The first sample of the Funcle Yeti chore jacket was made in Kathmandu from handwoven hemp, and it did not pass.
That sentence is the whole point of publishing this log, so we may as well start there.
What Was Specified
The brief asked for foldable cuffs and cotton liner patches at the neck and elbows — the two places a jacket gives out first on anyone who actually wears one. Reinforce them at the start and you’re patching in year eight instead of replacing in year three.
What Came Back
No foldable cuffs. No liner patches at the neck or elbows.
The fit was closer than it had any right to be, and there’s a reason for that. My measurements had been taken months earlier and left with the workshop, and by the time the sample was cut they’d gone missing. The Master Dai worked from judgment instead. Master is the title for the lead tailor; Dai means elder brother — what you call a man whose read on the work outranks yours.
He got the torso right by eye, which is a genuinely impressive thing to do. The sleeves he did not. Too short at the cuff, too wide through the bicep, and tapered hard enough that you notice it on the first wear rather than the tenth.
The One Thing That Was Right
He lined it in a cotton matched close to the hemp. I thought it looked dull. He was thinking about dye transfer onto undyed cloth over ten years of washing, which is the correct thing to be thinking about. The liner stays.
What Happens Next
The sample went back for rework. V2 is in progress. If it holds, the same spec goes to a second workshop — with the measurements taken fresh, on the day, by someone who doesn’t have to guess.
Seeing the thing exist in cloth for the first time was a good day, for the record. It just wasn’t a finished jacket.
