CaseLabs is alive!

[BondiBlue]

Summary

CaseLabs was a fairly well-known boutique case brand based in California, and they unfortunately filed for bankruptcy in 2018. Over three years later however, the company is coming back with a new owner, Emil Rytterstedt, who discussed the acquisition with Gamers Nexus. They are planning to resume production of the original lineup, though it won't be an easy task. 

 

GN stated that they were able to confirm the legitimacy of the court documents pertaining to the transaction. 

 

Quotes

Quote

The new owner told us the following: “The most important thing to me is that the spirit of CaseLabs is maintained no matter what new products I release. I want to keep the same level of quality and craftmanship and, where it is possible, modularity as before  CaseLabs went bankrupt. I'm a firm believer in the right to repair and keeping it simple for the end user. Existing and future products from CaseLabs shall reflect that.”

 

My thoughts

I'm really excited for CaseLabs. They had some interesting cases in the past, and I hope they're able to get started again and do well in the future. 

 

Sources

Gamers Nexus HW News

[Lightwreather]

Huh, nice,

Tho I must admit, I've never heard of them

[SorryBella]

12 minutes ago, BondiBlue said:

Over three years later however, the company is coming back with a new owner, Emil Rytterstedt, who discussed the acquisition with Gamers Nexus.

I hope its more like Bugatti, less TVR. Godspeed Emil, we PC enthusiast count on you to not fuck this brand.

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

Inb4 "Thermalfake". 

 

No... Thermaltake did not kill the brand. So let's just get that out of the way and enjoy caselab's return. 

[Bl00]

So. Name is Swedish/Nordic at least.

I guess it's unlikely, but not impossible, it's the one living here in Sweden seeing as he's a criminologist.

 

Either way it's good news I suppose. Even niche brands like CaseLabs do bring innovation to the table

[Bl00]

2 minutes ago, James Evens said:

That's the strange part. Without further information this sounds like a fan living his dream of reviving what was lost.

Exactly my thought. Wouldn't be the first time.

[akio123008]

3 hours ago, J-from-Nucleon said:

Tho I must admit, I've never heard of them

I think the case from "7 gamers 1 CPU" (If you don't know ask your grandad) was from Caselabs?

[BondiBlue]

4 hours ago, akio123008 said:

I think the case from "7 gamers 1 CPU" (If you don't know ask your grandad) was from Caselabs?

Yep, it was. 

[CommanderAlex]

8 hours ago, J-from-Nucleon said:

Huh, nice,

Tho I must admit, I've never heard of them

The only time I've heard of them was on JayzTwoCents videos since he used their cases for different builds, one notably being Skunkworks. 

 

 

[Lurick]

I had an SMA8, made a custom tempered glass side panel window for it too. Very solid quality and was sad to see them shut down years ago. Glad they are coming back

[Mnpctech]

their fit and finish was unmatched by any other case manufacturer in the world, so he's got big expectations to fulfill.

[TVwazhere]

20 hours ago, valdyrgramr said:

I thought you were pro warranty voiding.

Pro warranty voiding yes, but it's better to void a warranty of a quality case than a cheap one when you're a professional like he is  

[Bananasplit_00]

It's been three years since caselabs shut down? Feels like yesterday...

 

Hope they come back just as good as they went out

[dizmo]

Hmm. I hope he looked into why they went bankrupt. Personally, I don't really see this ending well; much fanfare, followed by orders, followed by failed delivery, then bankruptcy #2.

 

While the old designs were nice, it'd also be nice to see some updates. 

[Bl00]

@James Evens

 

Can now confirm after checking documents that it is indeed the criminologist here in Sweden. So indeed "just" a huge fan.

Will be interesting to see what he decides to do about manufacturing. I guess he could do in the US or in Sweden, or perhaps even go through Fractal/get contacts from Fractal and do it in China?

 

Edit:

Found that he's on and posted a couple of things on a hardware that I frequent site; SweClockers.

tdlr is that primary plans is to do it in Sweden

[Odaiba Alpine Club]

AMD EPYC 16 GAMERS 1 PC COMFIRMED??????????

[Eighjan]

Jay will be happy about this; if they manage to get/recreate legacy tooling, older cases may get a new lease on life, too.

[Dracarris]

4 hours ago, Odaiba Alpine Club said:

AMD EPYC 16 GAMERS 1 PC COMFIRMED??????????

In light of the character of a lot of the recent LTT content I would be very affirmative of sth like this. Would certainly float my boat a lot more than any more videos about sponsored laptops or screens/TVs.

[Rytterstedt]

On 10/3/2021 at 10:13 AM, Bl00 said:

So. Name is Swedish/Nordic at least.

I guess it's unlikely, but not impossible, it's the one living here in Sweden seeing as he's a criminologist.

 

Either way it's good news I suppose. Even niche brands like CaseLabs do bring innovation to the table

It's a Swedish name, and yes, I am that criminologist. I think I'm the only one with that name in the world. 

On 10/3/2021 at 10:19 AM, James Evens said:

That's the strange part. Without further information this sounds like a fan living his dream of reviving what was lost.

