A Perfect Pair
Nothing beats that just-right pair of pants. When we find them we wear them ‘til they’re threadbare... and sometimes long after.
We wanted to make sure every pair of Bridge & Burn pants fits like that, so for Spring 14 we got them dialled—like scientifically.
Our new line of pants is perfectly tailored to the median measurements of the typical Bridge & Burn guy.
What does that look like?
We slimmed up the legs and reduced any curve on the hips, so seams fall straight. We added a bit of fabric on the front inner thigh—to give more wiggle room in the frontend—and removed a bit of fabric from the backside, to avoid any sagging (gotta keep your assets looking good). We increased the contour on the waistband to prevent gaping in the back.
They came out in April and we haven’t stopped wearing them since.
Meet the woman who helped us nail down the perfect pant:
Meg Okies wouldn’t say she’s “into fashion”—she’d say she’s into the idea that what people put on their bodies impacts their self esteem and therefore affects how they perform.
Just like the lighting or paint colors in hospitals and schools can help patients heal or students learn, what we surround ourselves with helps our performance.
“The way clothes fit you has a big impact,” Meg explained. “If you feel a little awkward in your clothes, you feel a little awkward in general.”
Officially, Meg is a Size and Fit Analyst, as well as pattern-maker and technical designer. We think she should just shorten it to Meg the Fit Wizard, because she works wonders on pants.
We invited Meg in to tell us more about her process and her background. Turns out she’s a bit of a Bridge Burner herself—our favorite type of entrepreneurial spirit, who took a risk to strike out on her own and do what she loves.
She discovered a natural affinity for sewing in her high school home ec. course, but didn’t realize it was a viable career choice. So she went into marketing and advertising, but all the while continued to experiment on clothes for herself. Eventually, she realized she needed to be working with her hands full time. She quit her job and took a dramatic career turn.
Her first step was a summer program at RISD and while she was on the east coast, she enrolled in a full-time apparel design course at Parsons—so she learned from the best.
Meg spent years creating custom projects for individual clients, specializing in parametric pattern-making. When she started, she was one of the first in her field to use a three-dimensional body-scanner—an 8x9-foot behemoth with three cameras in each corner and a white light scanner that captures a million data points on the body in all of 10 seconds.
Since then she’s worked with Italian cycling brand Castelli, and spent three years on Nike’s Apparel Innovation team—developing pieces for Nike’s 2012 Track & Field Olympians and this year’s World Cup teams. When it comes to technical fit, they don’t come better than Meg, and we were thrilled to have her help.
She took a product we were already really proud of and perfected it. How’d she do it?
She met and measured 8 different fit models to find just the right median measurements of a typical Bridge & Burn guy. She listened to what each of them liked and didn’t like about our pants. Then she used all that data to develop a digital 3D prototype—a virtual piece of clothing. Her software shows exactly how real fabric-types will behave depending on the pattern. The software includes stress- and strain-mapping to show exactly where the fabric needed to give a little.
The end result is a fresh take on our standing favorite.
Computer generated simulation of updated fit. Green means good. Mission accomplished.