30+ smart features & purpose-built modules make EZ the most functional carry-on & daily carry duffle. With three carry modes, wear it like a backpack too!
This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.
This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.
Hi dear Backers,
It has taken a bit longer to get our hands on the pre-production prototype than expected to get this update out, but please rest assured we are on track and on schedule. We finally have the pre-production bag on our hands and are super excited to share the photos with you.
As you know, we were waiting to receive, review, and photograph the pre-production sample by mid to end of January. Unfortunately the manufacturer could not provide photography services and sent the package to the wrong address, and long story short, we finally received the EZ_Duffle pre-production sample this week, February 12th!
Upon inspection, EZ_Duffle looks great! We took the last few days to investigate its quality and workmanship and take detailed photos to share you.
Based on manufacturer’s feedback and work done by the industrial design firm that we hired, the following refinements were worked out to optimize EZ_Duffle’s features, as advertised in the KS campaign:
Velcro Module Attachment (Electronics and Flexi-dividers). The module attachment was optimized with a velcro solution instead of the snap-ons. Testing showed the velcro attachment worked better to secure the modules in place. In addition the velcro allows you to choose the point of contact and hence the position of the module.
Battery Pocket. The battery pocket location has become an integrated part of the Electronics Module (versus being installed on the interior side of the bag) to optimize the space inside the bag. The pocket can now be closed with a zipper.
Cable Channel. The cable channel is now hidden to provide a cleaner look and avoid the cable getting in your way.
Bag Rigidity. With the inside implementation of a more rigid EVA foam, the bag is more sturdy when standing and carrying.
Handles & Load. Designed with better durability under repeated heavy loads, the handles are slightly angled.
Locking Zippers. As you know, we've added lockable zippers to the EZ_Duffle to all the main compartments to protect your belongings. This includes the middle full front opening and two side compartments.
The Backpack System. The ergonomics of the crucial backpack mode have been optimized by adding dedicated padded straps to be used in the backpack mode (versus the bag’s carrying handles). The bag is worn with the larger side across the back and the laptop section closest to the body. This approach adds seamless hooks to the side of EZ_Duffle, while the two additional padded straps can be configured to be used as backpack straps or a shoulder strap.
We are so relieved! Although the bag was delayed to arrive by a month, production remains scheduled to run from April until mid May. Just prior to leaving on holidays for the Chinese New Year, the manufacturer assured us that the production schedule (outlined in our last update of Dec 31st) should not be affected.
Thank you again for your patience and for reading this update.
Please do not hesitate to message us with any questions you may have. Hopefully we have addressed many of those questions in this update and we will continue to do so via messages, emails, and in the update one in a few weeks’ time! We expect to have more news in March when the manufacturer is back from holidays, and will share those news as it comes!
Yours truly,
Mike and JF
Hello dear backers,
Please accept our most sincere and humble apologies for not being able to publish an update until today. There aren’t enough positive adjectives in the dictionary to express just how eternally grateful we are to all of you for believing in EZ_Duffle and for providing us with the necessary funds to manifest it into reality. In all earnestness, since the very beginning of this Kickstarter journey our number one intention and desire was to make your everyday and travel lives simpler and more enjoyable. That’s why it’s extra painful to know that up to now we’ve fallen short of your expectations, especially in providing adequate updates, and therefore have caused you grief and frustration in the process. We’re writing this update to reassure you that through all the challenges, hurdles, and missteps that we’ve had to overcome since the end of our Kickstarter campaign, we’ve never lost sight of why we’re doing this in the first place. Your happiness and satisfaction is our top priority!
The rest of this update will walk you through our plan for how to achieve this goal. So whether you’re looking for a refund or would like to know when you’ll finally be able to get your hands on an EZ_Duffle, please keep reading.
To be perfectly candid with you, both of us (Michael and JF) expected that, as first time entrepreneurs, we would encounter many obstacles en route to transforming EZ_Duffle from a CAD drawing into a real product that all our backers could benefit from in your daily lives. We took these challenges very seriously and can honestly say that we made every effort to leave no stone unturned. Prior to going live on Kickstarter, we traveled overseas to select what we thought was the right manufacturer, negotiate the right deal, which would yield the right product at the right price. The last thing we wanted to be was another Kickstarter project that had disappointed their backers.
