quote:

Originally posted by ElToro:
I work in the financial District in San Francisco. These vests are the official douchebag uniform for everybody from startups to top companies. I refuse. My employers employee store has them for sale. I refuse. True douche-wear.

You would fully enjoy and appreciate this

https://www.instagram.com/fullyvested.sf/?hl=en

quote:

Originally posted by Rev. A. J. Forsyth:
North Face, Mountain Hardware, Marmot, even Arcteryx and Mammut are different companies than when they started.

I remember when North Face and Marmot used to be the Real Deal. Remember Wilderness Experience? They were the affordable "Real Deal" at the time, and even their stuff was worthwhile. I still have, and wear, a Wilderness Experience Gore-Tex jacket. (Got the matching pants for it, somewhere, too. I may even be able to fit in them again.)

Used to be you had to go to an outfitters, or a real outdoors store, to buy that stuff. And you paid. Oh, how you paid. But the stuff was actually designed for wilderness and mountain expedition use, not looking cool.

Left Standard Rudder; All Ahead Full.

I've got some Patagonia clothing, it's held up well and works. The histories of Patagonia and North Face are interesting and intertwined.

If you have 1 1/2 hours to fill, watch the documentary "180° South", produced by Patagonia, with founders of both. These guys are tough old dudes! Tompkins died a couple of years a go in a kayaking accident.

This is nothing new. I sell promotional products and companies like Patagonia, North Face, Under Armour and many other name brands have always wanted final approval on the logo before releasing their products to us. I have never had a logo rejected, and just assumed they were trying to keep strip clubs or tobacco brands off their apparel. Seems Patagonia is taking it a little further, but we have recently put several different logos on their clothing, they have approved them all.

Meh, Its their company, they can do whatever they like, I doubt it seriously changes anything, money just moves from them to someone else.

Obviously they think that virtue signalling will benefit the brand, time will tell.

quote:

Originally posted by 2012BOSS302:
Overpriced crap made in china.

Saying their crap is overpriced would be a gigantic understatement.

Don’t own any of their crap & now never will..
Azzhat wizardry

Reluctantly bought a Patagonia down vest. It’s terrific...but I’ll pass on buying anything else of theirs.
I like Marmot, have a great sleeping bag by them.

quote:

Originally posted by corsair:

You would fully enjoy and appreciate this

https://www.instagram.com/fullyvested.sf/?hl=en

Holy sheet. That IG account is such truth. All the sf Venture capital and Private equity bros. Some of those pics are within steps of my office, I’m sure I’ve seen some of those same douchebags. Don’t forget the requisite top sider shoes while wearing your Patagonia fleece vest

quote:

Originally posted by corsair:

quote:

Originally posted by ElToro:
I work in the financial District in San Francisco. These vests are the official douchebag uniform for everybody from startups to top companies. I refuse. My employers employee store has them for sale. I refuse. True douche-wear.

You would fully enjoy and appreciate this

https://www.instagram.com/fullyvested.sf/?hl=en

I feel like such a douche now.

Our ER put in a order for soft-shell vests for staff members and I got one. No, it's not Pataguchi, it's some corporate brand embroidered by a local company with the department logo. I guess the difference is ours are actually useful. Working the back hallway next to the ambulance bay gets damn cold as well as triage next to the front door.

quote:

Originally posted by 2000Z-71:

quote:

Originally posted by corsair:

quote:

Originally posted by ElToro:
I work in the financial District in San Francisco. These vests are the official douchebag uniform for everybody from startups to top companies. I refuse. My employers employee store has them for sale. I refuse. True douche-wear.

You would fully enjoy and appreciate this

https://www.instagram.com/fullyvested.sf/?hl=en

I feel like such a douche now.

Our ER put in a order for soft-shell vests for staff members and I got one. No, it's not Pataguchi, it's some corporate brand embroidered by a local company with the department logo. I guess the difference is ours are actually useful. Working the back hallway next to the ambulance bay gets damn cold as well as triage next to the front door.

