New EMP Shield Sewing Lab & Apocalypse Faraday Bag – Handmade in America

There’s a room in our building in Burlington, Kansas that didn’t exist a year ago. It’s called the Sewing Lab, and if you walk in on any given day you’ll hear the hum of machines, maybe some music, and a lot of laughter. The women in that room are building something new for EMP Shield, something we’ve never made before, and they’re doing it by hand, one bag at a time. The Apocalypse Faraday Bag started as the brainchild of our VP of Sales and Marketing, Andrew Bucchin, who designed the bag and the Apocalypse® brand. From the beginning, the vision was clear: build the best Faraday bag on the market using the highest quality materials and American made production. To lead that effort, Renee became the head of the new Sewing Lab, bringing decades of sewing experience and a passion for craftsmanship to the project. Nicole joined shortly after, having watched the excitement about the project build from the beginning. Rounding out the team is Lee, who is also a very experienced seamstress and shares her colleagues’ excitement for the work they do. Together, the three of them currently make up the entire Sewing Lab, and between them they have built every single Apocalypse Faraday Bag that will go out our door. However, based on strong demand, we expect the sewing lab to expand significantly and are confident that the Apocalypse Faraday Bag product lines will rank among our best selling products.

I sat down with all three of them to find out what it actually takes to build one of these bags, and between questions, the machines never really stopped. Someone was always sewing, trimming thread, or checking another seam. Each bag is assembled in 36 steps from materials that arrive in kits prepared by our warehouse team, with each seamstress handling her own section of the assembly. Renee describes the process like putting together a jigsaw puzzle. “Each one of us does a piece of the bag,” she told me. “At the end of the day they’re all put together.” The Apocalypse is built from heavy duty 1650D ballistic nylon with two layers of special high attenuation metal Faraday fabric, along with an internal layer of ultra durable ripstop Faraday fabric. These aren’t materials chosen for cost efficiency. They were chosen because they are the best option for a bag that needs to perform under real world conditions, protect sensitive electronics, and last for years. Working with them demands a level of skill and attention that’s not just seen but can be felt as soon as you pick one up. Each piece requires careful adjustment and compensation to ensure every seam aligns perfectly, because at this level of quality, close enough isn’t good enough. EMP Shield’s high standards carry through every stage of production.

At EMP Shield, every seam and every stitch gets inspected, and bags that don’t pass don’t go out the door. They get set aside for rework. The team uses LED lights to check interior seams that can’t always be seen or felt from the outside, and Renee personally signs off on every finished bag before it makes it to the shelf. “If it doesn’t look clean and beautiful or sturdy, it’s not going out the door,” she said. After the outer bag passes Renee’s inspection, Bryson, our SMT and Test Lab Supervisor, inspects the inner Faraday lining separately to verify the shielding is sealed correctly. Only after both inspections are passed is the bag considered finished. When I asked Renee what her personal standard was for a finished bag, she didn’t hesitate. “It has to be something I would use for the next 10 years.”

When I asked the team what drives that level of attention to detail, the answers came back to the people who will be carrying these bags. Military personnel. Special operations teams. Photographers hauling thousands of dollars’ worth of equipment. Parents protecting their family’s devices. Preppers. “There are so many different applications for this,” Renee said. Nicole put it more directly: thinking about all those different uses “helps motivate us to make sure the quality is top notch.” Lee believes that products made in America should reflect the highest standards of craftsmanship, and that commitment to doing things right is evident in the work she puts into every bag she makes.

What struck me most about my time in the Sewing Lab wasn’t any single quote or any one bag on the shelf. It was the way Renee described what this project means to everyone involved. “This isn’t just our bag going out the door, it’s everybody’s. Everybody’s pride going out the door.” From the warehouse team assembling the kits, to Bryson checking the Faraday liners, to Sarena in Shipping, the Apocalypse Faraday Bag is a team effort in the most genuine sense of the word. That’s how things get done at EMP Shield. The Apocalypse Faraday Bag is unlike anything EMP Shield has offered before, and the team building it is just as unique. We are aiming for a fourth quarter launch, and when these bags begin leaving Burlington, Kansas, they’ll carry more than the EMP Shield name. They’ll carry the work, skill, and pride of everyone who has a hand in making them. Keep an eye on our website and social media channels to be among the first to know when they’re available.