At Ignite Seattle last week I got to hear a short talk by Ellie Lum one of the founders of R.E.Load Bags on how they make thier snazzy messenger bags. (Yes, snazzy.) First of all, their bags are very hot. They showed off pics and live ones at the talk and they were super sexy. Even though they are billed as messenger bags, they obviously are good for many more situations. But what really got to me, beyond the fact that Ellie was calm and funny even though the Mac showing her slides had crashed and needed to be rebooted (yes, shockingly, Macs crash too) was their attitude towards their craft. From their website:

You’ll notice that we don’t include any excuses about why our products are made in foreign lands – that’s because we make each and every custom bag ourselves, completely from scratch. From start to finish. We take your order, cut out your materials, and sew everything together with our own two hands. Then we check and double-check every stitch, pack up your bag and ride it to our shippers. Our dedication to creating the best products possible will be evident every time you sling a R.E.Load™ bag over your shoulder.

This is the approach we’re trying to take to making software here at Jackson Fish. I can only hope our software comes out as sweet as their bags. My next bag is definitely going to be from R.E.Load.