sustainablity ?

SUSTAINABILITY

Before I talk about sustainability her is a testimonial that I received today; 2/1/17.

Jerry.....I have been intending to write you to relate my Alaskan experience. Since I am stuck in Bethel, AK due to freezing fog, I have the time and access to the

internet, to do so.

Moved up here 3 weeks ago, and since the village had not had cold weather to that point this winter, my contact there suggested I save some money and ship in my cold weather gear rather pay for my fifth airline bag. Mistake! It was 7 below on my arrival in my Wiggy's sweater, Wiggy's leather boots with Lamilite socks, and Wiggy's wool undies that I bought years ago. The ensuing 3 weeks produced temps down to 17 below with accompanying winds up to 64 mph. Even though my gear was not adequate for those temps for any extended period, my daily 1/2 mile to work was not unpleasant except in the worst winds, mainly due to exposure of hands and face. My feet were never cold, and the sweater jacket blocked the worst wind and cold. I could not be more satisfied! Now that I have my Wiggy's face guard, mittens, fish net undies and snow pacs, the Wiggy's gear makes the Carhart outerwear adequate, since I already had that stuff in use. But I won't spend another Alaskan winter without a Wiggy's parka and bibs!

M. Haught

For several years people who work in the ‘outdoor industry” have been promoting the idea of that we have to sustain whet we are doing. I am not sure they actually care about sustaining anything at all.

Let me explain; in 1986 when I started making the Wiggy’s bag a friend at the time who had used my bags from my first company Olam Outdoor Sports Products and had first hand know ledge of them told me I had a problem.

Some background on Charlton; he worked at a backpacking retail store, was an Outward Bound instructor, spent a season as a mountaineer working out of McMurdo station on Antarctica and finally as a sales representative for Sierra Designs in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. So he had a significant amount of knowledge about the outdoors and equipment.

Based upon his knowledge he felt that I had a problem because my bags were too good. I asked what he meant by that since I was considering it a compliment. His response was, aside from them working very well they would last too long and nobody would be buying a new bag for a while. My initial response was, if I sold my least expensive bag at a price of $100.00 to one million people because they heard about it from others who already owned one that would be $100,000,000.00. I also said that those who do buy my bags obviously become my best salesman. I believed then as I do know that the durability of the bags are so good they will last as many have discovered for years. The sleeping bags I make I consider sustainable products.

Charlton represents the prevailing attitude of the industry today as it was back then, which is to make products that do not last very long and have to be replaced. As far as insulating materials are concerned an area of expertise that I have there is nothing available outside of continuous filament fiber that has any longevity attached to its name, every chopped staple fiberfill you have ever heard of deteriorates very quickly aside from the fact it does not work to begin with.

The down processors have screwed around with it adding this chemical or that chemical so it is mostly destroyed before it gets into a garment or sleeping bag, and of course it doesn’t work very well either.

The fabrics that were used for years in the 1960’s to 1980’s have gone by the wayside, except me that were durable these companies don’t use today because they might weight 1 ounce per square yard too much. So the fabrics don’t last.

In sleeping bags I use the YKK # 10 molded tooth zipper they all used back then, but they said it was to heavy (poor backpacker) so they went with the coil zipper. Well these coil zippers are notorious for breaking (no you have the poor cold backpacker).

The reality is as far as I am concerned is that these companies do not care about sustainability at all. They just use the term to convey their “concern” for the environment.

Their real concern is the bottom line if they are a publicly traded company and that means more sales even to the same customer.

With the exception of Wiggy’s can you get a sleeping bag or jacket that will last 20 to 30 years, or a boot that can be resoled if you wear out the sole, no!

Planned obsolescence is their mantra.