Travel In Place
Abbe’s Ruminations August 2025
I believe that travel is an emotional journey. I don’t have to go far to experience the awe of discovery. This week I traveled with my sister and brother-in-law to the Filson Manufacturing Plant, in the basement of the headquarters and retail shop in Seattle, Washington, just twenty minutes from my home in Burien. The plant manager spent over an hour showing us the procedures from creative conception, map drawing of patterns, the CNC like machine that cuts the cloth based on the pattern, and finally the assembly at four sewing stations.
One of their famous jackets, the 1914 Mackinaw Wool Cruiser, takes fifty-six minutes to go through all the stages. Some garments take half that time. The plant manager receives the orders, procures the material, and sets the schedule. He is also in charge of maintaining the inventory of buttons, snaps, threads, reams of material, the machinery, as well as the department of product repairs. About thirty dedicated employees of various backgrounds expertly bring to life garments that last for generations. Some of the staff have been with Filson’s for over forty years. I’m sure that some of the bags and clothes coming in for repair were made by these staff members. We talk of recycling but this an example of the cycle of life of an inanimate item renewed—a potential family heirloom.
Not owning any wears from Filson, I had no idea the original jacket design included pockets that have two entrances—one on the sides for warming the hands, and one that opens from the top to hold tools of the era. My biggest surprise was to encounter the map pocket that goes across the entire back of the jacket. This tripped my imagination of long ago when timbermen carried maps through rugged terrain. With google maps everything is online, but still the pocket exists. I’m thrilled and wish I had this jacket. Alas, they don’t make them for women ☹. They have a small line of women’s clothing but their sizing is still more for the male body and not for petites like myself.
Many people believe travel involves planes, trains and hours getting to a destination. And when they do arrive, they seem to have gone nowhere, encasing their movements in a bubble of their known world. Making sure they tick off the tourist sites and see everything in the area. The value isn’t in the seeing, but in the feeling—the emotional journey.
At Filson’s I traveled in place and crossed many worlds and united the past with the present and hopefully the future.
I’d love to hear from you, perhaps some local discovery of traveling place. You can find me at http://www.abberolnick.com
