How To Design and Manufacture Your Own Gore Tex Jacket and How Much It Costs

Have you ever wondered how hard it is to design and manufacture your very own Gore Tex jacket?

I don't have a clear answer for this yet but I'm gonna exchange emails with a few manufacturers from Asia and I'll document the whole process here. Basically, I'm gonna update this article and let you know how complex (or easy) it is to develop from scratch a new waterproof and breathable mountain jacket - a shell prototype.

There are a few contacts in my list, including the most solicited outdoor clothing manufacturer in China - Outdoorsky - they manufacture top products for Mammut, Mountain Hardwear, Lafuma, Timberland, etc.

Update 2: For some reason, the guys at Outdoorsky don't reply to my emails anymore. They asked for details and artwork, which I sent, and now it's all silence...

But they gave me the following prices for this sample shell jacket (I requested blue color coz that suits me well):

• $ 250 for the sample + shipping costs (didn't discuss amount) + custom taxes payable at destination 
• $ 82.50 per piece for 1000 pcs order (MOQ = minimum order quantity)

I imagine North Face and other big brands manufacture more than 1000 pieces per model so this means they get a lower price - they also have a long time relationship with the apparel manufacturer. Let's speculate and say they get a price of $50 per item.

Now you can have an idea of their profit margins considering their jackets retail to anything between $190 to $400.

However, some of the profit is lost along the way (literally, from China to the shelves in Europe and USA). Coz there are shipping costs, freight insurance, storage, custom taxes, discounts for national distributors, discounts for individual merchants, etc.

Anyway, I'm gonna look for other manufacturers (even though I still hope for Outdoorsky to fully engage) and try to get this jacket into existence.

Update: I've spoken to a few manufactures from China and decided to continue this after the Chinese New Year (on 23rd January this year). We need to exchange lots of emails and lots of artwork (design details) so we'll start fresh after the holidays. A sales assistant literally told me that the workers are in "holiday mood" so it's not very wise to start a new project now. :-)

If you want to design your own jacket, just download these patterns in SVG format (Scalable Vector Graphics) and create your model by changing colors, adding your own logo, etc.

There's a business idea right here - to offer custom made Gore Tex outdoor wear.

Create a web interface where users could change elements of a few basic designs, upload their own logo, enter their shipping details, pay the product and Bam! - next thing you know, you have a brand new mountaineering jacket with your name on it.

Of course your friends might see you as a snob for wearing designer name apparel but don't we all like to feel important from time to time? (Not that actual snobs are actually important!)  :-)

You can use Inkscape to edit vectors - it's a free piece of software. I personally edit them with Microsoft Visio but that's just because I got used to it. From what I've seen, Inkscape seems to be smarter and more powerful so learning to use it would definitively be a gain.

Download the blank contour in SVG format

Also download the Highball model - Omu - named after a peak in Bucegi Mountains:

• Jacket front (SVG)
• Jacket back (SVG)

Go outdoors, be safe and stay dry!

PS - If you like to draw or simply enjoy playing with computer graphics and also like mountain biking or cycling, you may like to learn how to design cycling jerseys.

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