sustainability and recycling

SUSTAINABILITY AND RECYCLING

Wiggy,

I have been meaning to do this for a while. I bought my 1st product from you in 1989(that story will follow) This is about the field jacket liner. I always felt the field jacket liner was 1 of the best items the military ever produced. Then I saw yours. I was deploying to Afghanistan Jan 2012. The middle of the Bagram AB winter. We are on a high plateau at about 6000 feet above sea level. So cold and wind. I called you a few months before to talk about your suggestions. I work in Aeromedical Operations and would be spending time at my desk and out on the field configuring loading and unloading medical aircraft. Whatever time/weather it was. When we spoke, you suggested the field jacket liner and vest. I bought them both. It is now March 2021. I have had the liners for 9 years. This is my go to clothing item for any/everything I do. I camp I bring it. I run in it. I work in it(I work as an Athletic Trainer so am out covering practices and games in all weather. I have probably worn it every day from the day temp weather changes. it’s always in my car. I would say it is worn at least 200 days; every year. For the past 9 years. The SAME one!!

John Galvany

John, it gives me great pleasure to know that my products worked well for you while serving our country. I recall not so fondly the many hours I spent while in service working in adverse conditions so I know how much you appreciate products that worked for you during these adverse conditions.

Daily I read about the outdoor industry discussing companies making products that are sustainable and then I read about companies requesting used products returned to them for recycling. The latest being Nike to request shoes for recycling. Doesn’t that sound like a contradiction? It does to me. if, Nike and the other companies are so concerned about making sustainable products why do they want them back for recycling? The reason is “clear” [a word taken from the vocabulary of politicians], these companies have no interest in making sustainable products but do want to recycle stuff because it looks good for them in the eyes of the xyz and millennium generations. These generations are I am told via the news media more concerned with the environment than my generation was/is and still is. These generations have no real knowledge of companies that made products that were truly sustainable. Today’s companies that are multinational are based on the bottom line i.e., most profit possible. The pandemic has been a wake up call for most, hence Nike looking at recycling. Just for the record those companies that made sustainable products are either gone or relocated in Asia and no longer care about sustainability. In the outdoor industry the king of outdoor non-sustainable products in my opinion is The North Face. I could go further in naming other companies but I haven’t the time to list them, of course you already know who they are, look at the label of whatever you are wearing and not the location of manufacture.

All of that said I should like to once again point out for those who have not read my articles on the subject at hand before, Wiggy’s has never, does not now or will ever manufacture and sell any product that falls into the category of planed obsolescence. As can be read by John today and so many others before him over the years comments have flowed in supporting that our products just work well and last and last and last; I could go on.

It is interesting to me that all of the major brands either at retail or wholesale have in acted recapture programs because the products do not last or in many cases do not work. All of these companies that initiate a re-capture program are admitting that when “you buy their product you can expect that it will not last or work”. If the item did last and/or work why is the recapture program necessary.

I am a manufacturer and when someone really damages a sleeping bag as an example and returns it for repair sometimes it is cheaper to buy a new one. So, when these companies open the door for every item to be returned the cost involved in repatriating it for resale as a used product is most likely more than it is worth. But, in my opinion they do not care, and again in my opinion since their products are made in sweat shops their profits are pretty significant so they relish is showing the general public how good they are as stewards of the land. Except the newly refurbished items are still made from the same poor quality materials as when they were new. This is what the call “circular something”.

Maybe one day they will realize making it correctly in the first place is cheaper than the way they make their products now.