ARIEL OGDEN SEWS her bags and other gear on Japanese industrial non-computerized sewing machines.
Photo by Tim Farrell: timjfarrell.com

MIDDLEBURY — Ariel Ogden loves to scavenge. Her sister jokes that she’s a “minimalist hoarder,” and when you step into her cozy workshop on Elm Street in Middlebury, you can see why.

It’s a little like stepping back in time. With a bit of imagination you can fancy yourself in one of Santa’s workshops, but with a twist.

A wall of shelving near the door is packed tightly, and neatly, with hemp and cotton webbing, dead stock Harris Tweed, woolen water bottle sacks, adorable metal maple syrup jugs in the shape of sugar shacks, baskets of waxed canvas scraps, a stack of Bag Balm tins. Everything has the muted earth tones of a bygone era — browns, deep blues, rusty reds, burnt yellows — except for a huge red “OPEN” sign propped up on the top shelf.

On another wall, there are bins towering with rolls of canvas as tall as people. There’s a vintage Singer sewing machine.

And, on the opposite wall, you see the stylish and durable bike bags Ogden produces here as part of her one-woman business, Fifth Season Canvas.

At the center of it all, a wide, heavy, mint green metal table (which once lived in the MCTV studio at Ilsley Library) supports two industrial Japanese-made Juki sewing machines, non-computerized models from the ’80s, ready to make some bike bags — plus seat covers, ear muffs for bike helmets, wallets and hot water bottle covers. And the smell — it has the fragrant aroma of bee’s wax.

Want to see it in person? Ogden is hosting an open house at her workshop, at 9 Elm St., on Thursday, Dec. 5, 4-8 p.m. in conjunction with Midd Night Stroll. She will also have her Fifth Season gear at the National Bank of Middlebury for both Midd Night Strolls, Dec. 5 and 12.

In the year or so since she started her business, which she took over from her partner, James Johnson, who runs a cycling shop in Poultney, Ogden has sewn and sold some 800 bike bags, sending some as far away as Japan.

Her bags and gear are designed “to last for years but break down when you’re done with them,” she said. She aims to make tough products that will weather anything, but the natural materials she uses — waxed canvas, wool, hemp, metal and wood — mean that when you’re ready to get rid of a bag, you can actually just toss it in your compost pile.

“A lot of inspiration comes from old military stuff,” Ogden said, pointing to a rack of vintage army bags, flask pouches and ammo belts she has collected. These kinds of bags don’t mind being left out in the rain, or trampled on, or caught in a thicket of brambles. She’s especially inspired by the different kinds of analog fasteners used in the military gear. “I’m trying not to use zippers,” she said, noting that zippers often break long before the rest of an item has worn down. She’s interested in incorporating a cool metal fastener called “lift the dot” into future bags.

ARIEL OGDEN MAKES bike bags, seat covers, ear muffs for bicycle helmets, wallets and more using waxed canvas and natural materials she has “scavenged.” A shelf in her workshop is filled with materials such as cotton webbing, dead stock Harris tweed, and off-cuts of canvas.
Photo by Tim Farrell: timjfarrell.com

Ogden loves to sew; she’s been doing it since she was 9 years old. And much of her day is spent at the sewing machine. But a lot of the business is keeping up with the supply chain, she said. “I spend so much more time sourcing materials than I ever thought I would,” she said.

Fortunately, she has some local help. Maple Landmark is making her custom wooden toggles, and she sources wool from Johnson Woolen Mill. Dan Freeman, who runs the Leatherworks shop in downtown Middlebury, helped her procure a cool vintage kick press that she uses to stamp her logo onto little circular leather tags.

Occasionally she uses non-compostable materials, like coroplast (the stiff plastic of an election sign, for example) or cut-up yoga mats. The former is inserted into the base of some bags to help give them structure; the latter used inside her woolen bike basket cushions. But these materials she collects secondhand from folks on Front Porch Forum, delaying the yoga mats’ eventual trip to the landfill.

Ogden grew up in Middlebury, was a theater kid in the Addison Reparatory Theatre program at the Hannaford Career Center. She studied graphic design in college, and after 15 years or so in Oregon working in theater, she moved back East during the pandemic and got a job at a friend’s upholstery shop in New Hampshire, where she learned the art of sewing heavy fabrics.

But she hated working with nasty materials like foam and vinyl. And she wanted to move home to be close to her family in Middlebury. So she got a job at an apparel-making shop called Fourbital Factory in Burlington, where she further honed her skills and got inspired by the resurgence of manufacturing in Vermont.

Then last year she took over Fifth Season Canvas, a pursuit near to her heart as a lifelong, year-round cyclist. She knows a thing or two about the durability of bike gear. “The idea is, if it can last through mud season, it can last through anything,” she said.

If you don’t make it to Ogden’s Dec. 5 open house, you can see her work in a holiday pop-up market at Analog Cycles in Poultney on Dec. 13, 4-8 p.m. Come see what she’s up to and get some gift ideas for all the bike lovers in your life.