June 2004 

“They [the House of Representatives] are of the People…. Such an Assembly cannot easily become dangerous to Liberty. They are the Servants of the People, sent together to do the People’s Business, and promote the public Welfare; their Powers must be sufficient, or their Duties cannot be performed. They have no profitable Appointments, but a mere Payment of daily Wages, such as are scarcely equivalent to their Expenses; so that, having no Chance for great Places, and enormous Salaries or Pensions, as in some countries, there is no triguing or bribing for Elections.”

---Benjamin Franklin

INSULATIONS

I have been involved since 1961 with the sales and manufacture of synthetic fiber for the specific purpose of insulation. I have seen literally all of the synthetics put on the market from 1961 until the present. I have  seen some bogus products that have been perpetrated on the buying public, however, I recently came across a product that gets the grand prize for “bogusnus” (I know it’s not a word, but I am at a loss to say in one word how bogus it is).

     How about a material that measures 1/32 of an inch thick that when the outside air temperature is -109 degrees F will keep you warm when you are outside? When I read about this material I had to know more, after all if I can improve my product why not? I called the company and requested a catalog and a sample of the material. I received the catalog but they refused sending the material at this time. Having received the catalog I called and ordered the least expensive item that is made with this material. Upon receipt I opened the item and found what I guessed I would find from the written description and diagram. A bogus insulated product. The supposed insulation is a layer of tin foil that appears to be thicker than normal tin foil purchased at a grocery store laminated to as thin a layer of polyester foam as I have ever seen. This material when used in a parka and bib which they manufacture is supposed to keep you warm when the temperature reaches -109 degrees F.
     I am appalled at the fact that a company, will so blatantly present to its potential customers erroneous information, or if they know their so called insulating material is not what they claim, so they lie. The material is called Re-tain and is used by Arcticsheild of Broken Arrow, OK.  I very sure they do not manufacture this product, where they get it from is a mystery to me and will stay that way since I have no interest in it. They claim “It is a thin multi-layered heat resistant thermal barrier that captures and returns 97 percent of your body heat.” That statement reminds me of the statements that came from Frisby Technologies about their encapsulated paraffin beads that did the same thing, return heat to the body. Frisby is not in business today because consumers found out very quickly what their technology was; bogus and the consumer is going to find the same to be true of Re-tain. They further state “Re-tain is naturally waterproof, windproof, breathable and the unique open cell inner layer helps wick away moisture.” I say utter nonsense. Once more a company is playing off of the nonsense propagated by Gore. Simply put there is no such fabric with waterproof and vapor permeable (breathable) qualities. And as for the thin layer of open cell foam (the foam word is left out I believe by design) will absorb moisture. This has been proven numerous times by people who have purchased clothing from Northern Outfitters who use polyester foam as their insulation, only they call it vaepex. I have been told on numerous occasions from dog musher’s who have been taken in by their advertising. They have purchased these garments and discovered that the foam insulation absorbs their sweat and it naturally freezes when temperatures are -20 degrees F and lower. They in essence build an ice box around themselves with their own perspiration. So much for foam used as insulation.

Over the years I have seen as I have stated before every form of so called insulation come on the market. In all cases these products fail when the general public experiences being cold. This has not caused some to pursue these same materials when the material suits their stylizing a garment. They just dream up a new slogan or some such statement. In the mean time I have used the same insulating medium since I started Wiggy’s only to find out that I have never had to change it or how it is used. I have looked into any and all other forms of insulation over the years and find again that each “new” item is a past failure changed in dialog only.
 
The one sleeping bag that you have to stay away from is insulated with a product trade named “softie.” This product is made in Europe using the oldest of fiber fill technology. This product is nothing more than a chopped staple polyester fiber with a slickened finish similar to the silicone finish on my Lamilite. Unfortunately the way the fiber is used; un-quilted guarantees that the fibers will separate with use. And if you chose to launder a sleeping bag made with this fiber, deterioration of the web structure will be enhanced. The brand of sleeping bag made with this bogus material is “snugpak.” The company advertises that the bags are constructed in a “no stitch-through manner to provide state of the art sleeping comfort.” What is state of the art sleeping comfort? The problem with chopped staple fiber is that it crushes easily and is virtually none resilient, so once crushed it stays crushed.
The bottom line on the snugpak bags is this. They do not perform at the temperatures assigned them by the manufacturer, the insulating medium will collapse and stay flat in a very short time and the sewing method does not include over lock stitching in any part of the bag. Therefore, as the Australian military discovered the seams separate very quickly and all of the foot sections were knocked out. If all a manufacturer does is single needle the parts together without going through the over locking procedure first, the product when made with nylon fabric is most assuredly guaranteed to have the parts separate.

