Drawing from the Source – A Conversation with 1733’s Phil Schade
When it comes to modern outdoor design, few brands blend raw functionality with human touch quite like 1733. Founded by Phil Schade in Chicago, the brand has earned a loyal following through its thoughtful, small-batch gear—designed and stitched with a maker’s eye and an artist’s hand. At the heart of it all is Phil’s process: a surprisingly analog approach that starts not with software, but with pencil and sketchbook.
For this Chop Talk, we sat down with Phil to learn more about his unique design philosophy, how freehand drawing guides his creations, and what it means to make gear that lasts. We also introduce an exciting collaboration between 1733, Hatchet Supply and WeekEnds: a capsule collection inspired by the bold geometry and color of the iconic Dean Ultimate Bicycles logo—an homage to early ‘90s titanium tech and timeless primary color palettes.
In this conversation, Phil breaks down the evolution of his practice, how he bridges creativity and utility, and what excites him most about this latest project.
Has sketching bags always been a part of the design process for 1733.
At the start it certainly was - I’ve always been doodling and drawing sneakers or bags or superheroes in the margins of my notebooks. When I started to sew I put all kinds of ideas down in sketches to save for later or to help me visualize how assemblies would come together or how I wanted a finished product to look. As I got better at sewing and as the visual identity of the bags became more clear I started sketching less and less. Maybe just the loosest doodle or an idea of how I wanted the website to look, but sewing and testing became more of the design process. The most common place you’ll see those kinds of drawings now is on the pattern pieces I'm making as I design. Often just trying to get a sense of the shape I’m trying to create or the order of operations figured out.
A few years ago I got an iPad with Procreate and that really brought sketching back into the process, especially when working with clients. Instead of taking photos of pencil drawings in my notebook I could create full color renderings with notes and much more refinement. This made presenting ideas for collaboration easier. I basically pitched this project off of a short idea on a phone call we had and a single page of renderings. It really shows the power of the tool.
You mentioned you free-hand draw a lot of your creations first—what does a typical sketching session look like? Do you start with materials in mind or do you let the forms emerge organically?
Shape is typically the first thing I’m thinking about when I design a bag. What is the overall shape going to be, how will it look from different angles and when someone is wearing it? What will happen to the shape when it has heavy objects in it? Next I dig deeper into the details to find what shapes the panels are going to be to make up the overall silhouette that I am working toward. How can we create volume, what are the largest panel pieces going to look like, and how can we construct something that is repeatable to manufacture, functional, and looks like it is a part of the preexisting 1733 context? Sketching is super helpful for that, it helps me figure out proportions before cutting into any fabric.
Once a sketch feels right, what’s the next step? Walk us through how a freehand concept becomes a physical product—patterns, prototyping, fabric choice, adjustments, etc.
Fabric choice is often happening in the earliest stages of design - looking for the proper material to create the right structure and perform the right function. Conversely, a new material could inspire a new style of bag. When I am ready to start sewing I will pick the largest panel of the bag and start drafting on pattern paper. This largest piece will often be one of the last to be sewn, so working the pattern backwards off that has been helpful for me. I will be pattern drafting and sewing with cheaper materials at the start, figuring out the order of operations and potential difficulty areas. Once I’m close to what I want, I’ll start the first proper sample with the fabric and trims I think will suit the final product. It can take two to ten samples to get to something I am happy with for production. Even after that we are continually iterating to make the bags easier to manufacture and better to use.
Your brother Tim, an artist, helped launch 1733. How have your backgrounds—engineering and art—shaped the brand’s visual and functional identity? Do you ever sketch together or bounce ideas off each other?
You could maybe guess but I’m talking about Procreate and pencil sketching and analog pattern drafting because I am a bit of a luddite when it comes to technology. I figured out what works for me and I can’t be bothered to take the time to learn something new. This is a detriment in a world that relies heavily on Adobe Illustrator. That is where Tim comes in, I can give him a crappy idea or drawing for a sticker or packing or web design and he can realize it into something precise, beautiful, and in a usable file format or a functional logical web layout.
You’re based in Chicago—how has the city’s environment, pace, or creative community shaped the way you design and build gear?”
One of Chicago's few negative aspects is how removed we are from nature. We have Lake Michigan, of course, which is very pleasant for a few months of the year but our access to it is through a manicured, urban lens. Inside and outside of the city there are parks and nature preserves but we have no real elevation to speak of. You have to drive at least 100 miles to get to an area that could be described as “wild”. So I like to think that 1733 gear can give users the ability to do something that feels adventurous and exploratory within our confines. Maybe on a bike or via public transit, we still have to protect ourselves from the elements and take our time outdoors wherever we can.
1733 gear strikes a balance between utility and style, between nostalgia and the modern—what were some of the first objects, tools, or brands that made you think, ‘I want to make something like this’?
When I was a teenager Nike and The North Face were the coolest brands and both excelled at presenting both retro and forward looking products that heavily influenced my interest in fashion and gear. In college I was in the backyard of Burton Snowboards, which had an incredible ability to create products that were not only amazingly functional but had to be the coolest looking things on the mountain as well. Then as I was thinking about 1733, Instagram was starting to take off and I had access to see all these small brands and makers starting projects from scratch and I became very inspired by that. Finally, I have to mention Outlier, whose presentation of their products and materials and the way they interact with their customers is always a benchmark for what I want to achieve with 1733.
