quote:

Originally posted by TMats:
I’m going to guess that philosophically, Arc’teryx is little different from the companies being discussed in this thread. I can tell you though that I saw a lot of their outerwear on the men in Special Forces that trained on my ranger district. They can wear whatever they want and they often chose Arc’teryx

I’ll add that it could well be true that they were serving as field testers for the company.

You do know that, with the recent purchase of Arc'Teryx by a Chinese company, they've been dropped from the list of brands available to purchase by USSOCOM.... You probably also know that whatever Joe wears be they Big Army or, high-speed SOF unit, is largely because of availability and satisfying the most basic of requirement.

All outdoor brands make solid gear, their assortments are vast and made for specific channels; just because your local mtn shop or, sporting goods store has a solitary rack of this one brand, is not representative of that brand.
That said, most outdoor brands have their list of restrictions for corporate purchases through the corporate purchasing channels via Premco and San Mar. Declining petroleum/energy brands is the height of irony and emblematic of the stupidity of corporate virtue signaling.

Oh, and the most flagrant violator of smug corporate virtuousness ...is Patagonia.

I didn’t

My favorite outdoor brand is Marmot. I have no idea what the politics of the company is, and these days that's the most I can hope for.

Agree with all the above except I think Patagonia is the very worst. I think about it every time I pull on my one piece of Patagonia gear--a down vest.

quote:

Originally posted by sjtill:
My favorite outdoor brand is Marmot. I have no idea what the politics of the company is, and these days that's the most I can hope for.

Owned by Newell Brands (Exofficio, Rubbermade, Coleman, Bic, Contigo, Sharpie, Yankee Candle, Calphalon, etc..), basically a bunch of vampire VCs that's minimized its outdoor brands to another folder in the binder of buying options for big box buyers. I was with them when they got purchased, the purges afterwards wasn't fun

Geeee, I always wonder - what is rip-stop nylon, polyester, Gortex, and some other high tech stuff made with (either whole or in part)?

Most of my outdoor stuff is either Ridgeway or Harkila.

You get what you pay for when you buy their merchandise.

quote:

Originally posted by tacfoley:
Most of my outdoor stuff is either Ridgeway or Harkila.

You get what you pay for when you buy their merchandise.

The two most versatile pieces of outerwear I own are a merino wool zip-up sweater jacket from Fjallraven and a cotton anorak from Filson. The two together keep me warm down to about 20°, or separately, from mid-40° temps up to about 55. Unless the wind is blowing real hard, the hood on the anorak along with a skull cap from Kühl (who also makes some pretty good clothing) keeps me pretty comfortable. Both those items, the sweater-jac and the cotton anorak are discontinued, for some damn reason.

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:

quote:

Originally posted by TMats:
I’m going to guess that philosophically, Arc’teryx is little different from the companies being discussed in this thread. I can tell you though that I saw a lot of their outerwear on the men in Special Forces that trained on my ranger district. They can wear whatever they want and they often chose Arc’teryx

I’ll add that it could well be true that they were serving as field testers for the company.

I don't think you can guess at Arc'teryx' politics from the fact that elite soldiers like it. They like it because they make very-high quality gear, and gear with the reputation of being very high quality. Google for Arc'teryx' political views - that information is readily available. It is certainly vocally pro-environmental conservation. Other political stands are easy to find online.

It is very high quality. However, it is easy to like as a soldier when you don't have to pay $700 for a rain shell like you or I would.

quote:

Owned by Newell Brands (Exofficio, Rubbermade, Coleman, Bic, Contigo, Sharpie, Yankee Candle, Calphalon, etc..), basically a bunch of vampire VCs that's minimized its outdoor brands to another folder in the binder of buying options for big box buyers. I was with them when they got purchased, the purges afterwards wasn't fun

I am sorry to hear that, brother. They used to be a neat relatively small manufacturer of very high quality gear.

Sadly this isn't surprising from any of the outdoor brands in my experience. I will say that we got some TNF apex flex jackets and that plus some Eddie Bauer guide pants kept me dry even though we got dumped on for each day of a 4-day carbine class. They do give generously to 1st responders who have to purchase their own gear which I appreciate.