I would still very much like to create various pieces of gear from natural fibers or at least bio-based synthetics. Being new to the game, though, I have absolutely no idea who to talk to or where to look for information or materials. When I bought the 8mm Habotai from Thai Silks for my sleeping bag project (which looks as though it might become a "make my girlfriend a dress" project), they were not really able to give me info on down-proofness. I, um, think I know that the density of the weave could be done to be downproof, but where would I look?

Weight is not my biggest concern; this is mostly an exercise of interest, and I have room to play with a base pack weight in the 10-15 pound range. In other words, I really don't care if the resultant bag weighs another 12 ounces if I can complete it as desired.

So. Who should I talk to, what retailers/wholesalers/manufacturers about fabric availability, types, etc. Bill, I know you've dealt directly with several manufacturers in the past, and Roger, I know you were in that field in some capacity--any feedback? How about from everybody else? With so many MYOG folks, I'd think several of us also do home projects and so forth, too...

Thanks for all your input!!

Brad,

Last week I spent a few days in Bozeman, MT after a 9 day Bob Marshall Wilderness packrafting trip. While there, a mutual friend introduced me to Cindy Taylor, the Chairman of the Bozeman high tech incubator organization called "The Improved Performance Group". Texbase is part of this organization and they provide the exact information that you, as well as most other MYOG subscribers, are looking for. This is the service that Patagonia, among many other companies, uses to locate new fabrics for outdoor products.

Ryan Jordan should meet with Texbase in Bozeman to negotiate a BPL subscription. BPL could then feature applicable fabrics of interest as periodic articles to their Web content mix.

Edited by richard295 on 07/25/2008 10:53:49 MDT.

[quote]Ryan Jordan should meet with Texbase in Bozeman to negotiate a BPL subscription. BPL could then feature applicable fabrics of interest as periodic articles to their Web content mix.[/quote]

That idea certainly gets my vote.

Richard, thanks, that's awesome! Tom, I move that BPL subscribes to Texbase, too--that would be really helpful to a large contingency of people and help propel the lightweight backpacking community in some great new directions (IMHO).

I can be a bit slow on the uptake sometimes, but it seems to me that Texbase is a great potential source, but requires a membership / purchase of some kind, right? I'm guessing that would be cheap!! And let's see, I'm a little MYOGer floating around out here, I might as well try to develop some fabrics with some suppliers, right? Yup, yup, Ryan-access to this would be a wonderful tool.

Another Yea!