Survey for engineering class

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by BrendanB

Are you saying that all of us here on chiefdelphi can't dress to save our lives.....

There's only one group that I know of, personally, that is less fashion conscious than some of the good people that are being polled here and they are quilters.

That strikes me as very funny because of the beauty and elegance that they create. And yes, I think of the parallels and similarities between the 2 groups all the time.

Since this is geared toward the younger population, I won't vote but I love jeans as long as they don't go above $30. On sale and below $20 will make my heart go pitter pat.

[Andrew Schreiber]

Eric, cool idea, personally I have issues with size more than anything, generally the legs of any jeans comfortable to me are roughly and inch too long. This leads to them getting caught under my shoes. This looks bad and has also led to me falling on my butt frequently.

The difficult part about this is going to be figuring out a modular way of assembling jeans. Perhaps there is a reason that Carpenter jeans have the pockets they do. (I don't know)

Also, I will freely admit that I have very little fashion sense. It is for this reason that my wardrobe consists of a large collection of either Kettering or FIRST shirts and jeans. Lucky for me I can get away with wearing this sort of thing where I work.

[Fe_Will]

I voted $50-60 because that's what I pay now for them. Not to say that I spend a lot of time at Walmart or designer stores. Generally I buy Carhartt double knee, heavy weight denim jeans, a pair lasts me about 2.5 years wearing them 1-2 days a week at work.

If I were buying anything less I'd be in the $20 camp. Like anything else, you get what you pay for.

[AdamHeard]

Originally Posted by Joe Ross

I'd be worried about selection bias by polling people on chiefdelphi about fashion.

Agreed.


I could go for some dickies with pockets that don't suck, those would be great. I hate sitting down and having half the stuff fall out.

[Madison]

I would spend significantly more than $90 on a pair of custom-made jeans. I sometimes will spend that much or more on regular jeans.

[EricVanWyk]

For whatever reason, I used to have a hard time finding pants that fit right. Things are a bit better now that I've gained 40lbs (my BMI is on the scale!) and my sister forged me a Batman belt buckle (it makes everything work better).

Any way, I'd be really happy if I could get 3-5 pairs of jeans of different shades that actually fit right. Perhaps you could do small volume discounts? I'd think that the incremental cost vs customizing cost might make this feasible.

I once spent 4 hours ripping out a dumb logo because it happened to be on the only pair of pants that fit me that I could find. It would be great to not have to do that again.

[David Brinza]

For me, the jeans would definitely need to be the "extra-relaxed fit" style, with deep pockets appropriate for a mentor/inspector.

If you came up with the right brand name, I'd go for the mid-to-upper end of the price scale: "Uh, I'd like a pair of those Roboteer 980 jeans!"

[EricH]

Andrew, I think we've got our process pretty well figured out. Just have to figure out the fastest way to do it...

And we do have a name for the company.

I'll talk with the group tomorrow about small volume discounts, if I get the chance. (The class has a progress report presentation day.) It's something we would do well to look into.

[Bob Steele]

Originally Posted by Joe Ross

I'd be worried about selection bias by polling people on chiefdelphi about fashion.

I second this... emphatically....
FIRST'rs are much more pragmatic....

Now designer robots, tools, etc.... that is a different story...

[GaryVoshol]

The next hurdle after you get a pricing point: How will you convince someone that your product is better than Levi's (or whoever)?

I voted for a price about that of my regular jeans on sale. If I know nothing about your manufacturing process or quality assurance, I would stick with a name brand unless you can convince me otherwise that for the price, your jeans will be at least as good.

[DonRotolo]

I just bought a pair of Levi's 550 for about $30, but they were prewashed. So I also bought a pair of 505 for the same price, so I could get the unwashed look*, but prefer the "wide rear" fit of the 550 better. A compromise.

So, I'd pay $40-50 to not have to compromise.

Of course, their quality would need to be equivalent to Levi's. That's why I don't buy "Canyon River Blues" or somesuch, I want my jeans to last 5+ years.

[KarenH]

Originally Posted by EricH

I'm not talking department store custom here, I'm talking a pair made just the way you want them--style, size, color, the whole 9 yards (OK, yard and a half).

A yard and a half will make a nice pair of pedal pushers. You’ll need at least two yards of denim for jeans, maybe three (reference standard patterns). Plus thread, zipper, rivets, cheap white fabric to make the front pockets, and a jeans snap or button for the fly. Your company logo on the snap? Oh, and a “designer label” for the back waistband.

Originally Posted by Tristan Lall

That's sort of what I was afraid of...assuming you're budgeting for engineer-style wages (e.g. $25/h) a significant portion of your overhead is going to go towards paying yourselves to cut and sew (I'd guess $5–$8 per piece for your labour).

Inexperienced engineer attempting to sew jeans—ten hours to make the first pair, that’s less than $1 per hour. At engineering wages, that’s $250 just for labor; with markup, that would be a $500 pair of jeans!

Originally Posted by JaneYoung

There's only one group that I know of, personally, that is less fashion conscious than some of the good people that are being polled here and they are quilters.

Jane, are you trying to tell us that satin and velvet patchwork quilted vests with birdhouse appliqués and rickrack are not in style?