patagonia gear used to be good, right?

Heads up on some of the new stuff from patagonia, the little zippers break really easily. I've never owned any outerwear from pat before, but I heard it was good. I sport climb so it's not life or death, I'd hate to be an alpine climber and have my zipper break from normal wear and tear.

Let them know, they'll stand behind it.

I've always liked patagonia's designs for their tendency to focus on what works well in the mountains, not what looks good on the shelf. Sure they've always spent a lot of time working on new colors for each season, but the details of a garment seem to be well thought out and functional.

I recently bought a pair of alpine pants that go against that philosophy. The zippers for the two hip pockets are laminated on with a wide band of laminating material. The material makes a very stiff section in the pants right in front of your hip flexor. The stiffness there fights you every time you pick up your leg to kick a step. The laminated zipper looks fancy, but is a functional downgrade from a conventionally sewn zipper.

In addition, the zipper closes with the slider at the top, just underneath your harness waistbelt and right in front of your hip bone. This absolutely kills after a few hundred feet of snow slogging. Older models closed with the slider at the bottom and didn't rub my hips raw.

Finally, the new laminated cargo pockets, where I used to stow my hat when things heated up, are too streamline to hold much of anything.

When I contacted Patagonia about the zipper problem, their reply indicated that the design was intentional and that they did not intend to change it.

I still buy their stuff, but I no longer trust that it will always work well. Perhaps this is the beginning of the end.

I've been using Patagonia gear on and off for over twenty years and in that time I've seen some great designs get taken off the shelves for no apparent reason and also seen them make some BIG mistakes in their designs, and these designs usually get taken out of their production line. But one thing that has always remained consistent is that when they do put an item out there that has something on it that fails they always stand behind it and fix or replace it for free. That might not make you feel better when you're in the mtns and can't zip up your pants but it's more than some other companies will do.

They always have some items in-line that are more for fashion than function and as much as we may want to use those items for our adventures outside, sometimes they just won't work as well as we need them to. However, when I have taken and used their stuff outside in some very demanding conditions I've never had a piece fail me and I've never been disappointed.

I've experienced to some extent the same situation as Chris describes with some of their products in the last few years. Before buying anything they make the customer just has to "beware" and screen the fit and anticipate if that garment will work for them before the plastic gets slapped down and the price rung-up.

When it comes down to outdoor clothing the hard-core user is still in the minority and most companies have to compromise towards fashion for something good to stay inline.

JR

To patagonia's credit I took the garment in and exchanged no problem.

What was it? I have quite a few P-gucci items with zippers and have yet to have any trouble.

I just returned a Patagonia 2yr old Rincon Puff Rider jacket because the zipper slider ate the zipper.
No questions asked, I walked out with a new jacket.

Chris Sheridan wrote: In addition, the zipper closes with the slider at the top, just underneath your harness waistbelt and right in front of your hip bone.

THAT is SO effin GAY!!!!1111

WTF?

Why build a zipper that must continually fight gravity to stay closed? I can understand it on a jacket (there aren't many options there)...

but PANTS?!!!??!

get fucking real, Yvon. you really need to crack some heads in your design department, maybe beat some sense into them.