Moral Rights, Property Rights And Picasso: An Artistic And Legal Conundrum

Awesome Stuff: Updating Classic Clothing

from the got-something-to-wear? dept

Sat, May 24th 2014 9:00am — Mike Masnick

For this week's awesome stuff post of interesting crowdfunding projects, we're going to take a look at some clothing projects.

First up, is Sweat Tailor, an attempt to make sweat pants... that are actually decent pants you can wear out and about. Generally speaking, sweat pants tend to be crappy quality stuff that doesn't really fit, that you wear around at home. However, these guys are trying to make sweat pants that are made more like regular pants (including sizing), so that people can have the comfort of sweat pants, but still be more comfortable wearing them when they go out. Just from the description, these sound like the kind of things hipsters would flip out over, and hipsters often seem to flock to Kickstarter, so no surprise that it's already passed its $35,000 goal. A pair of these will set you back $79, though, which probably makes them the most expensive sweat pants you'll ever buy.
Okay, how about some swim shorts that don't get wet. Fabrics that don't get wet have been around for quite some time (in fact, our head of research, Michael Ho, worked at a company making such fabrics many years ago). They're frequently referred to (somewhat inaccurately) as naontech fabrics and clothing, and that description has stuck. In this case, they've applied it to swim shorts (again, not a totally new concept), but it still gets some attention. The video for this project cheats a bit, because they just squirt a little bit of water on the shorts, rather than show what happens when someone actually wears them in a pool or ocean. In fact, they never even show anyone wearing them which seems a little sketchy. Also, they never really specific what technology is really in the fabric, but most of the options out there to date aren't really all that comfortable, and don't really breath that well. That might not be too pleasant for swim trunks. The project only kicked off a few days ago and is already about a third of a way to being funded, meaning it's likely to hit its goal of $10,000. Each pair will run you $47 (Canadian). So, if you buy swim trunks not to get them wet (wait, who does that?), you can jump in -- but seems like the kind of thing that you might want to wait for actual reviews on before plunging in.
And, finally, we've got the Quarter Century Belt. While the first two projects were about trying to update some classic forms of clothing, this one is more about looking back. Recognizing that we rarely build wardrobe pieces that last any more, these guys are building a belt that comes with a 25 year guarantee. There's not much more to it than that, other than that they're insisting that it's high quality, but not for designer belt prices. This one is already well past its $10,000 target with more than a month and a half to go. If you can sneak in under the early bird pricing, you can get it for $37, or else the price goes up to $45. You can find cheaper belts out there on the market today, but they're generally not great quality ones.

That's it for this week -- go enjoy the holiday weekend.

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Filed Under: awesome stuff, belts, clothing, nanotechnology, sweatpants, water proof

23 Comments

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John Fenderson (profile), 24 May 2014 @ 10:47am

Sweatpants
I have to admit that I've never understood sweatpants at all. They aren't more comfortable than normal pants, they're less convenient, and of poorer quality. Making them more like regular pants just confuses me more -- why not just wear regular pants?
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Peter Marshall, 24 May 2014 @ 11:13am

I think sweat pants are great..
And I really don't get it.. They're super comfortable, relaxed, loose -- and I'm a quite a fit man, actually. If I had my druthers, I'd wear them around constantly. Maybe I'm wrong, but this article makes me think it's the other way round...
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David, 24 May 2014 @ 11:24am

Sweatpants?
This is so yesterday's news.
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ECA (profile), 24 May 2014 @ 1:18pm

Good leather belt?
Iv had a leather belt, Customized...2" wide for MANY YEARS..I would say 30.
The problem I have with this, is that in 1 DAY I can show you how to make your OWN..and then YOU could be in a kickstarter..

When did we loose the Crafting in this country?
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zip, 24 May 2014 @ 8:24pm

I can't understand why clothing supposedly needs tens of thousands of dollars in "seed"-money.

