A maker reverse-engineers a Patagonia fleece jacket, sourcing Polartec fabric from Mill Direct Textiles and testing four bonding weights to get it right. He sources the collar from Arc'teryx specs, interior mesh from Yarrington Mills, and zippers from King Zip, then builds four full prototypes over months to nail the fit.
This is how I designed and manufactured this Polartec fleece from start to finish. It all started by finding reference images and putting together the design. Once I was happy with that, it was time to find the Polartec. I found this website, Mill Direct Textiles, that carries individual rolls of Polartec fabric at a discounted price. So I ordered a bunch of samples. When I received the fabric, I realized it was too thin, so I needed to bond or combine two fabrics together. After four different tests, I finally got the fabric right. Then I needed all of the other fabric. The mesh on the inside of this jacket is from Yarrington Mills, which is the same fabric that Joun uses for these mesh shorts. The collar is the same fabric that Arc'teryx uses for their collar on their jackets. And then I made the zippers locally in Canada at King Zip. And a highly custom woven label to go on the inside of the jacket, which uses 14 different colored threads. Then I went through 4 different samples to get the fit correct, each taking about a month. Finishing touches, I made these leather patches with whiteboard on the inside. And finally made some stickers and packaging.