As long as you don’t dress and act like the guys in those photos your good.

quote:

Originally posted by 2000Z-71:

quote:

Originally posted by corsair:

quote:

Originally posted by ElToro:
I work in the financial District in San Francisco. These vests are the official douchebag uniform for everybody from startups to top companies. I refuse. My employers employee store has them for sale. I refuse. True douche-wear.

You would fully enjoy and appreciate this

https://www.instagram.com/fullyvested.sf/?hl=en

I feel like such a douche now.

Don't allow one sub-group ruin-it for others because it's a practical idea. Pretty standard uniform amongst any and all professionals that wear dress clothing at some level..doctor, construction contractor, engineer, architect, ...pretty much any small business owner. You'll see the same thing with women at any outdoor event in the Fall: outdoor dining, BBQ, concert, beach...dark denim, high boots, sweater or, blouse with a black vest over it.

The real jackass uniform is if you're working in a professional setting or, tech but, you wear a hoody sweat shirt or...a black turtleneck.

I don't want their crap, but here is a couple of suggestions to have put on.

The Patagonia "I would climb any mountain to support Trump" vest



The Patagonia "Corporate 1% to the NRA" vest.

Re: Patagonia...interesting tidbit from National Review, last fall:

https://www.nationalreview.com...ontractor-patagonia/

Patagonia certainly benefits from the commerce with DOD and the technical knowledge possibly developed flows back to their civilian products.

This is nothing new. After the 60's, in the 70's the mantra of social responsibility and making "fair profits" while doing good for the collective took over the thinking in business schools. And that resulted in a disaster in US competitiveness.

Took a while to get back to the basic idea of the goal of business is to make money and return on investment in the 80's and 90's. And now we are back to social responsibility and we will see the uncompetitive languish again.

Just wait until all the investments in EV's and Green Energy don't pan out and woke carmakers don't have products that people actually want to buy.

As for clothing? Go to China and look at the prices of local brands compared to quality. It's the same as the "Name Brand" stuff that costs 10x more because it's all made in the same factories. Just can't sell the local brand for the same prices as the "Name" brand. But if you want that brand name you can go to the market and get knockoffs that are probably made in the same factory and sold out the back door...

So Patagonia wants to save the planet and avoid logo products for unworthy companies. Yet they will make their products in the top polluting country in the world - so bad that it even significantly affects neighboring countries separated by international waters - and using basically slave labor. Can they spell hypocritical?

I have a handful of Patagonia items, all are components from the MARS collection, which was the old name of their military assortment. Being here in liberal SF Bay Area, I occasionally get some crunchy-lefty asking where I got the 'cool green jacket/fleece/vest' as they don't like the usual brighter colors. I let them know its 'Patagonia's Military Line', the long, blank stares is priceless as they process what I told them.


As for items made overseas...most of the technical outdoor apparel & footwear is made outside of China; places like Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam and India have taken a lot of the consumer goods market. China is moving two directions in their supply chain, they've locked up the materials-chain, meaning all the raw goods are coming from China. You need Nylon, in a certain weight and color, you're gonna have to go through China; polyester same; rayon same; cotton same, rubber & plastic, China etc. Same with rare earth metals for your mobile devices and all the other electronic things we use, all of it comes via China; Western mines and processors forced to close due to envio policies and cheaper options in China. There's entire refineries dedicated to making plastics, making whatever chemical compound used for fertilizers, all teh rubber necessary for gaskets, seals, plugs and tires, China could care less about finished goods, but, all the fabric, all the thread, all the zippers, all the binding tape and trims, all the snaps and buttons... the only place to get it is China.

The other direction is they're going is higher-tech on finished goods: optics, glass, computer chips, precision instrument tools, advanced 3d printers, anything requiring metal work to include high-end forgings and castings. China is the world's largest ship builder, they have two steel mills solely dedicated to building components for nuclear reactors, the US has none. Many more steel mills dedicated to building components for trains and other transport.

Cant think of any of their stuff that I have. I am tired of all the virtue signaling and finding out certain things when one digs into the details. Almost all of these companies are full of crap and talk out of both sides of their collective mouths. In the end it is ALL about the $$$.

So without oil and gas , where do they think they are going to get all of the synthetic materials to make their products ?