Custom Software for Outdoor Industry Repairs

Every year, 16 million tons of textiles are thrown away in the U.S. alone. This project actively helps shift the Outdoor Industry toward circularity by working with Rugged Thread, a Bend-based company that repairs technical outdoor clothing and gear nation-wide. Outdoor clothing and gear repair is a new industry, and there is currently no software to support the business model. Rugged Thread tested various out-of-the-box solutions, but gear repair is different from manufacturing, automobile repair, or computer repair and there was nothing that met all of the key requirements. Students will be working directly with the Rugged Thread team to develop custom software that will allow the company to scale repairs, track key indicators, and increase their impact.

This is an ambitious project with a wide scope, and has therefore been divided into three phases. Phase I was completed by an OSU capstone student team last year and laid the foundation for the next two phases. In Phase I, students created a web-based platform called Stitch, which allows Rugged Thread to create work orders, print repair tickets, standardize pricing, run reports, and send invoices to QuickBooks Online through an API (demo video linked below). Prior to this project, Rugged Thread was hand-writing thousands of tickets a year and using Excel to structure their price lists and track key indicators. Now, they are using the software created by OSU students everyday to print work orders, generate prices, and send invoices!

In Phase II, students will create a “portal” within Stitch that allows Rugged Thread's clients to log-in and see the status of repairs in real-time. Rugged Thread is the national warranty repair facility for over 25 brands like Burton Snowboards, Trew Gear, Kuiu, and Gossamer Gear and students may be working directly with these brands at times to integrate Stitch.

Objectives

At the broadest level, this will be a full service portal for all of Rugged Thread's clients including individuals (B2C) and brand partners (B2B). The features of the portal will be slightly different depending on if the client is B2C or B2B. The biggest and most urgent need is a B2B client portal, so the project will start there. Rugged Thread will determine with the capstone team how much of this project will be undertaken and the scope of the project.

Stage I: B2B Client Portal

  • Allow Rugged Thread B2B clients (such as Burton Snowboards, Trew Gear, and Kuiu) to login to Stitch  to see the status of items including:
    • Arrival date, anticipated cost, item notes, anticipated due date, actual ship date, tracking number, and shipment cost
  • Restrict what users can see and do upon login to Stitch. For example, clients will not  be able to edit work orders, arrival dates, due dates, cost, shipment date, nor will they be able to see work orders for other clients.
  • Clients will enter all of the necessary information to start a work order (customer name, RA number, phone, email, address, requested repairs) into Stitch and print a generated QR code. The customer will then put the printed QR code in their shipment so that Rugged Thread can scan the QR code upon arrival and complete the work order.
  • Have the option for client to receive a text or email update regarding the status change of their item (ex. Arrived, In Production, In Quality, Complete).
  • Note that students may also be working with teams at Burton Snowboards and/or other brand partners at times to implement software.

Stage II: B2C Client Portal

  • Allow Rugged Thread B2C clients to login to Stitch to see the status of their item. 
  • B2C clients will be able to disposition repairs prior to Rugged Thread starting any work. For example, if a client sends in a jacket for a zipper replacement, the client must agree to the work via the portal and will have the opportunity to choose a zipper type/color.
  • Restrict what users can see and do upon login to Stitch. For example, clients will not be able to edit a work order nor see work orders for other clients.
  • Allow clients to enter all of the necessary information to start a work order (customer name, RA number, phone, email, address, requested repairs) into Stitch and print a generated QR code. The customer will then put the printed QR code in their shipment so that Rugged Thread can scan the QR code upon arrival and complete the work order.
  • Upon scan, client will receive a text or email update regarding the status change of their item (ex. Arrived, In Production, In Quality, Complete).

Again, Rugged Thread will determine with the capstone team how much of this project will be undertaken and the scope of the project.

Motivations

This project will be used by a real company every day in a meaningful way. Rugged Thread currently uses Excel to track the arrival, due date, and departure of warranty repairs for brands. Adding a client portal is expected to improve efficiencies for Rugged Thread by at least 10% and decrease human errors, which in turn, will allow them to scale from 6k items repaired in 2021 to 15k items in 2024. 

Rugged Thread is a triple bottom line company committed to environmental sustainability, social responsibility, and economic improvement. The software solutions created through this project will directly contribute to the growth of the company and allow them to increase their impact.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications:
  • Self-motivated
  • Willingness to ask questions
  • Participate in 1 hour weekly update meetings with the client
  • Invest in Rugged Thread and Rugged Thread will invest in you

Preferred Qualifications:
  • Experience with Ruby on Rails
  • Experience with Heroku
  • Experience with PostgreSQL
  • Experience with Base Camp or similar project management software


Details

Project Partner:

Josie Kinney

NDA/IPA:

No Agreement Required

Number Groups:

1

Project Status:

Accepting Applicants

Website:
Rugged Thread company site: https://www.ruggedthread.com/ "Stitch" (Phase I of this project): https://rugged-thread.herokuapp.com/
Video:
Demo of "Stitch": https://www.ruggedthread.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Screen-Recording-2022-09-15-at-4.13.03-PM.mov About Rugged Thread: https://www.facebook.com/RuggedThread/videos/the-enviromental-impact-of-repairing-clothing-gear/483159723198088/
Keywords:
RubyWeb ApplicationsSQLDatabasesSystem DesignProblem SolvingSustainabilityConsumer ProductOutdoor Industrycustom softwarecircularity
Card Image Capstone