From Sketches to Stitches: Our Prototyping Journey in Almere
Alright, the day is finally here! We’ve officially moved from "talking about it" to official prototyping.
To make the magic happen, Alex and I flew out to Almere, Netherlands, to get hands-on with the team helping us bring the sunday+ vision to life. We’re working with Knitwear Lab, an incredible group of innovators who welcomed us with open arms (and a lot of patience) right off the bat.
The "Brain-to-Screen" Magic
We’ll be the first to admit: we know exactly what we want the gear to feel like, but sometimes we have a hard time explaining the technical "how."
That’s where Lyske, Thijs, Ula, and the rest of the team stepped in. Within the first 24 hours, they helped us translate the messy sketches in our notebooks into 3D renderings. Seeing our ideas mapped onto a digital avatar for the first time was, honestly a mix of terrifying and exhilarating.
8 Minutes to a New Reality
We spent the first day obsessing over swatches. We were testing different knitting tensions, figuring out where we wanted compression, and how we wanted the bra to breathe.
The speed of modern innovation is mind-blowing. At Knitwear Lab, they could output a new swatch sample in about 8 minutes. Holding a physical version of a thought you had just moments ago is a wild experience.
The "Day One" Doubt
I want to be real with you guys after that first day, we left the lab feeling a little shaky. Things were moving so fast. We kept asking ourselves:
Are we making the right design choices?
Does this look as good in person as it did in our heads?
Are we overthinking the technical details?
There was so much doubt, but it was wrapped in this massive sense of pride. We were finally seeing something tangible. It was a total whirlwind of emotions.
Finding Our Flow
By Day Two, the fog started to lift. We really hammered into the details, smoothed out the design kinks, and watched the vision click into place.
Our time here in the Netherlands is limited, we’ve got a mountain of work waiting for us back in the States, but this week has been a milestone we’ll never forget. We are officially one step closer to our Alpha Run.
We feel so lucky to have this team around us and all of you following along. Thank you for being part of the sunday+ story.
— Alex & Kasey
