About Us

I remember flying into Da Nang with my youngest daughter Madeleine in early May 2018. It's an impressive sight from the air. It's a river and coastal city bordered to the west by high mountains. Islands off the coast. The imposing Son Tra Peninsular jutting out to sea from the main tourist district of the same name. It's a beautiful place. 

I'd taken a massive gamble on Vietnam and on our future. We were arriving at our new home. 

Maddies mum had passed away in 2013, when she was two, so I had raised her alone in Perth Western Australia, with some help from my two older kids. In 2014 I founded Jack Stillman, a heritage style bag company. I started my own business so I could work from home and be more available for my kids. 

Jack Stillman was doing ok but it wasn't entirely what I wanted it to be. The products didn't meet my own standards. I had gone from manufacturing small batches of my own designs in Bali Indonesia to White Labelling in China and then custom designs in China. In each of these cases, communication, control and quality led to stress and financial loss. 

I had hoped to manufacture in Australia but quickly discovered that this was not even an option, let alone one which was financially viable. 

I thought about giving up. 

But I'm a dreamer first and foremost. Stubborn a close second. 

I can't remember what I was reading but I was inspired by the true story of Mike Pfotenhauer, the founder of Osprey. He too had a strong vision for his brand and one day, in the early 2000's he moved with his wife and children to Vietnam to take his business to the next level. 

That was it. I made the crazy decision to sell all of my possessions, pack up the kid - who was now 8 - and move to Vietnam to work on the business dream I held for Jack Stillman. Thanks Mike!

My family thought I was nuts. 

Cut to back to May 2018. Da Nang was to be my base of operations. With the help of a local assistant, Lynn, I started to approach manufacturers. I wanted to make real, old-school heritage bags from old fashioned materials. We travelled to Ho Chi Minh City and other areas looking for the right partner. 

I soon realised things were not going to be as easy as I had imagined. For a start, I wanted to use waxed canvas, vegetable tanned leather and real brass hardware. Most factories at the time were geared towards the adventure bag market - synthetic materials and plastic hardware. We didn't find a single factory that knew what waxed canvas was, let alone where to buy it. 

Lynn and I spent hours and a small fortune travelling and trialing numerous potential partners who didn't understand my vision, were confused about my materials and only wanted short term rewards. It was frustrating and disheartening.

Then one day, after months of inactivity and stagnation, Lynn introduced me to Nguyen Hung Phi, known by Thoi. Thoi was a Da Nang local. He, his wife and nephew, made basic bags and backpacks for the local markets but he confessed to being unsatisfied with his lot. He longed to make the quality products he knew he was capable of but lacked an opportunity to do so. 

Cautiously, We ordered some waxed canvas from China, sourced other materials locally and commenced work on our new designs with Thoi. 

The results were better than I dreamed of. 

And customers loved them. 

Thoi relished the opportunity to apply his years of expertise into making high quality products that customers cared about. It also helped that I paid a lot more than his previous opportunity. I couldn't believe my luck either. This guy was a master! Once he understood the levels of quality and durability I wanted, he became the perfectionist his ADHD brain longed to be. Talk about win win!

This was the renaissance of Jack Stillman and the birth of Stillman Manufacturing in Vietnam. Eventually we moved out of Thoi's living room and into our own small building. I invested in more machines and employees. 

In late 2019 Madeleine and I returned to Australia. 

By 2023, that small building in Da Nang was bursting at the seams, we had 18 staff and Jack Stillman had grown to sales of over $2 million. Enter Siggi Oliger who agreed to move to Vietnam to oversee larger operations at Stillman Manufacturing. Siggi saw to the building of our new workshop, purpose made for Stillman Manufacturing. 

Today we occupy 400 square metres of air conditioned, climate controlled workshop and office space in Da Nang. We run state of the art industrial machines, including specialist cutting presses and leather tools. Our team has grown to 25 staff members, some of whom have been with us since 2018. Thoi is our team leader and I am grateful for his genuine friendship and loyalty to our shared dream. And yes, his nephew and wife also work with us.  

We've reached a milestone in this journey. We are now offering other brands the opportunity to enjoy the infrastructure those years have built. We've created a word class manufacturing workshop that is supported by proven, reliable suppliers. It's time to open the doors to other dreamers who want to build great brands that rely on quality, communication and control from a manufacturing partner who understands. 

Jarrod Stillman

Founder, Managing Director