In my last update, I left off with the challenge of finding the right green, purple, and yellow materials for the inside of the EDG7.

Our manufacturer told us they could easily make the colors we needed. That seemed like the obvious solution, especially since trying to source material from nearly 8,000 miles away isn't exactly easy. They showed us samples that looked perfect, so we had them shipped to us for approval. Unfortunately, when the samples arrived, I discovered that the colors had simply been printed onto white fabric. (see picture below)

The white base material was much stiffer than what I wanted, and more importantly, I wasn't comfortable using a material where the interior colors were simply printed onto the surface. It didn't represent the level of quality I'm trying to achieve with the EDG7. So, after about three weeks, it was on to Plan B.

The manufacturer then told me they could custom dye the material, but I would need to purchase 3,000 yards of each color. That was far more material than we could possibly use. I was also told that the colors I wanted essentially didn't exist in the material we needed. I knew that couldn't be entirely true because my original EDG7 demo bags were already made using those colors. At that point, I decided to find the material myself.

After a lot of digging, I found several fabric manufacturers offering the purple, yellow, and green colors I was looking for. Of course, colors on a computer screen can look completely different in person, so I ordered physical samples from several suppliers. (see pictures below)

Two of the suppliers had exactly what I needed. I sent my findings to the bag manufacturer, but surprisingly, they were reluctant to use the material I had sourced. They suggested it could be old stock and potentially tear more easily. That raised a red flag for me. I contacted the fabric manufacturer directly, and they confirmed that the material had been manufactured within the last six months and was good quality. I also had the samples in my hands, and the material looked and felt great.After some discussion, I convinced the bag manufacturer to move forward with it, and we began making another round of samples.

The original production sample was about 95% there, but there was one small issue. Eight Vault 100+ deck boxes fit inside the EDG7, but just barely. The bag would close, but the zipper wasn't as smooth as I wanted when the bag was completely full. That wasn't good enough. I ordered two additional samples, one adding 1/8 inch and another adding 1/4 inch to the height of the bag. The goal was to make sure the EDG7 could close smoothly at full capacity, just like my original demo bags. When the new samples arrived, the deck boxes fit perfectly. Problem solved. But then I noticed something else.

The outer shell material didn't seem quite right.

One of the most important parts of the EDG7 is the material protecting everything you carry inside. The bag was designed around genuine X-Pac, a lightweight, durable, tear-resistant, waterproof laminated fabric commonly used in high-performance outdoor gear, backpacks, and accessories. Most people may never know or care what X-Pac is, but this matters to me.

I'm trying to make products for the board gaming community that are built differently and built to last. X-Pac is also made in the USA, which is meaningful to me because Modern Meeple's resource organization products are manufactured (not 3D Printed) here as well. I questioned the manufacturer about the material, and they assured me it was genuine X-Pac. With the interior colors finally solved, the sizing fixed, and everything seemingly ready to go, we were preparing to sign the contracts and begin mass production.

I was actually ahead of schedule, which was incredibly exciting. Then, on the day we were supposed to finalize everything, I was told the truth....., The outer material wasn't genuine X-Pac. I immediately stopped the process.

The manufacturer told me it was a very good imitation and was supposedly just as good as genuine X-Pac. That wasn't acceptable to me. I'm not interested in fooling anyone, and I'm certainly not going to tell you that your EDG7 is made from X-Pac if it isn't. Once again, I was told that genuine X-Pac was simply too difficult to get. At this point I thought, If I managed to find the interior fabrics myself, I'll find X-Pac myself too.

After some digging and phone calls, I was able to arrange a meeting with the president and sales manager of Dimension-Polyant, the company behind X-Pac. I wanted definitive answers. Was the material in my samples genuine? If not, where could I buy the real material, and how could I make sure the EDG7 was manufactured using it? During that meeting, it was confirmed that the material used in my samples was not genuine X-Pac.

Dimension-Polyant were incredibly helpful. They pointed me toward legitimate sources and explained how I could purchase genuine X-Pac directly and have it shipped to the bag manufacturer. Then something happened that I wasn't expecting. They liked the EDG7. They agreed to officially support the project and allow us to use official X-Pac logo tags inside the EDG7, showing that the bags are made with genuine X-Pac fabric. That might sound like a small detail to some people, but to me, it was a huge win. I never expected that opportunity when this project started. (see pictures below)

I brought all of this information back to the bag manufacturer. They weren't happy. Ultimately, they decided they no longer wanted to manufacture the EDG7 or continue working with me on the project. I suspect that came from being called out and me not being willing to accept a fabric that's not genuine. That was incredibly disheartening.

