unsolicited testimonials

UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS

Jerry,

I read most all of your email blasts, as time permits, and I just wanted to say to all your readers sitting on the fence about either / and or all of your products ... Do Not Sit on the Fence... they are the VERY best products I've ever owned. I now own for my wife, son, and I, several sleeping bags, ground pads, Alaska parka liner, Ducksback sweater, Ducksback Urban parka,

Kodiak mittens, the head hood, leg jackets both in standard and in Ducksback, the leather full height leather boots, socks, your snow boots (I bought used), your over boots, the lighter you recommended and the luminous glow pad. They all work fantastic. The Ducksback if you tap the coat in the cold covered in snow outside it falls right off and you walk in with nothing to melt off inside and water just sheds.

I owned an $800 down filled gore shelled sleeping bag from Marmot and slept in it upon a Cascade Designs self-inflating mattress in northern Utah. What a disaster! Even though I was in a tent the slightest poke of a pine needle and you wake up about 6 hours later against the ground freezing from beneath as down collapses and the pad obviously isn't working. I sold both at a significant loss.

Thanks for all your WORKING products,

Chad and Linda

P.S. My wife says she loves her Ducksback Urban Parka she's never cold anymore and your boots with the socks my feet never more comfortably warm!

On Sat, Feb 23, 2019, 10:29

I wore a pair of Gore Tex boots on a 45 mile BacWorekpacking trip in the Grand Canyon many years ago. We went down the Hermit Trail to camp at Hermit Rapids, had Thanksgiving Dinner there. Then we went to Monument, then Salt, then near Phantom Ranch and then out on the South Kabob Trail. We had a major storm at Salt and it snowed 12-14 inches on top of the South Rim. The day we got back on top with all the snow and cold was late in the day, and we were 14 miles from the car. Getting back to the Hermit Trailhead was another story.

Back to the boots, they ended up rotting from the inside out.

I have found it difficult over the years to find boots without this type of water tight lining.

I think this inability to breath has helped to destroy my feet, now being a diabetic is further destroying them. Had hoped to be backpacking the AT this time in my life (78), but it’s looking doubtful.

Good article on global cooling.

My sentiments exactly!

Ross Cardwell

Hi Jerry,

Amazingly fast delivery on the Renegade mittens and Lamilite socks. Thank you so much.

These mittens are bloody amazing. I had them out today messing around in the snow and wet. Very very nice.

Thanks again for the excellent products. I flat out love them. I'm setting my nickels aside now for the Ducksback parka and liners you recommended. I'll have that before next winter. That's a bet.

Take care,

Vince

Vincent US Navy (RET)

We Love Staying Warm! Best Gear on the Market!

Hello Jerry, We have many of your products, sweater, booties, mittens, sleeping bag and now we want the TV Blanket. Excellent products if you want to stay warm and dry. Thanks, Joe Torre, Tuolumne.ca.

– Joe Torre

Hi Jerry,

Your bags, the Lamilite and the outer shell all allow moisture to move through the bag, through the outer shell and out of the bag.

It seems to me that if you coat the outer shell with any chemical at all, it would stop the movement of moisture away from the body and out of the bag.

Am I correct?

Mark

My response to Mark was that is absolutely correct.

For the verde company you have just read testimonials from people who have chosen to write to me expressing their view of my products. They also expressed their view of products made with goretex material.

I was thinking that gore has been peddling their material for 40 years according to your article and if the gore company is still operating in 40 years I find it hard to believe they will still be selling a material that doesn’t work since it has not worked in the first 40 years of sales.

However I have been offering Lamilite/Climashield for 30 years as Wiggy’s but the Lamilite goes back much further to 1968. I can assure you that the continuous filament fiber used to make the Climashield/Lamilite will still be used in 100 years and longer. Why because it actually works and being the expert when it comes to insulations I believe there will not be anything developed in the next 100 or more years that will replace it because it is better than anything known. What you have seen for the past 30 years and will continue to see are companies trying to make a worthwhile insulation from chopped staple fiberfill. They have failed so far and the future for these companies is bleak. My advice to all of these companies is to use their monies to try and develop something else.

Now that gore has embarked on a program pleading to people to say something nice about a product that does not, has not or will ever work as they claim will companies that sell products that use goretex and other like materials also beg consumers to say nice things about their products?

You must understand that most of the outdoor industry has placed gore on a pedestal and they do their best to emulate gore. Gore has demonstrated that it is possible to market a non-functioning product and become wealthy in the process. So these companies are following in pursuit of their fortunes.

Will rei, llbean, basspro, cabelas, north face, columbia sportwear, and so many more companies that supply these chains beg customers to send them testimonials without offering a stipend since that is what their supreme leader gore is doing, offering a stipend or will they just publish endorsements from people whom they pay to use their products?

A great many of the companies serving the outdoor market place over and above those mentioned have in my opinion no real interest in the products they sell. I have been told that I am passionate about my products, and that is an observation made by many that is absolutely correct. I know about all of the components that are used to make my products specifically the insulation and I know from lots of personal experience how my products should perform. In so many situations my products save lives and quite often because someone is using my product they may not realize their life is not in danger because my product is doing what it is supposed to do.

Imagine buying a sleeping bag that is supposedly rated for 0 degrees and at 35 degrees you are cold. You are 10 miles from civilization and its midnight when you decide that you have a bag that isn’t performing as advertised. Your life is in danger, however if you have a Wiggy bag rated for 0 degrees and the temperature is hovering near 0 but you are sleeping because you are warm your life is not in danger. I take the responsibility of providing a sleeping bag that will do everything I claim it should do and the rating is on the conservative side. I am passionate to know that my customers will be out in the wild and be safe from the elements.

The people who populate the outdoor industry on the supply side manufacturer or retailer are devoid of all passion about what they are selling because all they see are dollar signs and eventually they see unhappy customers.

Is it any wonder why these companies do not receive testimonials about the products they sell?

I on the other hand do not ever take the receipt of testimonials lightly. They buoy my day each and every day that I receive one. Those who receive my articles also get to read the testimonials that I have received. The testimonials often create the subject for the newsletter.

Whenever I come in contact with a person who displays a passion for what he/she does it is refreshing to see. They exhibit a greater knowledge of their product than someone who is mass producing a similar product. Maybe young people today will start working closer to having their own businesses and have a passion about whatever it is they are doing.

As for my detractors I always encourage them to make (mostly sleeping bags) one that will out- perform mine if they can and then they can sell them to whomever. They the detractors have existed for over 30 years and in all of that time none has stepped to the plate or do I think one ever will.

Imagine if Bobby Gore exhibited passion about his creation for the past 40 years his company would not have one competitor. But he has no passion about his creation and it is obvious because he stays in the background versus in the public eye for a reason, he knows his creation does not work.

I could not consider selling Wiggy’s because the new buyer would not have any passion about the product because the new buyer wouldn’t know a thing about what it took to make the sleeping bags. So for those who think not being passionate about a product you make you will always flounder because you will know it is not a good product.