“I remember my wife saying to me, ‘if you don't do this, if you don’t see it through, you're going to wonder what would've happened — and it's going to drive you crazy.’ And that was the absolute truth.”

DANIEL McKEWEN, founder,
Seagull Bags & Singing Needle Studio

At first glance, Daniel isn’t likely to be pegged as a guy who spends his day sewing or cutting fabric. Yet when presented with a need for a better messenger bag, Daniel picked up his grandmother’s sewing machine and went to work. What started as out as a personal project while in art school was suddenly turning into into a word-of-mouth business with international clients before he graduated. With growth of more than 300 percent for the first five years, his epic rise also came with epic challenges — leading to a need to pause and reassess everything. But as the calloused fingers of any true craftsman will tell you, giving up just wasn't an option.

Hear Daniel’s story and how he’s kick-starting a second chapter for a beloved brand and is embarking on a crowdsourcing project to solve a problem for musicians like himself.