a testimonial and more on tariffs

QUITE A TESTIMONIAL OR BETTER YET A REPORT

Last time I will bother you...
The bag has performed even better than I hoped. I had no idea that this kind of difference was possible between two items that, at face value, seem so similar. The sleeping bag I previously used is not even comparable to the Hunter Ultra-Light rectangular. Totally different products.
The color turned out to be more to my liking than I anticipated. The interior color especially. The black has a look all its own. Very nice. The feel of the bag does, as well. A co-worker has been admiring it, and I think he will purchase one sooner than later. Perhaps during the Fall cool down.
On a personal note, thanks for answering my questions. That really made the sale. The videos on YouTube are also to your benefit. The fact that you would spend time for a sale of just one sleeping bag means you give a shit. You want your bags to be known as the best. They are.
Lastly, I must say the only time I haven't been completely comfortable in the bag (I sleep in it every night, around twenty nights so far, I guess) was last weekend. That is not a jab at your company. The bag saved my life.
I travel to install solar panel arrays on commercial properties, and I came home to Asheville from Charlotte for the weekend. The last thing I expected, or prepared for, was fifty mile per hour winds and a temperature that "felt like" zero degrees Fahrenheit. I was nearly frostbitten and borderline hypothermic by the time I got to my campsite and secured the tarp.
The bag itself had been sitting in a hammock all day, and it felt like a four-pound ice cube. I was shivering so bad I couldn't hold the rope, not to mention my hands were completely numb. It was so cold that I had to tie the knots in the tarp paracord with my teeth. I could barely open the zipper on the Hunter bag, so thank God it is a helluva nice one.
I sat in the bag, pulled up the hood, and laid back. Within three minutes I was already shivering less and began to feel a lot better about my situation. Until then I was facing, at the very least, a severe case of hypothermia. At worst, death. With losing my fingers to frostbite somewhere in between. All because of a bad decision as to which clothes I brought with me. It was a serious situation, and I am not embellishing the story.
After twenty minutes I must have passed out, because I awoke with a start at four A.M. to the sound of a god-awful howling wind. After a night in a hammock that had no under quilt and only a ripstop nylon tarp overhead, my core was quite comfortable. After a night that saw sixty mile per hour gusts and with damn near negative wind chills, I only had chilly toes and a tough hike out of the woods to deal with.
The bag performed above and beyond, sir. As I said previously, and without any sarcasm, it saved my life. Thank you, Jerry. Keep fighting the good fight. I will be out here doing the same.

Dane Bradley
Hendersonville, NC
P.S. I am waiting until the thirty-day mark to write a review for public consumption. That will be more nights in a bag in one month than most of your customers will have in their entire lives. So far, I have only good things to say. Thanks again.

I have no experience sleeping in hammocks so getting a report of this nature from someone who does it all the time is very gratifying. Thank you, Dane!

US Department of Commerce

As I have reported they have been in touch with me wanting my input on whether to reduce the tariffs or as some petitioners want to suspend them. The petitioners state the various products they import cannot be made in the USA. That statement is not true. The products in question cannot be made in the USA at the same prices that these companies pay to the Chinese companies they contract with. There is a very good reason the Chinese prices are low, and it is not only labor. It also has to do with the fabrics.

China has a problem with respect to how much they ship to the rest of the world. The USA is the economic engine of the world, we purchase more product in general than the rest of the world combined of the products in question.

In the outdoor industry the petitioners are citing hunting apparel and sleeping bags as a primary target to suspend the tariffs why because the amount of hunting apparel and sleeping bags sold outside of the USA is miniscule.

How much of these items are sold in Australia a country of 16 million people? How much of these items are sold in Canada a country of 25 million people?

How much can be sold in Russia a country of 250 million people; I know the answer, 8 who can afford these items. How about all of Europe to include England, while the population there is 250 million or more, they don’t have many hunters and when it comes to camping the governments have colluded to put so many restrictions on sleeping bags temperature ratings that I would never sell any retailer in Europe, so the people have no choice but to buy the cheapest so called bags available so camping is declining. That leaves Africa, South America, most of Asia if not all of it and there hunting, and camping are for the most part non-existent.

So, who or where is there left to sell; THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But to sell your products in the USA they should not be a danger to your customers. As we have seen and read about recently uniforms made in China for Land’s End who has delivered them to Delta and American Airlines have been making the staffs of both airlines sick as a direct result of the clothing. And why is this happening? Because the chemicals used in the manufacture of the fiber which is polyester is incorrect. There are 3 chemicals used to make polyester fiber and if not done correctly the fibers fracture during the dyeing and finishing process that allows the chemicals to leach and the consequence is what the Delta and American Airlines employees are suffering from. It should also be understood that polyester fiber does not absorb like cotton, so the dye is painted on the fiber and again if not properly processed it comes off on your skin when you sweat. You need not be an employee of an airline to experience an effect from these polyester garments made in China.

The reason they the companies like Land’s End and many, many more want polyester fabric is because it is cheap. There are certain processes that a fiber maker making polyester fiber MUST go through that will allow the 3 chemicals to be locked into the fiber. That process is not common if at all in China. DuPont and Celanese worked on the problem for a long time maybe a year or two until they perfected the process. Until then the EPA would not allow them to make the polyester fiber.

You read about recycling of plastics, etc. only these plastics are not polyester and are not recycled into new plastic bottles because they can’t be, so they make recycled fiber and call it polyester. The reality is you should not wear recycled so called polyester garments because they leach chemicals. I do not believe people want these toxic chemicals on their bodies.

That is the reality of recycling.

I haven’t seen all the petitions so I do not know if any of those petitioning is saying they use recycled polyester, but if they do you can expect that you will possibly experience a potential reaction such as a rash.

There is possibly a long-term affect. If, the tariffs do their job and reduce product coming into the country that will potentially open the door for some enterprising young people to open MANUFACTURING businesses in the USA. from my experience so far there are many people who are more than willing to buy from an American manufacturer as I have been experiencing for 20 years and it is because of the American consumer that has put Wiggy’s at the top of the list of sleeping bag makers, actually I think of Wiggy’s as the only sleeping bag maker in the world. There is no reason that a company making a very good quality product as I do also can’t be put at the top of the producers of the same product.

If enough young people do this we can over the next 20 years have our manufacturing base renewed, after all we in the USA have the ability to supply the world.