an explanation of why the outdoor industry is un trust worthy

SCANDALOUS AND LIBELOUS

Yesterday I received an email from an individual who works in the outdoor industry telling me that what I say about trust worthiness in the industry does exist and therefore what I have said is scandalous and libelous.All I wrote back was that I had reason to state “trust worthiness in the outdoor industry does not exist”

Some of what I am about to write I have already published.

When Polar Guard came to the market place all of the down sleeping bag manufacturers chose to incorporate it into their sleeping bag product line. I had been doing much work developing the use of lamination for this new fiberfill. When I had it correct I traveled all over the country showing a sleeping bag and a jacket to all of the manufacturers explaining to them the benefits of using the Polar Guard laminated versus quilted. I had no success.

Several years later Gore entered the market place with their product and it was immediately successfully sold.

What was the difference between me offering these same manufacturers my product which was not accepted and the Gore product which was? MONEY!!! I did not have any advertising dollars to give these companies, all I had was “knowledge. Gore had lots of money and no knowledge of their product so from my perspective they bought their way into the industry.

Years later when I started manufacturing sleeping bags in Columbia S.C., I was not able to sell my bags to a couple of guys who were supposedly good friends to sell in their camping equipment store. Why as I found out a couple of years later was because the North Face representative told all of his accounts if they bought my bags they would lose their exclusive situation in their respective cities with North Face.

When I went to REI they told me they would never sell a sleeping bag that looked like mine. Years later when Mountain Hardwear copied my look with their Lamina bags REI jumped on them like a fly on turd, which is what the Lamina bags are.

In the early days of Wiggy’s retailers all over the country blatantly refused to consider taking Wiggy’s into their stores.

When I say that the industry at all levels is populated by people who have no education for the most part when it comes to the materials that are used by them to make various products or have retail stores that sell these products I do not say it haphazardly.

If the manufacturers in the late 60’s on wards had an interest in learning about the components I would never have become a manufacturer because all sleeping bags and a significant amount of outerwear would be made with laminated continuous filament fiber maybe called Lamilite maybe not but it would not matter what the brand name was. The end result would have been number one the consumers would have been able to buy better products. Some of the companies that I can think of who went by the wayside because they were sold a bill of goods with lots of advertising moneys about insulations that did not work might very well be around today.

If there were people of intelligence who when Gore brought their product to market had requested proof of the materials ability to work the whole idea of waterproof breathable would have died years ago.

Do you think any company making garments laced with chemicals that will keep you from having body odor or will help with moisture management, how about wicking has ever required proof of what they are selling to do whatever it is? Absolute NO is the answer to the question because these companies selling these components cannot prove any of what they say in the real world versus in a laboratory.

The reality is even the retailers do not ask the manufacturers for proof of products capability to do as the labels state.

So who is involved is scandalous and libelous activity, the person who recognizes it or the people in the industry promoting it?

Based upon my experience in the industry you now know why I do not believe that the industry is trust worthy!!!