To say that things didn’t go according to plan is an understatement. Despite our best efforts and our “roll with the punches” mindset, we weren’t able to deliver EZ_Duffle by the promised date. As our backers, you deserve to hear the full story of what exactly transpired in the months since the end of EZ_Duffle’s Kickstarter campaign.
Late June - July
Coming into the last week of EZ_Duffle’s Kickstarter campaign, seeing that our project was definitely going to get funded, we once again setout overseas, looking to get a headstart and to stay ahead of schedule. The purpose of the trip was to work with our manufacturer to a) identify any final pre-production design refinements that need to be made; b) find suppliers of all raw materials; and c) finalize the production schedule. In hindsight, this is the precise point where Murphy’s law decided to put an end to our luck and good fortune…
Barely a week into our trip, JF got ridden by a serious health issue, which rendered him unable to work and necessitated him to travel back to Montreal for medical treatment. We haven’t shared this matter publicly for several reasons. First, it had been a very private struggle for JF, secondly we hoped he would be out of the loop for only a short period of time, and thirdly we somewhat naively thought that Mike would be able to carry forward the matters himself at the same pace as both of us with our combined efforts. Little did we know...
This put us in difficult position. Not only were we now shorthanded, but we also lost the only industrial design expert that we had on the team. Nevertheless, we decided to push forward, accepting the fact that we’d now need to hire an industrial design firm to implement any final design refinements that our manufacturer would suggest. Had this been the only issue that we encountered, we would have been able to deliver the EZ_Duffle on time and without any hiccups.
August
In early August, with all manufacturer suggested design refinements in hand, Michael had returned to Montreal. Working with a local industrial design firm, he was able to make all necessary design updates.
Although finding and hiring the right industrial design firm ate up the extra weeks that had previously put us ahead of schedule, at this point we were still on track for late October / early November delivery.
September - October
At the end of August, with JF still out of action due to illness, Michael headed back overseas with the final product design, nearly final list of raw material suppliers, and an expectation to commence production shortly after arrival. The plan was for Michael to spend 2-3 months overseas, jump starting EZ_Duffle production and then performing quality control and overseeing shipping efforts. Unfortunately, this isn’t what ended up transpiring. Instead, we ended up burning week after week on having our manufacturer produce iterations of unsatisfactory prototypes. This was followed by a claim that our bag design is abnormally complex, even though the design hadn’t really changed since the first two times we visited the manufacturer. Sparing you the tedious details of this ordeal, we can tell you that trust in our chosen manufacturer’s ability to deliver the EZ_Duffle that we promised to our backers had completely eroded. In good faith, we couldn’t allow for a subpar product to be placed in the hands of our customers. This experience left us frustrated and in despair looking for a new manufacturer that could meet our high production standards.
After spending 3 weeks on searching for a new manufacturer, we finally found one. The caveat, however, was that our new manufacturer would have to start from scratch by first needing to remake the paper pattern upon which they would create their version of the EZ_Duffle pre-production sample, which after our approval was supposed to head into production. Getting all this done took another 3 weeks, placing us on the cusp of November.
November
After finally getting our hands on the pre-production sample from our new manufacturer, we took a week or so to review it. There were a few things that could have been done a tiny bit better, but overall it wasn’t anything that was worth further pushing back our delivery schedule for. We were excited to meet again with the manufacturer in order to give them the green light for production! On this high note Michael wrote up and published the November 9th update on Kickstarter - projecting production to start the following week. In retrospect, we should have waited to speak to the manufacturer before publishing that update…
To our shock, we were informed by our manufacturer that they were already fully booked for the next several months, thereby making commencement of EZ_Duffle production impossible until spring of next year. To add insult to injury, they told us that, had we gotten to pre-production sample stage 3 weeks earlier, they would’ve been able to produce EZ_Duffle before the end of January.