It meant months of R&D, countless hours, and thousands of dollars were essentially gone, and I would have to start the manufacturing process over again with someone new. I called my friend Chris because, frankly, I needed to vent and get some advice. He reminded me why I had made these decisions in the first place and reassured me that walking away was the right move. I could have accepted the imitation material and stayed ahead of schedule and saved 10s of thousands of dollars. But that wouldn't have been the EDG7 I promised you.

With our goal of shipping in December getting closer every day, finding a new manufacturer became a mad dash.

The upside is that I've learned an incredible amount through this process. Having already gone through development once made evaluating and working with a new manufacturer much faster. Once I found a new manufacturer, I immediately ordered another sample, which itself takes weeks to produce. Then came another difficult piece of news. The new manufacturer told me that producing the EDG7 correctly would cost approximately three times what I had originally been quoted. That was devastating. The pricing for the EDG7 campaign was based on our original manufacturing costs. My original plan was to manufacture considerably more bags than the number ordered through the campaign so we would have inventory available afterward. With the new production cost, that's no longer realistic. My priority is making sure every backer gets the EDG7 their order. I'll only be able to produce a relatively small amount of additional inventory during this first production run. I'm hoping that once people receive their EDG7s and see the quality for themselves, we'll be able to generate enough additional orders to make a second production run possible. So if you want to late pledge, now is the time!

I received the newest production sample a couple of days ago. It looks great. I'm extremely happy with it, and after everything we've gone through to get here, I'm moving forward with mass production. The timeline is going to be tight. Right now, I'm being told mid-December for delivery, but I want to be very clear that this is an estimate, not a guarantee. Our original plan was to already be shipping by this point and to have the EDG7 available at PAX Unplugged and in time for the holidays. Obviously, all of these manufacturing issues have changed that timeline. I'm planning to personally visit the bag manufacturer in November to see production firsthand, make sure everything is being made properly, and hopefully catch any potential issues before it's too late to correct them. I'm also exploring the possibility of bringing approximately 50 finished EDG7s home with me so that I can have a limited number available at PAX Unplugged. I want to be completely transparent about that.

With production costs increasing approximately threefold, having a small number available at PAXU would help Modern Meeple start to generate some of the revenue needed to offset those unexpected costs and keep the EDG7 moving forward. I don't want any backer to see EDG7s at PAXU and wonder why someone can buy one there before their own bag has arrived. If I'm able to bring some home early, that's the reason. But those EDG7s will not come with all the free bees in the Backerkit campaign. Financially this has set me back tremendously and I need to try to recover as soon as possible. My hope is that every bag will be completed by then, and we can start shipping, but I'm not going to make a promise I can't guarantee. But I will update the progress as we move forward. 

There is good news on the other campaign items as well. All of the D20 dice are scheduled to arrive Tuesday. I already have roughly half of the patches here, which is several thousand patches, and the remaining patches are currently in production. We're getting there.

We still have approximately 100 backers who haven't completed their surveys. Six reminder emails have already been sent. Because the number of extra bags in this first production run is now extremely tight, I had to place the production order based on the information currently available. Unfortunately, that means backers who haven't completed their surveys may not receive their first choice color. So if you haven't completed your survey yet, please do it as soon as possible.

This process has been much more complicated than I ever expected and those issues came from areas I didn't think would be the bottleneck. There were several points where taking the easier route would have saved time and money. I could have accepted the printed interior fabric. I could have accepted imitation X-Pac. I could have pushed forward with something that was simply "good enough."

But that's not what I want Modern Meeple to be. I'd rather deal with the delays, headaches, and additional costs than send you something that doesn't live up to what I promised.

Thank you for your patience, your support of Modern Meeple, and most importantly, for trusting me to make the EDG7 the way it should be. If you have any questions, please reply to this update and I'll answer them as best I can. Thank you for sticking with me.

Everyday Gaming deserves better gear. That's exactly what I'm trying to build.

Josh