Thesis Labs - Questions, Comments, Suggestions and Hate-Mail Thread
 

Hi Revscene,

Thanks for embarking on this journey with us. Thesis Labs is a new motorcycle gear brand about to enter the market through our Kickstarter campaign which begins tomorrow. A Kickstarter launch wasn't always the plan but investors don't like to hear it isn't about profits. Our team has been working on this project for the past two years -- without a single paycheque.

Our multi-discipline team at Thesis originates in art and architecture, we're experienced in graphics, industrial design, and product development. We're based in beautiful Vancouver, BC and we've partnered with the award-winning NYC fashion incubator, Manufacture New York to assist with our product development and manufacturing.

We're motorcycle enthusiasts and we're fashion enthusiasts. We're driven by our respect for the experience of exhilaration. We're advocates of the visceral, seeking to challenge and redefine the aesthetic of adrenaline. We are a culture of ever continuous development, always seeking the next reasonable, logical and superlative position to create our product -- regardless of profitability. Sustainability is at the core of our brand and we're dedicated solely to the production of refined, purposed and lasting products. Our products are a celebration of the artisan. Our fight is against the disposable. Against the evils of planned obsolescence.

We've been iterating extensively for the past two years, designing, building and researching while acquiring and testing an extensive material library. The Thesis Series Zero product is the culmination of our research -- and the first in a series of highly innovative product. Constructed to last forever and designed to never require replacement, our contribution to the motorcycle apparel market.

http://i.imgur.com/OhyQsgA.jpg

Thesis exists to challenge the aesthetic paradigm of motorcycle protective apparel. Our design is user-centric, ergonomic in function and visually proportioned for the human form. Our Series Zero product provides the highest level of protective technology adapted to the language of contemporary fashion. Safety gear doesn't have to look or feel like safety gear.

We've completed a few rounds of testing and are about to be approved to the world's highest safety rating (CE EN 13595-1:2012 VO6). Kangaroo leather means half the weight (armoured 5.4lbs) and thickness (avg 1.3mm) of a comparably armoured product. Our products are ethically produced and sustainably sourced with the world’s best materials.

Our dual purpose Kangaroo leather jackets can be worn as both fashion garments and protective equipment. Thesis explores the medium between sophistication and adrenaline.

Our products feature exceptional quality control, our way of ensuring that our jackets will last forever. As the highest cost-to-produce garment in the industry, Series Zero represents a new tier in motor-sports safety technology. This isn't about profits. It's about using the best technology and the best materials available to make the best gear possible.

Jackets are only the beginning. Thesis can't exist without your help and as a thank you to our backers, you’re only paying for the cost of production – we will not be generating profitability.

For the sake of brevity we'll leave it there. Anyone interested can check out the Kickstarter/FAQ for more much detailed product information. Link: Kickstarter

Looking like a Power Ranger is suddenly just a choice.

Chris Lee (bananana),
Co-Founder, Thesis Labs


Special Thanks to Revscene & Admins, Blitzgear and ?NR for all their support and for allowing us to host this thread here.

Just wanted to add, if anyone has gear-related questions regarding standards/processes or CE-related things I could answer your questions here. I've done a mini-AMA on Reddit that went relatively well in the past but I know not everyone is on there. My interest is in spurring a bit of discussion and increasing overall education in relation to motorcycle safety.

http://i.imgur.com/EbWsSY8.jpg

Thesis goes live on Kickstarter today at 3pm.

Series Zero is priced higher than other products. You're paying for a highly intensive manufacturing process and the best ethically produced and high technology materials. To ensure quality, each garment is produced from start-to-finish by a single master-artisan. We've devoted our entire budget to product development. You're not paying for advertising campaigns, celebrity endorsements or expensive luxury branding.

http://i.imgur.com/NnomQqo.jpg

To meet the exceptional safety demands of motorcycling, our tough 0.7mm Kangaroo exterior is augmented with a concealed bullet-resistant Vectran fabric. Currently used as the main protective layer in the current NASA spacesuit, our Vectran layer protects you from seam bursts, cuts and punctures. We apply our Vectran layer in a manner which exceeds the highest product safety requirements.

We're live!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...le-safety-gear

I apologize in advance for the pricing but the CAD is getting killed. Thanks Harper.

Just got featured on BikeEXIF. Some very kind words from the brilliant Chris Hunter.