To be frank, we were crushed and devastated by this news… It took a little time for us to work through the rapidly snowballing amount of stress due to nothing going according to plan and overwhelming guilt for not being able to deliver on the timeline that we promised our backers. Finally, however, we came up with a new plan and got back to work.
Since at this point we couldn’t do anything to speed up delivery, we decided to use this time to work with the manufacturer on the tidbits of the last pre-production sample that weren’t completely satisfied with. This was done by iterating with the manufacturer via a series of mock prototypes, which roughly look the part, but don’t use real materials. This process took us into December.
December
About two weeks ago, our manufacturer finally presented us with a mock prototype that aligns well with what we originally envisioned :) Since the mock prototype isn’t built out of real manufacturing materials, we only took pictures of details that we needed to discuss with our the manufacturer. As a sneak peak, however, here is a top view shot that we took for our internal use:
After this, Michael finally headed back home having discussed all the required details to build the pre-production sample.
First and foremost, we are making it our number one priority to regain your invaluable trust. Having Michael assume the role of “one man army”, tasked with everything from resolving critical production issues to keeping backers abreast of the most current events, proved to be an unreasonable strategy. We sincerely apologize and accept full responsibility for protracting the publication of this update. Furthermore, we have made a promise to ourselves and would like to make it to you as well, that going forward we will keep you apprised of all the latest developments in a timely and orderly fashion. No excuses. Going forward, until fulfillment and shipping commences, we’re committing to publishing updates on at least a monthly basis.
To make sure that lapses in communication don’t happen again, we’ve engaged an extra set of hands who will help us with crafting timely updates. Also, we’re relieved to announce that JF has regained most of his health and is finally back with the team to help us deliver the EZ_Duffle into your hands! He’ll be taking it slow at first, but we’re really looking forward to him picking up steam in the coming weeks. His presence will definitely help with everyday operations, as well as keeping a clear and regular communication with you.
Now with that in mind, please see below for a breakdown of the updated Production Schedule.
January - Pre-Production Sample & Materials Ordering
After having signed off on the mock prototype that our manufacturer built, we’re now awaiting the pre-production sample, which will use all the final materials. This week we’ve received confirmation that we should be receiving the pre-production sample by mid to late January.
Acquiring the photos of this sample and sharing them with you is a big priority. Therefore, while we’re waiting for the pre-production sample, we’re requesting to see if our manufacturer would be able to provide photography services for pre-production prototype (some manufacturers do). Having the sample photographed on location would potentially allow us to get the latest photos to you sooner rather than later. If it’s not faster, then we’ll simply take the pictures ourselves once the pre-production sample arrives in Montreal.
To begin production, the manufacturer needs to order the materials from the suppliers, which we are told requires 30 days. This will be done right away during the month of January.
February-March DELAYS
As mentioned before in this update, initially we were anticipating jumping into production way back in November, however, we got surprised by news from our manufacturer that they’re fully booked until the end of March.
We inquired about rush services and were informed that it is simply not possible to start the production process before February (beginning of month long Chinese New Year celebrations) without risk of compromising the integrity of the product.
All of this this is very frustrating and unfortunately means that the production will have to take place in April.
April-May PRODUCTION
Normally our manufacturer requires at least 30 days for production itself. As our bag is a bit more complex in construction, they are scheduling 45 days for production, with the finalized production mid May.
May-June Shipping
It sounds crazy that it will have taken us literally a year to deliver EZ_Duffle to you but that is the reality that we are faced with. Nevertheless, we’re committed to delivering EZ_Duffle into your hands.
After production, shipments will get grouped and loaded into cartons, which will then get sent out to different geographic locations. We’re doing this in order to minimize international custom duties for all our backers and customers.
Shipments will first get delivered to our warehouses in Canada, USA, and UK. The warehouse in the UK will be used to fulfill most european orders. So the path of your shipment will be from ports to our warehouses and from our warehouses to your doorstep.
For the other locations, the bags will be shipped out from a warehouse in Asia. Delivery is estimated at 1-2 weeks after they are sent out. Some duties may be applied as those will be sent as international shipments. Please note that delivery time will depend on your location and could vary.
