The business model I operate is direct to consumer manufacturing.

It is myself and occasionally a couple of home sewers that work for me.

It's a fairly high end product.

I have tried putting stuff in stores and they have outpaced me.

They can sell more than I can produce.

So I realized pretty quickly that the best way to do it was to do really good work as fast as you can directly for a consumer.

Whether or not it's a standard size up on the shelf where they can come to our website and buy it or somebody sending in a blanket and having me convert it for them.

There's really no better way to kind of make a consistent living at it.

The trade off is, is that it is labor intensive.

It is customer focused.

There's a lot of back and forth before I even cut a blanket apart.

It's limiting.

It's self-limiting but at the same time, it's very fulfilling.

So we've got all four of our panels ready to go.

The hood is ready to pop in place.

We'll start by just putting this front and back together.

(sewing machine roaring) Pros and cons to working from home.

Pro for one, I am my own boss.

Con, I'm a lousy employee.

(laughing) (sewing machine ticking) The real benefit is I don't have to do anything.

I get to choose what I want to do.

I run in the black.

By design, I don't owe the bank.

I don't know the consumer.

I get to follow my muse where it needs to go.

And the con is it's, again, there's no economy of scale.

It can be hand amounts some times of the year.

Summer is pretty lean.

Learning to budget is hard, especially for a scattered person like myself.

I've had a lot of time to think about how to make clothing easier to repair.

Because there's really no way to make it any tougher than it is already.

I mean, wool has got a definite finite life to it.

But if you can make the panels easier to open, if you can make them, somehow, you know, quicker to fix, that adds more value to the garment.

(uplifting music) And that is done!

One boreal Shirt ready for the box.

(uplifting music) The satisfaction is the feedback.

It's the people writing me back 10 and 15 years later and saying, "I love this.

Can you patch it up and keep it going for me?"

Because it's been such a part of my life.

And it really is that.

This is a lifestyle business for sure.

I live outdoors when I can any season.

But winter is my favorite.

It really, it has become.

And I've been deathly afraid of cold my whole life.

So this is full circle for me.

Knowing that what we do for recreation is more important to us as people than (electronic beeping) what our occupation is; makes it extra special for me to hear somebody say, " Hey, look you really contributed to me as an outdoor person."

That's the satisfaction.

(gentle emotional music) (upbeat rhythmic music)