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October 21, 2010 · 4:07 pm

Makr Carry Goods – Designed & Handcrafted in the USA

After taking the day off work, I embarked on my two hour drive over to the quaint town of Winter Park, FL. Winter Park is right outside of Orlando, and is definitely the neatest area I’ve seen in this state. It just has a very different vibe, and that’s probably due to it housing a lot of cool independently owned shops and restaurants. I wandered around for a few minutes looking for Suite 102. I got lucky that Mike Wilkie spotted me due to the Oak Street Bootmaker Trail Oxfords on my feet, or else I would of continued wondering in the complete wrong direction. He called me over and then invited me into the Makr Carry Goods studio. I walked in the door to hear the general hustle & bustle of a workshop. Three gentleman were sitting at work-benches working on wallets, card holders, and even some leather risers the Makr skate decks.

The first thing I noticed was the overwhelming (in a good way) smell of the Horween leather from the shop, and the fact that they were listening to Explosions in the Sky. I felt at home right away. I walked around the studio and shot a few photos of some of the bags that Jason has designed, some of this stuff is not out yet, and some of it is is already available at the Makr shop. The attention to detail in these bags surpasses anything I’ve seen before, and after sitting with Jason and viewing the design process – I have a whole new level respect for the products he’s creating. These bags are fine tuned, sample after sample, to be absolutely perfect. In the end product, it definitely shows.

I started chatting with Jason while he was working on designing something from his new line of products, and all I can tell you right now is that you should save your money. It’s really, really good stuff that is super efficient, and super simple. We were chatting about the time that goes in to running something like Makr, and as expected it’s a whole lot of late nights, and even more weekends spent in the studio. Which in this case, is not that bad of a place to be.

Thanks again to Jason and everyone else for having me out and taking the time out of their busy schedules to let me take photos, and chat with them. I’ll definitely be back soon.

Are backpacks just for kids?

I’m really hoping they’re not. I was in the market for a bag that could function as a daily knapsack to lug around my laptop, digital camera, and whatever else – but also one that I could use for weekend trips whenever they arise.

I searched and searched for something easy on the eyes, but also versatile and durable. I was ready to pull the trigger on a Frost River Nessmuk Pack but after sleeping on it, decided it was too heavy for everyday use. The search was back on, and I thought I found a winner with Duluth pack. I couldn’t even really tell you why I didn’t pull the trigger with them, but I didn’t – and I’m glad I waited.

After browsing around a bit more, I stumbled across my now current backpack. I reached out to Mike at Woodlands Shop of Portland to see if they had anymore of their collaboration bags, the ones they did with the infamous Parrot Canvas. Parrot is known for the durable heavyweight canvas and sturdy construction, both things that I was looking for in a bag. To my surprise, there was a few more left at the shop. This bag had the one of the most important things I was looking for in a bag: subtlety. I wanted something that would go unnoticed because lets be honest, there is nothing worse than a grown-man with an obnoxiously loud backpack. Unnecessary zippers, and awkwardly colored clips, etc. That may have been cool when we were teenagers, but not now. Now we’re in a time where less is more, and it makes more sense to keep most things in life simple. This bag also reminded me of back in grade school; those Jansports with the sueded bottoms and sueded zipper pulls that all the cool kids had. You were cool if you had one of those; and unfortunately – I was not cool. Grabbing this bag was my chance to take that title back.

So I present to you, my Navy Woodlands x Parrot Canvas bag. I’d head over to Woodlands Shop before these are all gone if I were you.