A magnetic belt that eliminates belt holes, belt overhang and adjusts to fit perfectly to your waist.
This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.
Hello Backers!
Sorry for the amount if time that has passed since the last update. A few big things have happened and we want to fill you in. But let's first start off with a profound question from one of the great intellectuals of our time, Mitch Hedberg:
We're not entirely sure who the real hero is...pants, belts, or belt loops, but we're betting that the MagBelt will sway your opinion toward the belt. If you've received your MagBelt, we hope you love it. If you haven't yet received your MagBelt, here's why:
We returned from the Thanksgiving holiday to find out that two machines at Nation Made had broken down and only 100 belts were made that entire week, and they didn’t even bother to notify us that there was a major issue. We'll go into all the details in a future update, but Nation Made was continuing to fail and not delivering on what they had been contracted to do. This is the same guy who told us that he'd be up and fully running in August and we just gave him too many second chances. We hired NationMade because they had a previous track record of success with other large apparel projects, but for some reason they got really confused as to how to make awesome belts with magnets.
With our manufacturer making repeated mistakes and not meeting our expectations—shit had to change, and fast. We were quoted at 600 MagBelts a day by November...and that clearly didn't happen. We'll go into all the details later, but we had to move on.
On December 1st, Magzook fully took over manufacturing and we are now making 400 MagBelts a day ourselves. We should have done this much sooner, but as you know, we're a small start-up and we're new to manufacturing at this level. As a young company we still have some lessons to learn. This was one of them.
We also contracted with a second and more reliable manufacturer to speed up the rest of production. We are now using Finger Rock Outfitters in addition to our own manufacturing facility. Phil and the gang over at Finger Rock have been in business in Denver for over 20 years, and we've personally trained them on how to make a proper MagBelt. In the last four weeks we've streamlined our processes further while still maintaining the quality we demand.
We have been shipping continuously, but it will take some time to ship out everyone's orders that have multiple Magbelt/MagBuckle combinations. Pretty much the more complicated your order, the longer it will take to ship. So far, almost all of the black belts have been made, and a large chunk of the tan, green and gray are now complete or currently being completed.
With Finger Rock on board we're able to make all the colors simultaneously which has increased production and really sped things up. We should have done this sooner, but we gave our first manufacturer the benefit of the doubt.
Looking back, we should have fired NationMade sooner because they weren't delivering on what they had been contracted to do. Things are running immensely better as we’ve taken over control of manufacturing, so everyone should be getting their MagBelts very soon.
Our shipping system is based on what is included in each individual order, so the majority of the black MagBelts that have been made and are currently being shipped. We'll be shipping the larger orders as the other MagBelt colors get made and we get them to 3PF (our fulfillment center).
If you ordered an XS Tan/Green/Gray and/or an XXXXL Tan/Green/Gray MagBelt then your order will be on the tail end as we start making Medium and Large MagBelts first, because those sizes have the highest number of orders. We want to make sure our fulfillment center ships out MagBelts as quickly as possible without making mistakes, so the orders with multiple MagBelts/MagBuckles might take a little more time. Once again, we think everyone will have their MagBelts in hand (regardless of size, color, order, or country) by mid-February.
Also, if you want more regular updates, stop emailing us 1,000 times a day asking where we are at in the process. We appreciate our supporters and get back to everyone of them, so if we're swamped with emails, we can't get out updates.
Once again, we apologize that this has taken longer than we expected. Trust us, we want this Kickstarter Project to be done with even more than you do. Things are finally working smoothly after we took full control of production and if you haven’t received your MagBelt(s) yet, you will shortly.
We hope you keep your pants and your spirits up in 2016!
The Magzook Team
Mike, Devin, and Kyle
Hello Supporters!
Where are my belts? This is the age-old question that we're being repeatedly asked. We are well aware that we're past the time frame we listed when we initially launched this project on Kickstarter. So, we wanted to start this update off by expressing gratitude to the backers who have been flooding our inboxes with fire-breathing emails and continually reminding us that we're behind schedule. Your scathing and abusive messages continue to inspire us, and for this, we thank you.
