outdoor research will stop at nothing to copy you.

BREAKING NEWS

They wanted to buy what I make to knock me off, PATHETIC!!!

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Several months ago Natick Laboratories wrote to me about my mukluks. They were interested in finding out about the performance of the product. Then they ordered a pair. About 6 or 8 weeks later they published a sole source notice that they were going to order 150 pair from each of three companies; Wiggy’s, Outdoor Research and Original Footwear Co. This company I never heard of. All three of us have received our respective orders.

I felt very comfortable knowing I had a product that has proven itself since the early 1990’s when I started making them initially for Joe Redington but as time went by sales escalated all over the world. When the US military was deployed to Bosnia the 10^th SFG based in Germany ordered 500 pair. These men were the only members of our military with warm feet as the winter in Bosnia was brutal.

Today as you can see from the order at the top of the page that came from Outdoor Research for my mukluks and over boots as well. Outdoor Research Company should change their name to say The Indoor Copy Cats Company. They can scream from the top of the space needle in Seattle where they are located about all of the research they do and the content of that research will not fill a gnats butt. Many years ago specifically August 1994 I noted that Thermarest division of Cascade Designs advertised in the Outdoor Retailer trade show magazine their new sleeping bags were “Simply the Best”. I called them since I no longer attended the show and spoke with Lee A. Fromson, CFO of Cascade Designs. I informed him of their use of my use of the term since 1986 and would appreciate if they would cease and desist using it. He was very cooperative and wrote “I want to assure you that our advertising people were not aware that you used the phrase in your ads and had they known of your use , would have selected other text to promote our line of sleeping bags”. I left it at that but I am very sure they copied me. They probably did not expect to be told as they were to cease and desist or we meet in court. The end result of their foray into the sleeping bag business at that time lasted about two seasons. They have since been making “wish-a-sleeping bags”, these are the type that you wish if you bought one that it would work as advertised. They do not work unless they are used in south Florida in July.

This reminds me of another so called creative company; Mountain Hardwear who came out with their Lamina line of sleeping bags which are configured with some form of adhesive not lamination as they advertise that are supposed to perform like Wiggy’s LAMILITE bags, but they perform like Cascade Design bags which means they don’t perform at all.

So now Outdoor Research wants to buy Wiggy’s mukluks and over boots, why so they can creatively develop and research what it takes to make something which they have no capability of making on their own. Their knowledge of materials even though they have purchased millions of yards over the years they have been around leaves a lot to be desired. Ever wonder why they give patch kits with their ground pads? Well it is because they know they will develop holes. Their knowledge of insulation is non-existent. Their approach to making products is to make them as cheaply as is possible and that is evident since they must make most of what they sell in Asia.

So in order for them to have a product to deliver to the army they want mine and are blatantly open about trying to order a pair from me. They do have very large b****.

This reminds me of a scene in The Fountainhead where Roark is asked by Keating to design a building for him, why because he Keating does not know how to do it even though he is supposedly an architect. Roark (Jerry) Keating (john burroughs cofounder OR, maybe he copied the thermarest ground pad from someone).

But Outdoor Research is not alone in the outdoor industry acting as a copycat, it is endemic. Go to the outdoor retailer trade show and eliminate all company names and all you will see is the same items over and over again. Maybe the colors will have changed.

Retailers all over the country love Outdoor Research because as ground pads deteriorate they can sell the customer another which will as the store keeper knows will deteriorate as well.

I told Nathan the lackey guy who placed the order that his boss, the owner of Outdoor Research had to call me. I am not holding my breath. They are a devious company and you cannot trust them. They Outdoor Research represent all of the negative aspects that have taken over in the outdoor industry. In recent years other companies that make foam filled ground pads have put ridges on them, so Outdoor Research has copied them. The ridges reduce the areas that are touching the ground so that reduces the places that are available to pop holes. Putting the ridges is costly so you are paying more money for less of a product. when I started making ground pads in the early 1990’s one of their engineers that I met at the OR Show told me they bought some and thought they were pretty good. I offered to sell him the fiber which could be used in their manufacturing just like the CHEAP open cell foam they use but he declined my offer. This shows their lack of thinking about what could be made that would be of greater value to their customers.

But as I have noted for several years “good value for the customer” is not what comes from the companies serving the “outdoor market place” because 95 percent of what is sold in retail stores today are made in Asia, principally China I guess and every one of these retailers WANTS the lowest price so quality goes downhill.

So you clowns in the employ of Outdoor Research go back to school and learn to think so you may then have the ability to create something!!! NOT A CHANCE!!!!!!