This is a critical matter to address on our part. We understand perfectly why many of you have already requested refunds and may choose to request after reading this update. We definitely do NOT want to cause you any more unnecessary stress, therefore, we assure you that everyone who requested a refund will get one.
However, all our operating cash is currently tied up in production and paying the manufacturer. Although we had initially started accommodating the refund requests, we had to stop due to the high operating risk this puts us in. To give ourselves some extra breathing room with business operation costs, we’re currently looking to open a line of credit. In other words, we’re fully committed to delivering EZ_Duffle to you, our most valued backers!
The consequence of all this is that we are not physically able to process refunds until after all the EZ_Duffle bags are manufactured AND delivered to those who would like to receive their bag. According to our calculations, we are expecting to be able to pay out refunds by end of summer, early September of 2018.
With all the above being said, thank you so much to all of you for sticking around and for reading this long update. We know this bag is on track to be manufactured and delivered to you and we are forever grateful for having you entrusted us with your Kickstarter pledge.
Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to all of you! Please do not hesitate to message us with any questions you may have. Hopefully we have addressed many of those questions in this update and we will continue to do so in the next one in a few weeks’ time!
Yours truly,
Mike and JF
Hi awesome backers!
A) Production starting next week!
Thank you for your patience, we have been abroad for the last 6 weeks to oversee the beginning of the production process and assure proper quality control with our manufacturer.
The goal was to work out a production sample (1-2 weeks) with our initial manufacturer and start production (6-8 weeks). Unfortunately, they were not able to properly deliver some features of the bag as they were having issues with the complexity of the construction in some areas of the bag and the alternative they proposed was simply not satisfactory.
Luckily, within a few days we’ve been able to find the perfect manufacturing partner that is able to handle some of the more complex parts of the design. This latest hurdle has delayed us by about 2-3 weeks, as the new factory had to make new paper patterns for the bag. We are gearing up to start production as soon as we get the final unit next week. Pictures will be shared as soon as we have it!
B) Details about the shipping process
After production, the shipments will be separated and cartons will be sent out to different locations in order to minimize international custom duties for the customers.
We will be using air freight to get the bags to warehouses in Canada, the USA, and the UK. The warehouse in the UK will be used to fulfill most of the europeans orders. Afterwards, the shipments will be sent from the ports to the warehouses and from the warehouses to your doorstep.
Air shipments are the fastest way to send the shipments to the warehouses. It is 5 times more costly, but they are estimated to take 1-2 weeks to reach destination while sending the shipments by boat which would take an additional 4 weeks. It was chosen to compensate for the delay that was incurred by the change of manufacturer.
For the other locations, the bags will be shipped out from a warehouse in Asia. Delivery is estimated at 1-2 weeks after they are sent out. Some duties may be applied as those will be sent as international shipments. Please note that delivery time will depend on your location and could vary.
C) Modification details!
We're happy to share with you some details regarding a few inquiries we received. Pictures of the final production unit will be shared in the upcoming week.
1) Locking system
As many backers have requested, we've added lockable zippers to the EZ_Duffle. We've opted for a locking system similar to the example shown below as it is easy to use and It is possible to lock the 3 main compartments using only 2 locks, when using a wire-type TSA lock.
All the zippers of the main compartments will be lockable to protect your belongings!
2) New folding method
Due to a high proportion of people wanting to use the bag for airline travel, we have set the bag’s width at 9” to ensure compliance with almost all airline carry-on size restrictions.
The twist-folding method was the most efficient at a 10” width, which was the width of our initial prototype. When the width is set at 9” the quickest and easiest way to fold the bag is as shown below (the twist-folding can still work, but not as smoothly).
(Please note that the image below is only a mockup, so please ignore the raw finish)
We have extended the zippers of the side compartments all the way down to the bottom of the bag, to allow for a new quick folding method, also making it practical when storing large items into the EZ_Duffle. As a side effect, this has allowed for the bag to be very quickly folded in a flatter manner by fully unzipping the side pockets and folding the bag twice after collapsing the modules down the centre of the bag.
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More details will be shared next week along with pictures of the final unit.
We want to thank all our backers for your patience and your support!
The EZ_Duffle Team