Sean McDevitt and Proletariis - Introduction

Sean's Intro

Proletariis Intro

Transcripts:

Sean's Intro:

Hi, my name is Sean McDevitt and this is Episode 1 of Proletariis.

Before we get into it, I would like to tell you a little bit about myself.

My real name is Sean Patrick McDevitt, a walking stereotype Irishman. I was working on my, I was going to Grad School at UC Berkeley in Cultural Anthropology and got a job in Mountain Hardwear. It seemed like a lot more fun working with Martin and designing tents and stuff like that...than my grad school study on Cultural Anthropology.

So there I had a great time and I worked my way up and, you know, got to tag team the line with Paul, Martin, Helen Li...a woman with countless years of sewing engineering experience. I got to work with some wonderful people and I worked my way up into doing a lot of the tent design which was great.

We saw the sale of Mountain Hardwear to Columbia Sportswear. I was there. We worked with a lot of the integration of the QC team. I've seem some big company dynamics and small company dynamics.

I definitely prefer the small company dynamics which is why is why I decided to launch my tent company and I wanted to make it here in the USA because I believe in small batch production that strengthens the middle class. 

I’m a lifelong athlete. Overall a sort of nutjob. I’ve done 5 ultra-marathons. 15 100-milers including Western States. I was a pro 24-hour mountain-bike racer, did 10 of those, competed in the World Championships, and got 3 podiums. Its what you do when you are not very talented but you are very determined. You do ultra-endurance stuff.

Alright, well thank you very much and thank you for coming on this journey. Bye.

Proletariis Intro:

Hi, my name is Sean McDevitt. I'm a long time product designer in the outdoor industry and recently I've spoken with Al Tabor about documenting my path to launching my outdoor shelter and outdoor gear company called Proletariis.

Proletariis is the Latin name for the working class. That a message I'm trying to send out. I'm going to be making all the shelters, everything, right here in the USA.

I've got an agreement with Polartec...they've agreed verbally and in an email...to sell me actually their new electrospun waterproof breathable fabric, actually made here in the USA. I'm super excited about that. It's air permeable. It's brilliant!  If I can get an air-permeable, waterproof breathable, that is super breathable and apply it on an emergency shelter and don't meet the CPIA 84 fire retardancy standards, and do silicon floors and do a new sticking technology that makes it all waterproof, I think I got something that's a real revolution on my hands.

 I can make hybrid tents with this construction and I should be able to kill everybody and make a product that meets the goals of Proletariis which is:  It lasts a lifetime. Its the kind of gear that you can pass down your kids. Its free of toxins, fire-retardant phthalates.

Basically its an American made ingenuity, but the new stitch technology that makes better tents, that is more breathable and can function in a wide range of conditions than before...especially with this hybrid construction. Also the greatest thing is that it will be lighter than everything else. Stronger, lighter. We are doing a direct to consumer market and this is the part of the documentation.

So thank you and till next time! Bye.