My parents were given, as a gift, a wool blanket in 1963, and it was on our beds when we were children, and I have it on my bed now. It’s durability is like something out of a science-fiction story, an incredible substance that can take decades of use without showing signs of wear. It is not frayed or ugly; it is still in good shape. Im almost baffled how it endured. Good wool is amazing.
In 1989 my mom bought me my first real backpack, a NorthFace. Over the next 32 years, I travelled all over with it. I hiked the Appalachian Trail with it. I hiked mountains in Colorado with it. I took it on bike trips. I took it all over Europe. The quality was amazing. Finally, the zippers gave out. I gave up on it last year.
I bought another NorthFace backpack. The quality is terrible. After 1 year it is showing signs of wear. Everything about it seems cheap and badly done. I am very disappointed to see the shift in quality in NorthFace over those 32 years.
The big thing a lot of people miss about a lot of these large companies is that they build a great reputation by making high end products (like that old backpack you mention) but as they expand they also start making much more diverse product lines. I bet that 1989 backpack was also not cheap (for its day) while comparatively the one you got recently probably was quite cheap.
Most of these companies still do produce the high quality stuff but it is priced high as well. Figuring out which products are which as the consumer can be tricky.
> Finally, the zippers gave out. I gave up on it last year.
Pity that you ditched it. I recently had zipper replaced at a clothing repair shop on my quality old trusted winter jacket.. thought it would be very expensive, but it was not.
As for your experience with the new North Face jacket. That is my experience too. Brands that were known for quality are now 'just brands' and that's what you pay for: the logo.
Exactly. Like when L.L. Bean stuff was actually made in Maine it was incredible. They've gotten rid of their "lifetime replacement guarantee" supposedly because of people abusing it by buying old boots and things in yard sales and returning them for new ones, but the fact is they couldn't really do it any more because while their stuff used to last forever, now it doesn't.
It is unfortunate that we have not popularized certain newer fibers more because there have also been amazing advancements in textiles over the same period - lighter weight gear does not NEED to have crap durability - it just unfortunately does in practice.
Cuben is actually now known as DCF and not exactly the same - it is a laminate (not a woven fabric) like silpoly or silnylon. There are products that are very similar to silpoly or silnylon that are essentially woven UHWMPE fibers (dyneema is a brand of UHMWPE along with Spectra) either with a waterproof coating like the above or laminated to a layer of plastic (like Mylar) for waterproofing.
There are also lots of other woven UHWMPE products (like cut resistant gloves), etc etc etc. While these are somewhat expensive now I do not see any reason why they have to be super pricey if production was scaled up significantly. Garments made of UHWMPE would be impressively durable and resistant to heat, cold, chemicals, and other environmental hazards. As far as I know noone has yet to make woven UHMWPE with fibers as small as we get from Nylon or Polyester but if that could be innovated it could be a big game changer.
My parents were given, as a gift, a wool blanket in 1963, and it was on our beds when we were children, and I have it on my bed now. It’s durability is like something out of a science-fiction story, an incredible substance that can take decades of use without showing signs of wear. It is not frayed or ugly; it is still in good shape. Im almost baffled how it endured. Good wool is amazing.
In 1989 my mom bought me my first real backpack, a NorthFace. Over the next 32 years, I travelled all over with it. I hiked the Appalachian Trail with it. I hiked mountains in Colorado with it. I took it on bike trips. I took it all over Europe. The quality was amazing. Finally, the zippers gave out. I gave up on it last year.
I bought another NorthFace backpack. The quality is terrible. After 1 year it is showing signs of wear. Everything about it seems cheap and badly done. I am very disappointed to see the shift in quality in NorthFace over those 32 years.