UK Factory Diary Week 1

Factory diary week 1 - glimpses into the making of outdoor gear and equipment.

Exciting news from the AlpFactory; this week we finally, actually, properly start production (albeit tentatively - baby steps)! On Friday we finished the final production sample which was given the friendly Dragon_s Den treatment by Nick, Jim, Kenny and Col. This week we_re making the first batch of 20 mats. We_ve been training up other members of Team Alpkit to work in the factory and hopefully our very complicated production schedule will be, well. on schedule!

We_ve had to cut out over 400 bits of webbing, 40 zips, 80 metres of shock cord, 20 bits of hook and loop and a scary amount of fabric. We_ve re-wound hundreds of bobbins and drunk a lot of tea and coffee. The machines have been whirring and clunking all day and everyone managed to use the round knife without needing a trip to casualty (always a bonus!).

Gradually the gargantuan pile of parts has been transformed into a big pile of nearly- finished mats. Friday morning and we_re all a bit sleepy but we_re on target to finish the batch today and there_s fresh tea and coffee on the go so it_s time to finish writing this and fire up the machines for the final push. Exciting times in the AlpFactory!