It's a fairly simple process: You buy the cloth, the pattern, the thread -- and sew it together. It's not as if they're designing a space suit for the next Moon landing. Even someone who is not in that profession can easily make various items of clothing at home (perhaps dusting off Grandma's old sewing machine).

But on the other hand it probably makes much more sense than spending a fortune buying some "designer" clothing made in a Vietnamese sweatshop.
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Anonymous Coward, 24 May 2014 @ 8:31pm

>classic

>sweatpants

>wat
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cherrry (profile), 25 May 2014 @ 5:40am

Sweatpants - I like the sweatpants/casual/dress up or down, (comfort is key) do they stretch out at the knees/butt like other sweat pants?

Waterproof Swim Shorts - How you would wash them? Can they even be washed?

Quarter Century Belt - Have they a 25 year old prototype to prove the longevity?
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Mark in CA, 26 May 2014 @ 1:15am

Leather belts
Are these supposed to be something special? Back in the day, you could find belts like these, and many others with fancy tooling, that were better made for less money at any street fair or music festival. You can probably still find them around in small arty towns being sold by old hippies. :)
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John Fenderson (profile), 26 May 2014 @ 9:41am

Re:
If you're intending to make it a full time gig, tens of thousands isn't ridiculous. It's not the cost of materials the gets you, it's the need to pay people during the many months of no meaningful income while it ramps up.
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John Fenderson (profile), 26 May 2014 @ 9:43am

Re: Leather belts
Yep. That's where I get my belts. High quality, solid leather, lasts forever.
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Anonymous Coward, 26 May 2014 @ 11:25am

Re: Sweatpants
testy onesey twosey threesey...
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Anonymous Coward, 26 May 2014 @ 11:28am

Re: Re: Sweatpants
i see, a new way to keep the trains running on time...
expected better, but not surprised...
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zip, 26 May 2014 @ 2:31pm

Re: Re:
I don't understand how it would take "many months" to make something as simple as a belt. Why can't a belt be shipped to the customer as soon as it's made (hopefully measured in minutes, not months) as the next order is taken?

I can understand things that involve up-front engineering costs, or making forms or dies or special tools beforehand, or type-setting, or other fixed costs that require a large minimum order to be feasible. But not for simple things that can be made essentially one at a time, every few minutes.

While it's a basic rule of manufacturing that the larger the order, the lower the cost per unit, that doesn't seem to be the relevant factor here, as these things (like many on Kickstarter) seem to be priced far above the retail cost of an equivalent mass-produced item.
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Anonymous Coward, 26 May 2014 @ 2:40pm

Re: Leather belts
I remember getting one of those fancy belts as a kid - with my name stamped on it.
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Seegras (profile), 26 May 2014 @ 11:30pm

Re: Good leather belt?
I second that. For A few dollars in material I can sew a belt that lasts 25 years too. And I'm really bad with sewing leather.

And right now, you can get much cooler belts that probably will last as long:
http://www.duvallleatherwork.com/shop/british-snake-buckle-belt/
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John Fenderson (profile), 27 May 2014 @ 8:26am

Re: Re: Re:
"I don't understand how it would take "many months" to make something as simple as a belt"

That's not what I said. What I said was that it takes many months to develop a revenue stream sufficient enough to allow you to break even. In the meantime, you're living off of your initial investment.
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nfinity, 18 Nov 2015 @ 5:49am

Get Cheapest Leather Jackets
Buy cheapest leather jackets online at http://nfinity.com.au/ in Australia. The best leather jackets you will see today
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KTM Leather, 29 Dec 2015 @ 10:09pm

