While this definitely looks neat, and I love the tailored fit of the jacket on the female model, $199 retail for a jacket is absurd. Even postured as "the last hoodie you'll ever need."
@stttories Not really. They're basically trying to disrupt soft shell wear, which is generally north of $200. If you really want sticker shock, wander through an REI.
The key for me is data or a factoid that says, "This Hoodie keeps you warm from 20+ degrees but needs a layer if below 20" or some such. The vague marketing speak doesn't solve my problem.
@stttories Thank you for the nice words on the fit for the women's version of the hoodie. We know $199 isn't cheap but felt really strongly about building our hoodies out of premium materials and making them stateside - that's largely what's going on behind the scenes and the reason for this price-point. (As a quick aside, if you consider similar hoodies made by other premium outdoor brands [that also use similar but are made overseas] are often priced over $300, we get even more excited about what we are offering!)
@kishiao From the comments from men on this thread, it seems there is an absolute desire for your product - congrats on your KS success, and I think it's fantastic that you make your product stateside (much praise on that aspect!)
I think I am quite outside of who this hoodie is meant for and thus I can't wrap my head around the price. But a 25% discount to early backers is v nice :)
@shloky Thanks! I hear you, and like you, I'd much prefer to give a concrete metric. It's a bit tricky to formally certify a temperature rating for hoodies--and outerwear in general--because there are so many variables to consider as well as the type of activity being engaged in. That said, we consider this to be a 2-3 season hoodie (depending on where you live), and it was designed in mind to be the only additional layer needed if you were strolling around on a chilly autumn/spring morning (or alternatively if you were doing something more aerobic during winter). Hope that helps!
Are the makers in Seattle? I think I spot the beautiful Seattle Public library in the press shots.
This makes a lot of sense for many PNW consumers. We spend money for good outerwear.
@kishiao@bradenhamm I figured it our for myself after looking at the site. Between you, Glowforge, the Moment lens and others, there's been some awesome physical products coming out of Seattle lately.
@kishiao Great timing, I've been needing a new hoodie for awhile and just pledged for one. What has the process been like to produce this, from idea to execution?
@ecwilson Thanks Eric, really appreciate the support. In many ways, it's a lot like developing software. We started with functional requirements ("it needs to look tailored/fitted", "lightweight", etc.), and our technical designer translates those ideas into a wearable-prototype. From then, it's a lot of testing. This is where, IMO, designing a physical product is different than software (e.g., trying to answer a question like "what happens if we add an inch here around the waist" is much more costly and and time consuming than pushing a block of HTML around). We probably went through 10+ prototypes and 4+ different materials before landing on the Men's version of the hoodie. Hope that helps paint a picture! ;)
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Yesler Technical Hoodie
Yesler Technical Hoodie
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Yesler Technical Hoodie