consumers beware

TO HELL WITH THE CONSUMER

It is the consumer who is responsible for the economy being robust or not. It is the manufacturers who supply the retailers with products to be consumed. It is the manufacturers who in many cases that are controlled by the some retailers, and here I will be specific, retailers of outdoor products who want the cheapest products they can get. In some instances the retailer is so large they actually go to China and have the Chinese factory make product for them. But the will dictate to their suppliers as to what they want or what they will pay. In that case the supplier sources the fabrics that will meet a price point.

When it comes to sleeping bags the components required to actually make a sleeping bag that will perform at any required temperature are not used now nor have they been used for many years. This refers primarily to the insulation. The shell and lining materials have changed as well in some instances. These changes have come about based solei on material costs and in the case of insulation availability. The only insulation that should be used is continuous filament but it is not available in Asia and they who want to make bags will not ship there from the USA. So they use chopped staple because it is plentiful and cheap.

As for the shell and lining material nylon fabric should be used for both as had been the case for 50/60 years. But they have gone to polyester fabrics for both 100 percent polyester and polyester cotton blends because it is cheap or much less costly than nylon. The incorporation of polyester fabrics in my opinion is a recipe for disaster. Why you ask, because polyester burns, melts and drips and is difficult to put out. You cannot remove the source of the fire and see polyester stop burning and char. That is exactly what happens with nylon. If you remove the source the fabric will stop burning and char. I do not think this was the reason nylon was used in the first place but rather because it predated polyester by 30 years.

People in the industry do not have any acquired knowledge of the early years of the industry and are today focused on cost. They are marketing people and financial people doing what they know how best to do.

If you go into any search engine and type in sleeping bags made with polyester material you will find many. If you go on retail store wen sites such as ll bean you will find several sleeping bags made with polyester fabrics both shell and lining in their children’s sleeping bag selection. If a woman calls and asks if they have sleeping bags treated with fire retardant chemicals they say no and that is correct. Of course they at ll bean are unaware of the simple fact that polyester supports combustion! Why because number one in my opinion they do not care and number two the people who are responsible for these products have no prior knowledge of materials.

This situation of people who work for these mega retailers like rei, bass pro or dick’s are just as uneducated about materials as the ll bean folks are.The days of companies evaluating materials to make sure they do not represent a danger to their customers is history now.

The reality is the consumer is on his/her own when it comes to sleeping bags.

TO HELL WITH THE CONSUMER OF PROBABLY MANY MORE PRODUCTS THAN I COULD LIST!