lack of quality

Columbia says latest Omni-Heat is ‘another leap forward’--- I say a leap into the abyss of the unknown!

15/10/2020

US brand Columbia Sportswear is launching its new Omni-Heat Black Dot technology, which it describes as its “most advanced solution for fighting the cold”.

And I thought the only things that fought cold was medication. Now from the laboratory if one exists of Columbia Sportswear comes a technology far beyond what we know today that will fight the cold with an advancement unknown before. They are adding black dots to black material. Find out more as you read.

The textile includes thousands of multilayered black aluminum dots covered with a black coating to enhance heat absorption from sunlight.

Incredible accomplishment, putting these black dots on black material for the purpose of enhancing the absorption of “radiant” heat from the sunlight. They do not know all dark material and it does not have to be black does absorb the sun’s radiant heat and adding the black dots does absolutely nothing to further enhance this process. A black fabric probably absorbs more radiant heat than red, but it is probably impossible to know the difference when wearing a garment of each color in reality.

The material represents a culmination of warming innovations that began with the introduction of Omni-Heat Reflective lining 10 years ago. It describes the new Omni-Heat Black Dot technology as “another technical leap forward” and “a new approach to fighting the cold”.

As I recall the omni-heat reflective lining was a copy of metalized materials that were tried by jacket manufacturers in the 1960’s when I started working in the textile business. These linings did not work then and when Columbia came out with their version it still didn’t work. It was not a ”warming innovation”. Their leap is into the abyss not a “technical leap forward”.

Haskell Beckham, Columbia’s senior director of apparel innovation, said: “To maximize a shell fabric’s heat retention, we looked closely at low-emissivity windows that rely on a thin layer of metal on the glass.

Beckham has no knowledge of if a shell material heat retention can be maximized. Unless he is referring to making cheese cloth work better. His comment is that of someone ignorant of materials.

“We’d never seen insulation placed on the outer layer of a jacket before, and we’ve been extremely impressed with the heat absorption and retention performance throughout our testing in the laboratory and in frigid climates around the world.”

The reason they have never seen insulation on the outer layer of a jacket is because it can’t be done and the fabric, they are talking about doesn’t have an insulation on its surface either. The heat absorption of the black material with or without the black dots is the same. As for their “testing” in frigid climates around the world why don’t they expound on the subject? Because they have nothing to say, it just sounds good.

Columbia is offering three Omni-Heat Black Dot jacket styles, for a total of six models across men’s and women’s collections.

The reality is all dark material will absorb the radiant heat from the sun and it actually then warms the air closest to it. That is how radiant heat works , it does not warm you when you are wearing other layers of clothing because the radiant heat does not move in towards you body. It is an advertising ploy to get you to waste money on a cold weather garment.

REI IS BECOMING A MAJOR RETAILER OF USED GARMENT AND OTHER PRODUCTS

REI Co-op announced the expansion of its recommerce business by piloting two used-gear pop-up shops to its trade-in program.

The volume of returns is growing so they need new outlets to sell them.

The Co-op launched its online recommerce business in 2018 and supplemented its members-only Garage Sale events in REI stores. Despite a challenging retail environment due to COVID-19, REI’s online business is up nearly 100 percent compared to last year, in part due to millennial shoppers who prioritize renting or purchasing used gear over buying new.

See what I mean their growth in selling used versus new is up nearly 100 percent. covid 19 has nothing to do with it. When you sell trash, it comes back!!!

“Our recommerce business continues to exceed our expectations,” said Ken Voeller, REI manager of new business development and recommerce. “We see many benefits to expanding this business. First, as an opportunity to introduce our members to more outdoor activities through lower-priced products. Also, having a robust used gear business helps reduce the Co-op’s overall impact on the environment as we work to achieve our climate and zero waste objectives.”

Voeller says their used gear business is robust, so eventually they will no longer sell unused gear. That means they will have to ask people who have used gear they never bought from rei to bring it to then so they can have more used gear to sell. Then of course the buyers of the used gear will eventually bring it back to rei, great customer service.

Beginning this month, REI customers can trade in their used gear through its online, members-only trade-in program in exchange for REI gift card credit. The Co-op is offering up to 50 percent of the resale value for most items.

Coercion is in play here. If you purchased a product and were not a member at that time now that you want to take advantage of the exchange policy you have to pay for the privilege. Okay so you join and now the value of the gift card isn’t enough to get what you want so you fork out more money. What a deal!!!

REI is also testing a new retail format with a pilot of two standalone used gear pop-up stores to continue driving growth of its resale business. The pop-ups are located near Manhattan Beach, CA and Conshohocken, PA.

As you can see rei is set on getting this resale of returned merchandise up and running. They must see the used gear and clothing business is their future.

If rei were to by quality goods that lasted in stead of the trash, they have come to buy they wouldn’t find they need a used products business.

The trash products come from China and Vietnam probably but the reason they get trash is because they require these contractors to make the stuff the way they want.

If rei agreed to pay their contractors for better work then they would not need to deal with returns because there would be very few.

Sooner or later LL Bean and all the other chains will setup used gear operations as well.

They talk the talk about quality but have yet to walk the walk.