a great story

A GREAT STORY

Hi Jerry,

Thanks for calling me today. It is not typical these days to call to leave a message on how well a product has performed, (not requesting any return call) and yet have the owner of the business return my call. Yet, based on doing business with you over the last 8 years or so I was not entirely surprised. I appreciated the call. I am still amazed that my Wiggy’s urban gray Ultralight sleeping bag shell simply sheds water like nothing I have ever seen yet does not use a DWR coating; remarkable. Last fall we were camped at 7300’ over 20 miles deep in the Pasayten Wilderness in Washington along the Canadian border; a wild and wonderful place. Fall weather is usually rapidly variable often including warm sunshine and snow during the same day. Last year, however, was unusual and we had cold rain for over a week. Condensation streamed down the inside of our tipi, but any that ended up on my sleeping bag simply beaded up. While my buddy worried about his down bag getting wet and scrambled to put a bivy sack over it to prevent it from getting soaked, I could tip my Ultralight to the side and the beaded up water would just run off without even wetting the outer fabric. This last week was better weather than last year, but that wet year inspired great confidence in that bag.

I read your five chapter book today and really enjoyed it. It was fun to remember all the old names of gear manufacturers you mentioned from the 60s and 70s and I still remember pouring through all of their brochures as a teenager in early 70’s to select backpacking gear. I still have a couple of North Face down bags that my Dad and I purchased in the early 70s when they were a tiny outfit in San Francisco. It was quite a change from the flannel/canvas bags we had been using. Those old NF bags are still in good condition today and available for service, but whenever I plan a high country hunting trip it is the Wiggy’s Ultralight that goes on the trip. It is great to have zero worries about whether my bag gets wet, or if I need to get in it when I am soaking wet and cold. My first Wiggy’s bag was for my son who was in scouting at the time and we needed something that could endure hard use and laundering. It wasn’t too long before I was ordering an Ultralight for myself…

Glad to hear that Mark Taylor will also be continuing on with you. Best wishes,

Ryan Sass

I have learned from my customers more and more about the performance of the sleeping bags we produce at Wiggy’s and Ryan’s story is one more documentation of how well our fabrics perform that are not treated with a water repellency. We have what seems to be an endless supply of this urban grey material.

Since the companies that were hands on manufacturers in the USA have abandoned the USA as a place to manufacture, they do not have the need to purchase USA made materials. They the people who run the companies as I have stated on numerous occasions also do not know anything about materials. Therefore, if a customer were to call and tell them about the success of a material who would the customer speak with?

We you and I find it very difficult to speak with a human at so many companies, and how many times have you wanted to speak with someone only to find in your search of a company’s web site no telephone number but a e mail address.

Unless you own your own company if you make a product under your nose [in your own factory] you will never know what it feels like to read what customers have to say about your products as well as personal service. I have received similar testimonials as Ryan’s over the years that I proudly publish, I have a box full of testimonials that were received in letter form before they could be sent on the internet.

Many do not believe me when I tell them Wiggy’s is the largest producer of sleeping bag in the world. The reason Wiggy’s is the largest is because Wiggy’s is the only manufacturer of sleeping bags in the world. So, it is easy to be the biggest when you are the only one.

The first attribute of a Wiggy bag is the fact, actual fact that each model performs at the temperature rating we apply to it. This has been shown to be the case for 33 years. Is there any company that has made sleeping bags for as long that actually perform; no or not that I know of. However, there are some companies that import their “no sleep sleeping bags” from Asia. There are very few domestic manufactures who also make “no sleep sleeping bags”. How do I know this, many of my very satisfied customers have told me of their experiences with the other brands, which is not a surprise!

As I have stated in the past numerous times as to the primary reason all of these companies successfully fail to make a sleeping bag is due to their lack of knowledge of INSULATION.

The materials used for Wiggy’s bags has been thought out for what it can bring to enhance the performance of the sleeping bag. It has to be nylon, made with 70 denier yarns and a thread count generally in the 86 x 104 construction. This form of nylon fabric maybe the oldest construction in the industry. It was first produced in the late 1930’s by DuPont when the invented nylon. Today in my opinion based on performance it is still the best material to use for shell and lining in sleeping bags. Why do I consider it the best material; it is the strongest, the weave allows it to have vapor permeability, it warms to the touch and loses that heat which you have produced very slowly and nylon is inherently a non-flammable material [see my video]. According many of my customers when they did their research for sleeping bags that were not flame retardant treated, they couldn’t find any until they came to Wiggy’s.

Launderability, who else makes a “no sleep sleeping bag” that is launderable, no one. Why because as I showed in a video that the North Face sells synthetic bags made with the cheapest fiberfill they could find in China. With that said all of the other companies that import “no sleep sleeping bags” from China use what North Face uses. They all of them do not want you to launder these bags because the laundering will destroy the fiberfill.

Wiggy’s bags are made to be laundered when they get dirty. If you do not want to launder a Wiggy bag do not buy one.

And finally, as Ryan noted the water on his bag never penetrated the nylon, a large amount would and if wet and cold he will be warm and dry, even though he did not say it.

Now you know why I state Wiggy’s is the only sleeping bag manufacturer in the world, so why would anyone want to waste their money on a “no sleep sleeping bag” made in China when they can invest in a Wiggy’s bag made here in the USA utilizing materials made in the USA.