The best selling product in the category made no money and a twelve year development project was looking like an endless hobby.

While at Arc’teryx I worked on lots of everyday bags but the two projects that stood out were the Blade series which were the best selling bags in the category. But there was just one problem, negative margin. With the complete redesign the margin was brought up to department standard and sales went up.
The second challenge was the Voltair avalanche pack that had everything it needed to succeed, well minus a pack to go in and a way to get out of the pack. The electric powered balloon inflated at very low pressure, which meant the containment area needed to fall open when the release cord was pulled. It also needed to do this at -30 degrees C. Carryology article.