cilogear makes packs

Since my darling wife informed me of the possibility and then the actuality of our move to Portland, Oregon, my life and work explored some rather annoying territory.  I had 7 weeks and 2 days between when my wife accepted her job offer and when I loaded the truck and started driving. I lost a terrific worker out in New York, and an entire support network of service providers. I still haven’t found a local place here in Portland to buy needles and chalk.

Now, we’re starting to be established in Portland, and I think there might be a light at the end of the tunnel. Long overdue packs are getting finished and shipping out. I can’t describe how happy that makes me. I hate disappointing people, and it’s been heart wrenching to be stuck with nothing to ship out because we just aren’t up and running. I’ve been so happy to watch the sewers getting to grips with the packs and starting to get good product out the door.

Another item that’s made me feel great is the contributions of Matt and Forest. To adapt an adaptation from Rob Shaul, Customer Service is King and Operations is Queen. CiloGear was hamstrung by the impossibility of getting customer service staff in house in New York. Here in Portland, we managed to find some great guys who are taking a lot of the load off so that I can concentrate on getting the operations up and running. I might even find the time to finish some of our very long running prototype projects…the wally series, the kids packs, the duffels, and put other things into production.

I won’t really feel secure until we’ve cleared out our backlog and done well through the holiday season and the trade show. But today, I really feel like there is a light. Thank you for your patience and understanding while we went through this turmoil.