I wouldn't say I'm "living my dream of reviving something lost". I actually contacted Jim Keating about acquiring the IP as soon as I read about the bankruptcy back in August/September 2018 and has worked hard for the last three years to buy the IP. I think there is untapped potential here that is more than just selling boutique cases. 

On 10/4/2021 at 3:07 PM, Bananasplit_00 said:

It's been three years since caselabs shut down? Feels like yesterday...

 

Hope they come back just as good as they went out

Thank you. My aim is to keep the same level of quality and craftsmanship that CaseLabs was known for. I wouldn't settle for anything less. 

On 10/4/2021 at 3:48 PM, dizmo said:

Hmm. I hope he looked into why they went bankrupt. Personally, I don't really see this ending well; much fanfare, followed by orders, followed by failed delivery, then bankruptcy #2.

 

While the old designs were nice, it'd also be nice to see some updates. 

Yes, I've looked into why CaseLabs went bankrupt and made a careful decision based on thw information provided to me. 

 

I think I have around 280 notes for new features spread across like 20 "topics". Some ranges from "more paint options" and "better I/O" options to revamps for existing cases to brand new models (like different form factors etc). Will every change be implemented? Probably not, but I'm confident that I'll be able to update existing models and bring new models to the market. It all depends on how everything will go from here. 

12 hours ago, Bl00 said:

@James Evens

 

Can now confirm after checking documents that it is indeed the criminologist here in Sweden. So indeed "just" a huge fan.

Will be interesting to see what he decides to do about manufacturing. I guess he could do in the US or in Sweden, or perhaps even go through Fractal/get contacts from Fractal and do it in China?

 

Edit:

Found that he's on and posted a couple of things on a hardware that I frequent site; SweClockers.

tdlr is that primary plans is to do it in Sweden

Well, try not to focus on me being a criminologist. I know it is weird that I don't have a background in the computer/manufacturing business but I studied product development and design before changing majors. I also have some close friends that acts as advisors and they're mechanical engineers and industrial engineers. 

 

The goal has always been to manufacture the parts on location in Sweden and that's what I'm working towards right now. Depending on how things develop i might try to manufacture parts in the US so the cost for international shipping won't dissuade buyers in the North and South America. But no promises when, or even if, that will happen. 

[Rytterstedt]

On 10/3/2021 at 6:33 AM, SorryClaire said:

I hope its more like Bugatti, less TVR. Godspeed Emil, we PC enthusiast count on you to not fuck this brand.

I won't. I have a huge respect for Jim Keating and that's why I didn't just rip all the designs off (like some guys in Poland tried) but actually went the extra mile to buy the IP so this would be legit. 

 

As I said before, I'm aiming for the same level of craftsmanship and quality as expected from CaseLabs and, hopefully, there will be no difference between a pre 2018 CaseLabs' case and a post 2021 CaseLabs' case. It will be a long road to travel but I'm 100% committed to making this work and keeping the spirit of CaseLabs alive. 

[StephanTW]

1 minute ago, Rytterstedt said:

I won't. I have a huge respect for Jim Keating and that's why I didn't just rip all the designs off (like some guys in Poland tried) but actually went the extra mile to buy the IP so this would be legit. 

 

As I said before, I'm aiming for the same level of craftsmanship and quality as expected from CaseLabs and, hopefully, there will be no difference between a pre 2018 CaseLabs' case and a post 2021 CaseLabs' case. It will be a long road to travel but I'm 100% committed to making this work and keeping the spirit of CaseLabs alive. 

he is the messiah! but jokes aside, personally the big issue as a non USA based person with caselabs was, from their side understandable, shipping costs.
will you keep the USA based production or will you spread the production area's around the world, so that transport costs for some of us are less?

[Rytterstedt]

5 minutes ago, StephanTW said:

he is the messiah! but jokes aside, personally the big issue as a non USA based person with caselabs was, from their side understandable, shipping costs.
will you keep the USA based production or will you spread the production area's around the world, so that transport costs for some of us are less?

At first I'll be manufacturing everything in Sweden. If everything goes well I might consider manufacturing at least in the US/North America if I find a reliable business partner/manufacturer to save some cost on shipping. 

[LOLZR]

@Rytterstedtare you keeping the CaseLabs name? I'm excited to potentially be able to finally purchase a SMA-8 that isn't $1,500 on eBay second hand

[Rytterstedt]

2 hours ago, LOLZR said:

@Rytterstedtare you keeping the CaseLabs name? I'm excited to potentially be able to finally purchase a SMA-8 that isn't $1,500 on eBay second hand

Yes, the IP includes the name and logo so I'll be keeping that. As little as possible will change. 

2 hours ago, James Evens said:

@Rytterstedt Somewhere to sign up for updates?

Not at the moment. I'll still be active here and on Overclock.net to answer any questions you might have and to keep you all updated. 

[jasonvp]

10 hours ago, Rytterstedt said:

As little as possible will change. 

OK.  The very first thing I'm going to need you to do is make another 480mm radiator bracket for the THW10 Magnum.  Because I need it.  And you really want to make it for me.