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The importance of being earnest
Outware create beautiful products that are robust and will last a lifetime. Functional, stylish and strong, we don’t compromise on materials, quality of construction or time.
We craft a range of bags, satchels, tools, storage solutions and other useful items, thoughtfully designed to support your daily life, enhance your creative pursuits and embolden your adventures.
Outware gear looks smart on the street and it will always perform in a tough environment. As Albert Einstein once said “Things should be made as simple as possible but not any simpler” And that is our Philosophy too!
Made from quality canvas and webbing, our products are professionally designed and manufactured in our Cygnet workshop, located at the bottom of Tassie – 43 degrees South.
Our founder, designer and maker – David Barlow, has decades of experience as an adventurer, tester of gear in tough environments, engineer and crafter. If he wouldn’t use it, he wouldn’t expect you to, he is passionate about creating stylish, functional products that are fit for purpose and built to last.
David is always happy to talk to you about your ideas or project. Connect with him on our Contact Us page.
QUALITY TAKES TIME
Everything we design and make is done with care and thought. It is not rushed, materials are cut with care and products are stitched with precision. For us, there is no such thing as a minor detail. All details matter.
We make products that are not designed for landfill. Our materials are sourced for quality, reliability and life cycle. They take longer to make, they cost a bit more and they will last.
A long time ago, John Ruskin (1819-1900) said it well and his thoughts are still pertinent today.
“It’s unwise to pay too much, but it’s worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money – that’s all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot – it can’t be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you will have enough to pay for something better.”
Some might say our business model is flawed because once you buy an Outware product it has been designed and built to last. In other words – it is not likely that you will have to replace it.
We believe in Slow Fashion: that in slowing down we design better, we construct more thoughtfully, we conserve our resources, we consume less and in doing so we create for our customers, beautiful, functional and stylish products that will last.
Good for you, good for your wallet, good for the environment and good for the planet.
MADE IN SOUTHERN TASMANIA
We are passionate about making our products here in Australia. We endeavour to use Aussie made materials whenever we can. Our canvas is manufactured in Melbourne and so is all of the webbing that we use. We strongly believe it is important to support our own designers and makers first.
Having sewn for over 40 years we have seen the demise of Australian made products first hand. In the 1980s we made quality outdoors gear here – tents, sleeping bags, packs, clothing and a plethora of other products, with jobs and income going to Aussies.
Then it changed – the marketplace demanded cheaper products and with wholesale margins diminishing, manufacturers were left with no choice but to go offshore or to go out of business. We now have many consumers educated to believe that everything should be cheap, readily available in a multitude of styles and ultimately disposable – landfill! Fast fashion has now become the norm for many consumers.
Thankfully, that is now changing. With the problems of the pandemic waning but with global supply chains still under threat, coupled with the uncertainty of overseas made products, we are seeing a resurgence in small Australian manufacturing. Outware, built on the philosophy of slow fashion, is a great example of this change.