I will conclude by stating that I have not had any reason to change the insulating medium that I use, Lamilite since I started using it for a very simple reason, it performs better than any other form of insulation available or that has ever been available, and that includes down of any quality. With regards to down over the years some sellers of down bags have stated they use 750 or 800 fill power down and now some are saying 900 fill power. Fill power is how much space one ounce of down takes up. 900 would be 900 cubic inches. That said, I don’t believe a word of it, and if true 900 fill down would be far less efficient than 750 fill down. The less density the faster warm air movement will occur and leave the bag. I am confident that at minimum 25 years from now nothing will have been developed to replace Lamilite or be equal to it for that matter.
SPECIALS

I have put on sale the following items at a 40 percent discount.

SWEATER----------------------------$78.00
VEST-----------------------------------$54.00
PACK BOOTS------------------------$96.00
STAINLESS STEEL BOTTLE----$21.60
MILITARY CARRY CASE--------$24.00

PLUS SHIPPING   

NEW PRODUCTS

There is a company called Kifaru located in Golden, CO. The owner is Patrick Smith who was the original owner of Mountainsmith Backpack Company. His new company concentrates on light weight gear for hunters. He has a web site www.kifaru.net and on the web site is a message board. Many of the contributors are Wiggy customers. This past April they pushed me to find ways to make a lighter weight mild weather bag, specifically the Ultra Light. Telling them, the posters, that I would try and accommodate them without guarantees. They accepted. The name of the new bag is Kifaru Ultra Light.
The exterior fabric is a 1.1 ounce rip stop nylon, the fill is our normal Lamilite L-12 on top and L-6 in the rest of the bag. The weight difference is approximately ¾ pound lighter per size.
Aside from the Ultra Light I am producing the Super Light and Ultima Thule bags in lighter weight configurations.
The Ultra Light is $180.00, Super Light $200.00 and the Ultima Thule $270.00.

I also have a new back pack. It is a design that combines the ideas of the Australian military and the U.S. Marine corps. It is available in woodland camo, desert camo, black and olive drab (green). If you are interested call and I’ll send you a complete set of pictures and written literature. Cost is $450.00.

The last item to grace our line of products is fire retardant, non-odor retaining, or moisture retaining long johns. They are made from a wool and viscose fiber. Both fibers are fire retardant naturally, and have been thoroughly tested by our military and are now in use. One area of testing was flash fire, which if you are an electrician would really appreciate. They will not melt against your skin when the flash can hit 14,000 degrees. I have written about the chemicals used to kill off odor in clothing, these fibers do it naturally. If you are very aerobic you will also like having underwear that just doesn’t retain odor as well as not absorbing the pesticide chemicals that other companies use to treat the fabrics they use. And finally the lack of ability for this fabric to trap and hold moisture, while it will not work quite as effectively as the fish nets it is the next best thing and very comfortable. Cost for a set of long johns is $125.00. Briefs and T-shirts are also available. Call for prices.

LETTERS

I have noted many times about the ability of Lamilite to stay unaffected when it gets wet. Here are two more letters of support for my statement.

Here Chris asked about Vaetrex a product mentioned in the opening topic.
“Thanks for the swift reply! I don’t want to take chances, so I will stick with what I know works-LAMILITE. I live in Reno and a couple of weeks ago we had a freezing rain. I have a camper shell on the back of my truck and one of the top windows leaked water on to my Ultima Thule. By the time I went to sleep the temp had dropped to below freezing and my bag was wet. I slipped into it and literally within SECONDS I was warming up even though the bag was wet. It was amazing. Thanks for providing life saving products that work under extreme conditions.”

This letter from Jason he titled “Planned obsolescence.”
I don’t understand how you make any money. Let me explain… Back in 1989 when I hiked the AT, the owner of the shop gave me a going away present, a Wiggy’s Super Light. I used it for the entire AT. I thought about using a down bag (brand new… offered by a well meaning friend), but decided against it after trying it a couple of times. Yeah, it was lighter, but it didn’t keep me warm. I got cold where my elbows pushed aside all the insulation down to bare nylon. Anyway, I was ever glad I went with the Wiggy’s. Fast forward on the trail…I decided to ford the Kennebec River in ME. (roughly 100 miles from the end of my hike) when disaster struck. I dropped into a 25 foot deep fast moving channel, with the pack on my back. I had to slide out of the pack, swimming for my life. Luckily, I was able to recover my pack at a low spot down stream. Needless to say, everything was completely soaked. To my amazement, I was able to sleep warmly in my Wiggy’s bag (autumn in N.E.). I kid you not, by morning the bag was dry. Anyhow, back to why I don’t understand how you make any money. Flash forward to 2004. I still sleep in the same bag, not just on camping trips, but every night, as I have every night (minus a few brief periods sleeping in a bed) since I first was given this bag as a gift 15 years ago! Thank you so much – your loyal, but un-needy customer. Jason B. 
 

I told Jason I make money because customers like him tell other people about my product, so while the bags last and last there is always someone new to sell to.