maintaining selling price

MAINTAINING SELLING PRICES

For the past 4 years I have ben able to keep my sleeping bag prices as low or lower than the giant companies that claim to sell sleeping bags, the claim is unfounded. What they actually sell are “no sleep sleeping bags”.

That said recently I reviewed what is available on the web sites of rei and moosejaw.

When I reviewed the temperature ratings and then prices, I noted that the prices of the Wiggy bag when compared to the temperature rating was lower.

Why is this the case? After all what they are selling comes from China mostly. The components are cheaper [cheap] and labor is lower than here in the USA. But their prices are equal to or higher than Wiggy’s.

The reason is simple; I am able to buy my sleeping bag fabrics domestically dyed and finished with no chemicals added to the fabric. By eliminating the costs for unnecessary chemicals there is a significant cost savings. There is the advantage that you are not adding chemicals that affect chemically sensitive potential customers.

I do not look for exotic costly materials that do not make a sleeping bag better. For all of the years I have been making sleeping bags I have use 70 denier nylon taffeta fabrics. 70 denier nylon fabrics are woven so they are vapor permeable. The experience of thousands of Wiggy’s customer bears me out. The fact that their body moisture passes through the nylon, fiber [Lamilite], nylon and out. This action has been reported to me numerous times [read the growing list of testimonials on the website]. This being the case why change fabrics.

The fact that body heat also has proven to dry wet Wiggy bags is a bonus that I learned from customers who experienced that action.

I am able to buy significant quantities of these domestic materials all year long and quite often at prices that have allowed me to pass the saving on to my customers. The current price reduction for the ultra lights and super lights is because of recent material purchases.

I do not have to give projections for materials and then manufacturing as the large corporation do. Then of course they have to wait and see when the ship arrives, etc.

At Wiggy’s we have perpetual production runs always resupplying our inventory so taking an order in the morning of any given day it can be shipped same day.

We use FEDERAL EXPRESS ground service they deliver I believe in 4 days nationwide even on Saturday and Sunday. The only thing that can interrupt this service is weather.

The only time we will need more time is if we get a call for a custom bag, a guy 7 feet tall or 6’5’’ and 350 pounds. trust me we have made bags for professional football players and basketball players.

Also, the Wiggy bags insulation has not change since the first day I made my first sleeping bag. the insulation that I have trademarked Lamilite started out using Polar Guard which then became Climashield is also called Lamilite. The Climashield is a much improved or superior product today versus the Polar Guard, so the Lamilite is better. It is made in the USA; Tennessee and you can go to their website.

All of our zippers are domestic as well. You cannot beat #10 molded tooth zippers.

We do not have cheap labor either, we have high quality sewing operators and otherwise quality employees. Kok is an excellent judge of character when he hirers people.

We have kept prices in the popular price range even though our sleeping bags far and away outperform the most expensive no sleep sleeping bags for the benefit of our customers.

By buying the best materials domestically, not making changes in the sleeping bags construction since day one in 1971 when I made the first bag means no money is wasted trying to make what hasn’t worked since it does work. That is what Natick US army labs has been trying to do for 60 years. The outdoor industry companies that make no sleep sleeping bags are trying to make a bag that they have tested does allow one to sleep in it at say 0 degrees for 8 hours. Knowing how little they know about making sleeping bags they will need luck, but even that will not help.