years of use

YEARS OF USE TESTIMONIALS

Below are two testimonials from the same person, this is a first for me as well as one from a long ago outfitter.

21 year product test.

This was the first Wiggy product that I owned, fortunately introduced to me by an independent camping gear dealer in the mid 90's. Of such accidents are happy campers made. I barely remember thinking that I would miss the feel of flannel lining. Got over that fast. The next year I added an insulated bivy, modified locally with extra material Jerry provided, to fit the rectangular bag.
In 2000 I collected a lady friend and paired the overbag to an Ultra-light. "Blue or black up tonight?" "Are the stars out? Make it blue."
A decade ago I started her son out with a Superlight. Then got an Ultima Thule to keep in the car for blizzard safety or winter camping. Today I will be ordering a Superlight (no hood) to extend season/elevation for our double set. I aspire to one of Wiggy's new hammock systems. It would not occur to me to buy anywhere else for something as tricky as insulation for a hammock.
You could say that I'm a believer. I have awakened partially immersed, gone back to sleep warm until morning. I hung the bag on a bush so the water could run out, Run it did, and I was packing a three pound sleeping bag twenty minutes later. No fooling when he says that the water doesn't absorb into the fiber. This overbag has been washed 30+ times, spent two decades in a stuff bag, 100k+ miles in a saddlebag, several winters in the back of a pickup, and is air drying on the cloths line as I type this, having just collected another three weeks on the road. It doesn't even look used. I'd buy another one in a heartbeat if I could divine any reason to replace it. Jerry, how about offering it in another color?

– Bruce Halleran, with IBMC

Yeah, durable.

The blue bag was my second Wiggy product, in 2000. They are pretty much bomb proof. This bag has been run over by a car. Twice!! The first hit split the stuff bag. The second round was won by the Ultralight in a decision. Both the car and the bag had damage, but the bag was able to complete its trip without help. The car was not. I should probably send the bag in to have the rip in the cover repaired, but after 8 years the insulation looks fine. I only think of it when I'm using it, and I wouldn't give it up then. Or when I'm washing it, and worried that the rip might spread in to the Lamilite insulation. Maybe the next time I go through Colorado....
You get what you pay for.

– Bruce Halleran, with IBMC

200 washes and about 4,000 stuffing’s

“Not sure if Wiggy’s hates me or will love me. Hate me because I am such a bad customer: Love me because why I am."

“I started a kayak tour company in 1988 and because I had bought bags from Jerry Wigutow’s previous company, I ordered 12 Wiggy’s 20 degree bags. Twenty years of use, 10 trips a year at least, washed after every trip = at least 200 washes and about 4,000 stuffing into compression stuff sacks. Makes me tired to think about it, usually my last packing task. The only damage to ANY of these bags is from a too-hot dryer that scalded the nylon off part of a bag. Most of the time they were line dried. They look used, which is fair, (sun from the line drying a part) and I thought about replacing just for a fresh look, but decided they did the job perfectly well."

“Every zipper works great, loft is better than new, the bags are awesome. I feel guilty to have been a one-time customer of Wiggy’s, but when you make a lifetime product, you only need one.” – Bardy Jones

Pretty much out of the outdoor business, but those bags I bought back in 1988 are mine and my son’s Boy Scout and kayak camping bags.

– Bardy Jones

From day one that I started making Wiggy’s sleeping bags I have always told people interested in them that the only requirement they had to do with ownership of a Wiggy’s bag was to wash it. I have not ever changed my position on the subject. I have also told people interested in buying one that if they did not intend to wash the bag when it gets dirty not to buy it. Why (?) because body oil will get into the fiber and cause it to stick together and that means loss of loft (insulation) and the bag will not perform as well.

Of course the washing instructions are not difficult. Any washing machine, any temperature water (cold is less money) any detergent (I prefer liquid since it dissolves quickly) and GENTLE CYCLE. As for drying line dry or fluff dry.

For all of the years that I have been associated with the outdoor industry before I became a manufacturer I became aware of the companies that actually made sleeping bags in the USA that they were very reluctant to tell people to wash the bags they bought. I became knowledgeable of why the down bag makers did not want the bags washed. Down clumps when it gets wet and as such moving around in a washing machine can and probably does cause the down to rip the baffles which are made from a very light weight nylon tricot fabric. Just like the fabric used for panty hose! When these same companies started to make Polar Guard (the original brand of continuous filament fiberfill) sleeping bags they also did not want customers to wash the bags. I asked why of some manufactures because I was with the mill that made it I knew that washing was good for it and told them so. These geniuses knew better than me and shrugged me off. Of course the fact that they quilted the Polar Guard was detrimental since it constricted the movement of the fiber so it went flat eventually.

I also think these companies may have made liners so that could be washed. To this day I am asked about putting a liner in my bags, I say no wash the bag, and it is good for the bag as is stated in the above testimonials. Also, would you sleep on the same sheets for a year without laundering them; I doubt it.

As I see it the lack of interest that is obvious in the outdoor industry in acquiring an education has not existed for many years. Each season companies that market sleeping bags change the colors of the fabrics and the bags do not function or lack thereof any different than the previous year(s) and I mean many years back.

These testimonials also speak of the durability of the Wiggy’s bags. It has never bothered me that a person of outfitter has used my bags for years and therefore hasn’t had reason to buy new ones. When I first started in S.C., I sold 50 bags to Davidson University. After about 27 or 28 years they called to say they were ready to replace them in their outdoor program. Without looking at their records if the kept them who know how many individuals rented them and for how long were they used? And each time they were returned they were laundered?

These testimonials are proof positive of the performance and durability of Lamilite/Climashield!! 

One more reason that I proudly state “SIMPLY THE BEST”!

The Cascade Designs Company has once again flattered me! They make the Therm-a-rest brand of ground pads. One of their engineers came to me at the Outdoor Retailer trade show years ago when I still exhibited and told me they purchase some of my ground pads and thought they were pretty good. I told him I would sell them my padding because it could be used in their process just like the cheap open cell foam and it would work better. In addition if a hole popped in the fabric which happens all the time it would still be very useable versus having to throw it way. And if they did buy my fiberfill product I would get out of the pad business. They said no, so I have stayed in the ground pad business.

Last fall I came out with a luxury version of my ground pad and it is selling quite well. It is available as a single pad or as a mated set.

Just yesterday I read in SNEWS the industry publication that Therm-a-rest is now offering a “luxury” mattress for two. I think it is about $100.00 more expensive than my mated set. They probably restrained themselves from saying “mated set”. I am quite sure they purchased my luxury pad or pads to copy so to speak.The difference between theirs and mine is they still use the cheap open cell foam and have to blow it up and of course it will puncture I am sure so it will become useless.

Copying one is the best form of flattery there is, so all who work in the copy department at Cascade thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!