To our patient and considerate backers that understand we're three guys with a small start-up that just got our asses handed to us by almost 10,000 orders when we thought we'd get around 900, we put together a video that shows why it's taking a bit longer than expected and lets you know that we and our manufacturing partners are working as diligently and quickly as possible to get your belts made and shipped out to you (without breaking the laws of physics or hiring China to do it for us):
Hopefully you all noticed a few things in this video:
As you can see, we now have been increasing our production, speeding up our quality control, and streamlining our fulfillment processes when compared to our first month when we made rookie mistakes and solemnly prayed to the Belt Gods for mercy. We expect to hit 500 belts per day after Thanksgiving.
In the futile hope that we won't be assailed with these questions by email, KS message, comment, tweet, or post so that we can actually focus on making and sending your belts out, here are answers to the questions we've been incessantly receiving:
Q: Am I ever going to get my belt(s)?
A: Yes. Yes. 100% YES.
Q: I am backer number 26xQr4Niner and/or when can I expect my belt(s)?
A: We posted an update saying we were going to ship by backer #. This was as stupid mistake and we apologize. We are shipping all MagBelts as they are produced, and we can't make them all at once.
Q: Will I get my belt(s) by Christmas?
A: Possibly. If you pledged to Kickstarter with the intention of giving your rewards as gifts, you made a gamble. We sincerely apologize if this is the case and it doesn't get it to you in time. We are currently praying for a Christmas Miracle to occur and for Santa to send us elves with sewing experience.
Q: I am one of the cool, calm, and considerate backers mentioned above and I understand that you guys are doing everything you possibly can to get my reward shipped out. If I post rad things on your Facebook page and/or give you supportive high fives in the Kickstarter comments section will I get my belt(s) faster?
A: We can't promise anything, but it will be duly noted and given the utmost consideration.
Q: I am one of the snarling people mentioned at the beginning of this update and I don't care that this is taking longer than expected, or that you're doing everything possible to speed things up. All three of you are dingbats. I am more important than all of the other backers. If I continue to send you insane messages and post childish comments on your Facebook page, will I get my belt(s) faster?
A: No. In fact, it's really weird but we're now having a hard time locating your reward. It might take us an extra couple of months to find it and get it shipped out.
Q: I moved and I have a new address. What do I do?
A: Congrats on your successful move. Keep truckin' and email us your new addy. We'll get you taken care of.
Q: When will then be now?
A:
Some of the backers that have received their belts have been having a hard time figuring out how it works. We will be the first ones to admit that the instructional pamphlet we've been putting in the MagBelt packages looks wonky and needs improvement. We can't even remember who drew that. Here is an instructional video to help you on that fine day in the near future when you receive your shiny new pants fastener:
Let us know if you have any problems with the belt and Mike will get back to you as soon as possible with additional instructional videos.
In all seriousness, we sincerely apologize for any inconveniences that may or may not have been caused with our extended delivery timeline. Trust us, we want to get these rewards out to you and be done with the Kickstarter more than you could ever possibly imagine. The three of us have literally been working 7 days a week to get this accomplished, and we appreciate your continued patience and support throughout the process...which has slowly been consuming our lives and haunting our dreams.
Devin hasn't taken a day off in months, but when he did last Saturday he was involved in a hot air balloon crash, which Mike and I think is hilarious. Please watch and feel free to share!
Don't fear, his MagBelt stayed on throughout the botched landing and kept his pants up! It's a good thing he lived or this update would have been quite the Debbie Downer, and we probably would have had to tack another 3 months onto our ever-expanding delivery schedule. Glad you survived, Dev!
Thanks again for your unyielding perseverance and continued patience. We genuinely appreciate your support and we'll make sure that Devin doesn't take another day off until all of the rewards have been shipped--for your gratification and his safety.
Happy Thanksgiving,
Kyle, Devin, and Mike
The Magzook Team
Last Saturday night we were all at the office packing belts and printing off shipping labels. (Doing the fulfillment ourselves wasn't the best idea, but we'll get to that later.) Then at 10:22pm this email showed up in our inbox:
Words can not express how much we appreciate this email. We never imagined our belts would have this type of impact, or end up helping backers with disabilities. Thank you Jonathan for the kind message.
On Wednesday we were lucky enough to be featured in a news story on KDVR FOX 31 Denver. Here you can see video of our seamstresses hard at work. Kyle also shows how the belt is adjusted.
