Made in the Pacific Northwest, A high quality Camera Bag that protects your gear, is highly functional, and will last forever.
Handcrafted from full-grain American-tanned Horween leather and detailed with solid brass hardware and waxed canvas, our Camera Bag is sexy and versatile.
With three pockets for personal items, room for your camera, an extra lens or flash, and a tablet, this Camera Bag allows you to stay minimal while having your photo-day necessities.
Padded with closed cell foam, it allows you to be worry free from the elements of the outdoors or on the streets. With the removable shoulder strap, the bag can be used as a stand-alone bag or as an insert to protect your camera in another bag.
The Camera Bag is extremely versatile. We’ve used it for everything from DSLR’s, Mirrorless, and a mobile photography studio.
Handcrafted with full-grain American-tanned Horween leather, solid brass trim, and Dyneema cord, our camera strap is insanely durable and extremely functional.
Leather Camera Strap
Nylon Camera Strap
We take a different approach to a camera strap. We believe a camera strap is an accessory that should be quick to install, and just as quick to remove.
With our design the camera strap can be used on any camera that has a camera strap attachment point. Whether it’s round, triangle, oblong, or any other shape.
Dyneema cord is 15 times stronger than steel cable, providing an insane amount of security for whatever camera(s) you own. It’s also extremely resistant to abrasion, which means you never have to worry about the strap breaking under a heavy load.
The Hardware
Right now we are using standard, off-the-shelf, hardware to make our camera straps.
We’re working with Hugh Harris over at IAS to create a custom piece of hardware that allows the Dyneema cord to be 100% secure. This image is our concept for how the hardware will function. On the left is our current off-the-shelf hardware. In the middle is a carabiner with a screw lock closure. Combine the two, and we have what we are going for. An insanely strong clip with mountain climbing strength.
IAS had a working sample in stock of a similar concept, which is pictured here:
We’re moving through the design process on the hardware. So far we have the main structure of the hardware sampled out.
They suggest we add 10mm to the height, as noted, so they can add the screw closure properly. We’re heeding their advice, and will await for the next sample!
Made from the same Horween leather as our bag, we made some simple cord keepers that will keep your bag more organized. So far we’ve used them for USB chargers, headphones, and lapel mic’s. They have a solid brass closure, which makes this keeper super secure.
Hugh at IAS for guidance on designing custom hardware.
Shelley at Horween for working with us on leathers choices.
Kim at YKK for helping out with zipper selection.
Ed at YKK for nailing down snaps and rivets.
Tom at Carr Textile for providing samples and insight on textiles.
Jenny Lindquist at Pack Animal for the support images
Mike at Rex Pegg for helping educate and sift through the options for bag padding.
Our Team for being dedicated to the quality of products that make us great.
We believe in people, quality, and craftsmanship. We strive to create the highest quality products while respecting those who are a part of the process.
“Measure twice and cut once” is a workshop proverb because each turn of the knife has a permanent effect on the materials we use. Skill is harnessed, improved, and perfected because our product, and sanity, depend on it. Each day is a day to improve our product through craftsmanship, while celebrating the people around us.
The heart of what we do is bring great ideas to life from design to fabrication. Without the mastering our craft we would not be able to bring you high quality goods, so job training one of our primary focus’.
Our small team of designers and craftspeople develop products that we put through the ultimate test. We make products for the field and we test them ourselves. Everything we sell has been used, abused, and loved as we carry them with us through our everyday lives.
Premium materials are used for our products and we always source as close to home as we can. Our commitment to quality allows us to sell products that meet our strict standards andyour highest expectations. We use a mix of modern and old-time processes that allow us to make the highest quality of goods.
The Black Anchor brand was founded by Stephen Jones in January of 2013. He bought a sewing machine when he didn’t know how to sew, but his vision was clear; Make high quality products.
Over the years Black Anchor has evolved from a brand and a vision to a two pronged monster. The backbone of this monster is Tacoma Manufacturing Company; a boutique manufacturer of the highest quality products in the US. Tacoma Manufacturing Company designs and manufactures everything from wallets to motorcycle saddle bags.
Our clients love us, because they know they’re getting an amazing product that was handled with an insane amount of attention, and a ton of love. Instead of driving down labor wages, we add value that is unparalleled anywhere else on the market.
Black Anchor now exists under the Tacoma Manufacturing umbrella, relying on Tacoma Manufacturing’s systems and processes of production, allowing Black Anchor to focus on designing high quality camera accessories.
Be sure you watch this video, and see behind the scenes of Tacoma Manufacturing.
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We’ve had the opportunity to work with a lot of great brands. Here are some of the projects we have brought to life for our clients.
For this first batch of bags, we really want to take advantage of the funding to put it towards some infrastructure for our shop. We already have all of the machines we need, but we can become a leaner business if we double down on some key machines we currently have carrying 90% of the shops load.
We have to order a minimum of 1,000 pieces of hardware to make this custom hardware gig work out. We’re going to order more than that, so we have some reserves. The goal is to stay ahead of the inventory until we can save up the cash to put in another order.
Overhead costs are a REAL cost that a lot of Kickstarter Campaigns don’t think about, and it hurts them on their delivery schedule. We’ve built in our overhead cost from now until October (the last delivery of bags).
Materials, Labor, and Shipping are all tied into our Bill of Materials, and we know exactly what we need to make this project come to life. We’re also going to be investing into a small bit of excess so we can stat our production for retail stores, direct online sales, etc.
Fortunately we’ve been manufacturing product here in the USA for over three years now, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t come without risk.
Supply Chain Risk
Because we manufacture our own products here in the USA, our supply chain risk is much different than the majority of bag companies you are familiar with. We don’t have to worry about messed up samples and material faux pas from foreign manufactures that others do.
We work directly with domestic material suppliers, and have been working with these companies for over three years. We know their lead times and we know what speeds up and slows down their process.
Our biggest supply chain risk is if Horween leather decides to stop making leather…. errr…. what?! Who will the NFL get their footballs from?!
Custom Hardware
We’re new to the custom hardware game. We’ve worked with Hugh over at IAS a lot in the past, mostly ordering all of his stock of swivel snap clips for our current camera straps. We’ve been talking to Hugh about custom hardware production, and we’re really confident that him, his design team, and production facilities are exceedingly qualified to produce our clips.
We’re excited to see what they come up with, but are also staying realistic. We understand that design challenges change the aesthetic of products all of the time. There are certain things that can and cannot be done, especially within pricing parameters.
Worst case scenario, we still ship all of our camera straps with our current hardware. They still work like a dream. We just want our own special touch on something new in the market. We appreciate your willingness to back our project in hopes that we achieve this goal.
Acts of God
We’re located in Tacoma, Washington. Maybe you’ve heard, but there’s a massive volcano less than 50 miles from our shop. It’s possible that there is an earthquake off the coast of Washington, and that causes a tsunami to flood the Puget Sound, and also awakens the Kraken known as Mount Rainier. In this case, we’ll do our best to avoid the flood waters and lava. We’ll get through it together. We promise.