The Story Behind FBC Cozies:
Years ago (Was it that long ago? Yes, it has been!) I started thinking about making an ultralight FBC cozy of my own. I was picky though. It needed to be light, flexible, breathable, squashable and hopefully washable.
There wasn’t anything I could find on the market already being made that fit the above. In early 2006 I started making prototypes. They were very rough at first, and still too heavy, the original prototypes were 3 layers of fabric. I wasn’t happy at all with what I was producing. By October of 2006 I had a version I was almost happy with.
Trying that version out, on the saddle above Snow Lake here in Washington, in fall of 2006:
Finally on a trip in January of 2007, I was out hiking in the snow and cold in the high desert and I got the idea in my mind of what exactly the cozy would look like, and how it went together. I believe it was around 5° in my tent that night. I couldn’t wait to get back home and start sewing (or maybe to just warm up?). I was up at first light and ready to drive home as fast as I could…
Some of the first cozies made in 2007:
Even then, I still tweak each batch, and little improvements are made. In early 2012 my friend Dani took over the sewing. She was on that hiking trip all those years ago when I used the prototype. Still made one at a time, in Washington State, by a hiker, for hikers!
Since those first ones we have had different designs we have brought out and sold. Some we kept permanent, others we kept changing. Hiking is my inspiration, as well as the feedback we got from our great customers.
In the end of 2015 we decided to hand production and sales over to our long time friend Dani. We gave her the rights, and our blessings to continue on via her company Valhalla Outdoors. She passed it on to Jessica Johnson at Discovering Wilderness who is now in production with them!
Thank you to all who supported us in this venture from 2007 to 2015. We had a lot of fun in producing the cozies, but at the time (from 2010 to 2015), our younger children were very young, and I was not able to give it all my attention.
~Sarah