Granted, leather bags are not the same as electronic products, but this start-up faced the same decisions as a US electronic kit business does: Manufacture in China, or make it yourself in the US?
Johansson relates a story that reveals the harsher reality: “My first job was actually for a designer in this building, coincidentally. She was a small designer, just by herself, just like this—but she produced in China. Because that’s the way you think you do it, that’s the way you’re taught in school to do it—that’s why I came with that mindset of ‘This is how you start a business: You make your connections, and you find your sources in China and your factories.'” With their basäder bags, the two designers demonstrate that out-sourcing isn’t the only path to take, and join the movement that’s proving high-quality, made-in-America and durability can all be synonymous with affordability.
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7:30pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
