What is “Toolmade”

Toolmade started as a concept, a new way to make softgoods products. I coined the term around 15yrs ago (~2009) and did a domain name search, found it was not taken and bought it right away with the intent to start a company under this name at a later date.

The concepts was to take processes I learned as a tooling designer at a vacuum forming/compression molding factory were we manufactured products made of sheet plastics products, but then apply those technique to novel materials: Softgoods, e.g. products made with integrated textiles.

“Toolmade” is generally characterized by the molding of soft 2D materials (fabric, leather, foam, etc) into 3D shapes and often bonding them to other materials (plastics, metals, etc). The 3D shapes are made by tools and the bonding is done with tools, hence the term Toolmade. I have often used the phrase “Toolmade – Not Handmade softgoods”. Using tooling/fixtures yields a level of precision/scale not possible when products are handmade.

The first popular products that used these methods (that I invented) were Cohaesive Embedded Hardware, the iPad Smart cover and iPhone cases. I have gone on to design countless softgoods products (wallets, VR headset straps/foam pads, garments and a variety of cases for consumer electronics) using these techniques for other companies/clients.

In 2020, I started a sole proprietorship consulting company called Toolmade. In 2022, Toolmade was incorporated and now exists as Toolmade Inc.

Toolmade started as a concept but has now evolved into a company that provides industrial design, R&D, material development and manufacturing consulting for softgoods products, i.e. products that have textiles integrated into their construction.