(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)