Seems like Spring rowing finished with the CSSRA wind storms in Ontario and suddenly we're into Alberta floods and Ontario heat waves.   Is it just me or is it getting harder to hold a full regatta without a weather incident?

It might be time to set aside several million dollars and build that indoor rowing course we've all imagined.

Work at Row West has been extremely busy.  Some of you may have seen the athlete jackets worn by Shawnigan Lake School at CSSRA's.  That was a brand new design with a new ultralight waterproof fabric. I'm working on getting that on the Row West website (in the minutes between working on orders).    Also new were the coach jackets worn by SMUS and Brentwood College at the same regatta.   I feel like I've almost got the jacket categories solidified.  The types of fabrics available these days make designing quite fun.   

I wish I had some photos to post right now - I've done some fun pieces of clothing between my orders, but my workshop is too chaotic to actually do some photography.  

I hope all of you are looking forward to a good summer of rowing and let's keep hoping for calm waters and a little bit less rain.

Row West gets tagged in Quidditch Quarterly

Just got my first issue of Quidditch Quarterly because someone told me Row West got a mention there:

Ok - so I know I'm terrible at blogging.   If I had a personal blog, it would be full of all my personal curiosities and interests but with a company blog, even though the very nature of Row West is small and personal, it's hard to decide what might be relevant to post.   Although I have a lot of ideas for clothing designs, prints, etc - I don't like to post them before I'm ready to actually sell them.   Give that I'm usually working every day to get orders out the door, this tends to be a drawn out and sporadic process.

If this was a personal blog, I would post my amazement with good design work in a variety of fields.   I'm constantly fascinated by the convergence of toys and robotics that occurs in Japan (and in Lego too!).  Amanda Spayd is cutting loose with her brilliant and emotionally provocative artworks.   Apple is finally talking about a smartwatch (which I feel Blackberry should have come out with already).   Google glass is weird the idea is almost there (no way I'm talking to my sunglasses).  Can't wait for Google Windshield for my car though.   Thalmic labs has just posted previews the MYO - an armband controller for your computer.  Love their youtube promo video.  A tech forecaster recently speculated that self-driving vehicles would be required by law by 2020 in city limits, eliminating traffic accidents and congestion.    You can build your own camera equipped micro-drone quadricopter small enough to fit in your hand and controllable by computer.   The world is simultaneously becoming terrifying and incredibly cool.

But this is the Row West production blog - so what I'm actually posting - aside from all this other stuff that flows through the workshop in the form of radio and podcasts, is this.

Yep - pretty awesome.    It's a microfiber puffball.  Just got it at Staples.  You use it for cleaning screens.  Computers, phones, etc.  It's silly, but for some reason it a lot easier to use than those microfibre cloths that come with sunglasses.   So here's to a world without finger print smudges.

The Gorge Rowing and Paddling Club of Victoria, BC has just redesigned their uniform.   Here is one of the first new unisuits to come off the sewing machines.    The previous uniform was just a solid orange top.  This new unisuit design is based on the Row West DIG unisuit.

 

As we're well into winter, I felt it was time to finally update the jackets on the Row West website.   As a response to customer feedback and requests, I have posted a new low cost Helo (and Mithril) jacket - the RW Bones, available in 6 different colours and 2 choices of fabric weight.   My very first jacket design was the Darksky, and although this is a nice looking jacket, the reflective detailing is expensive and labour intensive.  Making a basic jacket without all of that detailing allows the possibility of a $100 softshell.   So, for those looking for a basic crew jacket with minimal cost and maximum function, this is where to start.

I have also added new variations of the Helo.  The Uninvisible Camouflage Helo is available in 4 different camouflage colour schemes.   The I Row Canadian jacket is also available now in two colour choices: black and red.   http://rowwest.com/clothing/Jackets.html

More radical print ideas are in the works.

We're well into the new year and the spandex is flying out the door to freezing cold junior rowers.   Surprisingly (to me) I'm also getting emails from Quidditch teams in the middle of winter.  Those are tough broom jockeys out there.    Sorry for the long gap in posting - there are a lot of projects I've been working on but I often don't want to post an image until something is ready to for actual ordering.

I was doing the year end accounting while taking breaks between clothing orders and found some old sketches - rough ideas for paintings so I though I would post those here.

As to upcoming regattas, I plan to send Row West to Monster Erg and then the Shawnigan Regattas in February.   Inventory goals for those events will be pogies, tights, and hopefully some new jacket designs.  If anyone happens to have specific requests for items at regattas, just send me an email from the link on the Row West website.

Pogies are good for you.

I'm in the process of posting all the new designs for dri pogies on the Row West website so check them out as they go up.  Dri pogies use a lightweight softshell material that is waterproof and breathable for the main hand as well as the oar-cuff.   The wrist cuffs are made from the same quick dry technical fabric used in MAXRAD high performance clothing.  Stretchy and quick drying.