We’ve been working around the clock to get your belts cut, sewn, packaged and shipped out. It’s been pretty hectic lately getting our manufacturing and assembly lines running at full speed and it’s starting to take a toll on the Magzook Trio. Mike started chain smoking Camel Menthols while reading Judy Blume novels, Kyle actually stopped drinking (which has been weird), and Devin signed up for Barre classes to reduce stress. Barre is apparently a strange cross between Ballet and Jazzercise. We will send you all an invite to his upcoming recital.
Our team has been working nights and weekends to increase production and we’re happy to announce that we’ve now shipped out almost 1,000 belts. Also, we’ve recently taken some big steps toward getting the remaining MagBelts out even faster. They are as follows:
Devin, Mike and I have been personally folding, packaging, inserting instructions, rolling belts, and printing off and attaching shipping labels and invoices ourselves and…we realized that we are terrible at it. This is perilous work that demands professional attention, so 3PF of Aurora, CO will be taking this daunting task over. Meaning, this will speed up shipping so that we can get your belts out faster than a one-legged man in a butt-kicking contest.
We asked our friend Bo Pitta to come down to the warehouse and start overseeing quality control and inventory. He is the CEO of Sport Bumber, LLC (www.sportbumper.com) another Denver-based company that produces magnetic products and was also on Kickstarter. He’s been doing a great job and if he keeps it up, we’ll give Devin the proverbial boot so that he can focus more on refining his pirouette.
I wouldn't call ourselves slave drivers, but we’re behind schedule and we want to get these belts sent to you much more than you can imagine. Having to respond to hundreds of “Where’s my MagBelt??” messages a day not only slows us down, it is dampening our spirit and crushing our souls. We want everyone involved in this project to be happy, and we’ve had some sewing staff ask if they could work extra hours. This will help us, our backers, and the manufacturing team out, so we’re going to keep the lights on longer (18 hours a day) to ramp up production and shipping.
We screwed up. We said a while back that we would ship rewards in the order of when we received your pledges. We have now realized that from a production standpoint that will considerably slow down the entire manufacturing process. We were switch from making XXL Tan belts to XS Grey Belts. Each time we switched a color we had to change the color of the threads on the machines. This was significantly slowing down our process. This week we also hired another cut and sew shop in Denver to produce another 5,000 belts at the same time.
If you were an early backer—we apologize for saying you’d get yours sooner, we are obviously still figuring this process out. It doesn’t mean that you won’t get your MagBelt very soon, but by producing certain sizes and colors in large swaths it will allow us to collectively complete everyone’s rewards at a faster rate for the group as a whole. Every time we switch to a different color we have to change the thread in all the machines. Cutting all black MagBelts, then all grey MagBelts has already been a much faster process.
We’ve had an excessive amount of requests to give a specific timeline on when everyone can individually expect their MagBelt in their mailbox. In short, we can’t do that. But we will give you an estimated time line that takes the increases in our future production capacities into account. We estimate that we'll be shipping around 600 belts per day very soon.
This production rate only includes numbers from our main cut and sew. This week we also contracted a second cut and sew in Denver to make an additional 5,000 belts. So now we have two shops in the Denver area making belts. We hope this will significantly speed up the shipping times from our current estimates.
We have received great feedback from many backers who have received their belts. If you are rocking a MagBelt now, we would love to hear from you.
We started this business for a lot of reasons:
Throughout this fulfillment process we've been asked a lot of random questions. But the one that always get asked repeatedly is "Are you really sure you want to make the belts in America? It would be faster, cheaper, and you'd make more money if you made the belts in China." Which is true, if we made our belts overseas they would most likely be done by now, or be very close, they would have been cheaper, and we would probably be making much higher profits. But when we showed up to the factory early on Monday, two nice women were already standing outside the doors waiting because they heard we might be hiring skilled seamstresses, and we got both of them set up with jobs later that day.
We also spent the morning stuffing magnets into belts with Joseph and Emily, and they both have young kids. Emily talked about what they were planing on making her daughter for a Halloween costume this weekend, and Joseph was planing on taking his son to the zoo.
We know these are mundane, daily work stories. But those jobs exist because of your enthusiasm and support. It has been a difficult road to go from an idea to a startup to full-scale manufacturing here in Colorado, but it's definitely been worth it. Quality takes time and we're incredibly proud of what we have created and what we will continue to create with the support of our amazing community.
Sincerely,
Mike, Kyle, and Devin -- The Magzook Team
This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.