Leather Manufacturer Producer & Exporter.
Khawaja Tanneries(Pvt)Ltd is specialized in producing excellent varieties in COW & BUFFALO and enjoying 1.5 Million production capacity per month in Square Feet.Through time, our business has gradually broadened towards the various countries world-wide such as China, India, Vietnam, Thailand, Russia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, USA, South Korea, Taiwan, Italy, France, Spain, Poland, South Africa, Germany and many other countries around the world.We also have developed quality standardization and remarkable service level to ensure complete customer satisfaction.Khawaja Tanneries is ranked amongst the
most modern production units of Pakistan.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Mr.Moshin, 8 Jan 2016 @ 3:17am

Leather Manufacturer Producer & Exporter.
Khawaja Tanneries(Pvt)Ltdis specialized in producing excellent varieties in COW & BUFFALO and enjoying 1.5 Million production capacity per month in Square Feet.Through time, our business has gradually broadened towards the various countries world-wide such as China, India, Vietnam, Thailand, Russia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, USA, South Korea, Taiwan, Italy, France, Spain, Poland, South Africa, Germany and many other countries around the world.We also have developed quality standardization and remarkable service level to ensure complete customer satisfaction.Khawaja Tanneries is ranked amongst the
most modern production units of Pakistan.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Mr.Moshin, 18 Jan 2016 @ 1:38am

Leather Manufacturer Producer & Exporter.
Khawaja Tanneries(Pvt)Ltd is specialized in producing excellent varieties in COW & BUFFALO and enjoying 1.5 Million production capacity per month in Square Feet.Through time, our business has gradually broadened towards the various countries world-wide such as China, India, Vietnam, Thailand, Russia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, USA, South Korea, Taiwan, Italy, France, Spain, Poland, South Africa, Germany and many other countries around the world.We
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Mr.Mohsin, 21 Jan 2016 @ 3:49am

Leather Manufacturer Producer & Exporter.
Khawaja Tanneries(Pvt)Ltd is specialized in producing excellent varieties in COW & BUFFALO and enjoying 1.5 Million production capacity per month in Square Feet.Through time, our business has gradually broadened towards the various countries world-wide such as China, India, Vietnam, Thailand, Russia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, USA, South Korea, Taiwan, Italy, France, Spain, Poland, South Africa, Germany and many other countries around the world.We also have developed quality standardization and remarkable service level to ensure complete customer satisfaction.Khawaja Tanneries is ranked amongst the most modern production units of Pakistan.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Mr.Mohsin, 9 Mar 2016 @ 10:35pm

Khawaja Tanneries (Pvt) Ltd Leather Manufacturer Producer & Exporter.
Khawaja Tanneries Pakistan We are specialized in producing excellent varieties in COW & BUFFALO and enjoying 1.5 Million production capacity per month in Square Feet. Khawaja Tanneries is ranked amongst the most modern production units of Pakistan. The Tannery is being run by highly qualified technicians with the latest and most advanced technologies (mainly European), which is regarded the world over. Strict quality control is one of the company’s most important principles.
Through time, our business has gradually broadened towards the various countries world-wide such as China, India, Vietnam, Thailand, Russia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, USA, South Korea, Taiwan, Italy, France, Spain, Poland, South Africa, Germany and many other countries around the world.
The company places maximum emphasis on product quality, product innovation with the best processing facilities, and run SAP for inventory & management controls. We also have developed quality standardization and remarkable service level to ensure complete customer satisfaction.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Mr.Mohsin, 4 Apr 2016 @ 4:07am

Khawaja Tanneries Leather Manufacturer Producer & Exporter
Khawaja Tanneries (Pvt)Ltd is specialized in producing excellent varieties in COW & BUFFALO and enjoying 1.5 Million production capacity per month in Square Feet.Through time, our business has gradually broadened towards the various countries world-wide such as China, India, Vietnam, Thailand, Russia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, USA, South Korea, Taiwan, Italy, France, Spain, Poland, South Africa, Germany and many other countries around the world.We also have developed quality standardization and remarkable service level to ensure complete customer satisfaction.Khawaja Tanneries is ranked amongst the most modern production units of Pakistan.
[ link to this | view in thread ]