New and Noted: Motorcycle Gear | Bike EXIF

An awesome comment was posted on our Instagram account. I know not everyone is on there, but I'm sure a lot of you will agree with this. I felt it would make sense to post this here as well:

A great comment below by @tmodonnell on our Instagram account @thesislabs.

@tmodonnell:
Reading through the Kickstarter and I see it mentioning being the highest tech garment current manufactured. I didn’t notice any features exclusive to this product though. If there are features exclusive to this jacket I would make a better point of outlining it, all of the materials are currently available through other brands and the abrasion resistance of 8 seconds is also available for well under $2000. Maybe I missed something?

Our response:
@tmodonnell Thanks for the awesome critique – without this nothing would ever improve. I hope you don’t mind if we also put this up on the Kickstarter.

You’re right. If you’re only looking at a list of features there are a few products with superior protective ratings and other products offer similar technologies. The difficulty lies in packaging all these safety features in an aesthetically refined manner. Our design respects the heritage of the sport while providing only the best and latest technologies.

There’s a reason most gear looks the way it does – the designs are engineered rather than designed with economy as the core objective. In contrast, our products follow a build first, price after strategy. Our percentage margin is the lowest in the entire consumer goods industry.

In comparison, to achieve our slim silhouette, the product requires a level of precision manufacturing more typical to the engineering industry, leading to a quality control standard that rivals most luxury brands. The products are all made by hand. A single master artisan produces the item from start to finish to ensure proper fit between the 60+ panels. Yet almost none of this is visible from the exterior.

One example is the fully-functional shoulder gusset, which adds so much difficulty in manufacture, the feature no longer exists outside of the most expensive luxury brand offerings. Without this, we would have to lower the arm-holes and expand the overall shoulder area to provide movement – a sloppier visuality. The curved seam of the arms which houses the external armour zippers need to meet the shoulder at a very precise location while the seam dodges the elbow’s articulation point. The slightest error when attaching these pieces would render the final product unusable – this isn’t even taking into account the three interconnected interior “Core” layers and armour pockets.

This is the type of project which, through patternmaking to manufacturing, challenges even the most highly skilled artisans. We spent months searching and were incredibly lucky to find the team at Manufacture New York who were willing to take the journey with us to produce these garments.

Chris Lee,
Co-Founder @ Thesis Labs

Hey RS,

Thanks to everyone for your support. It means the world to us.

Our deepest apologies for not being able to follow through. We're working our best to ensure you can enjoy the Thesis product you've worked hard to pledge for. Our product is expensive, however the price is based off a minimum order quantity that cannot be met until we achieve a successful campaign. This isn't a luxury branding attempt, this is the basic cost of product built to uncompromising specifications using technology that normally wouldn't ever be introduced into the market due to the economics of pricing and standard market tiers. Regardless of profit, we're here to challenge the homogeneity of safety apparel in the sport we all love.

Thanks for helping us revolutionize the protective apparel market. Thesis exists to show that a higher level of safety apparel can be had without compromise to your aesthetic. Our products will always be the lightest weight, visually refined and strongest in the market.

However through this campaign we've achieved our secondary goal of generating brand press. We'll be back. If you're still interested we will be relaunching shortly with a lot more industry support.

If you have any gear suggestions or anything specific you want to see happen in the industry give me a shout in either this thread or by PM. This is your chance to see your suggestions actually make a difference in the industry. For now we're working on a lot of new product at a much wider range of prices. If you're interested, send over an email address. We'll add it to our mailing list and let you know when we plan to relaunch.


Cheers,

Chris Lee (bananana), Co-Founder
Thesis Labs

Hey Chris, I actually missed this thread myself until you bumped it now.

I would like to wish you good luck on continue bringing this brand together,

I currently own a kangaroo leather one-piece suit that was custom made for me, and it's the best thing I have worn interms of gear for riding.. thing is light compared to regular suits and absolutely insane how comfortable it is.

My personal feedback is that it is quite pricey at the moment, and I understand that Kanagroo leather is extremely expensive.

I hope you find a middle ground that everyone can accept and go from there !

Thanks for the feedback. Yep, Kangaroo is the best possible leather for motorcycle protection on the market. All our favourite professionals only wear Kangaroo. Being double the strength at half the weight and thickness with massive tactile qualities when compared to any other exterior material. I'm imagining that suit wasn't cheap? Just curious, as I do a general idea of costing for Kangaroo suits but mind PMing me the price you ended up paying?

Hey, Chris - any exciting updates or advances with the business over the winter?