OUTERWEAR

[Spenser]

Kimchi is a wrecking ball of sorts, but we love him for it. I get a lot of days, and tend to keep outerwear I like until it really needs a refresh, but have never had a single failure I can think of. So, I have no need for “extra” durable top-tier construction stuff that cost twice as much.

Personally I don’t care at all who owns Volcom, I love their stuff and I think it’s all good unless something fundamentally changes with the company and/or product itself, but that’s me.

[tracer]

457, Japan, same stuff, I just wanna see it.

I just realised, that's last year's stuff isn't it?
Sorry about that. The crew behind it ride at my local and I lost track of what's what.
Lemme see if I can tease some info.

[eleveneightnate]

Personally I don’t care at all who owns Volcom, I love their stuff and I think it’s all good unless something fundamentally changes with the company and/or product itself, but that’s me.

Volcom/Electric were owned by PPR before this new group, the same group that owned Gucci, and nobody seemed to give a shit haha. “OMG Volcom is so lame, now let me tell you about my $800 designer Noronna jacket”.

[Spenser]

Yeah, they’ve gone through a few hands. I don’t feel like the company has changed at all though, nor their general quality. However, I definitely remember a bunch of discussion on EL questioning it when they were first bought by PPR.

I think noronna is rad and certainly don’t tend to fault products for being expensive, especially when it’s understandable. I just don’t need it. I’m poor and apparently easy on gear, even with lots of use, so volcom L on sale is great for me.

If it’s expensive for stupid reasons, like the prada snowboard line, it can fuck right off

[tracer]

now let me tell you about my $800 designer Noronna jacket”.

[Yeti]

Since I spend most of the time on groomers that get icy and like to euro carve the outwear needs to be durable. I destroyed a 250 USD RRP Oakley jacket in 2 days of riding like that.

For me the key points are:
- ripstop/cordura at least in the most vulnerable places like the sleeves and the lower back
- at least 15 k membrane

Currently riding the 2020 DC Company jacket (full ripstop 45 k Sympatex) and just snagged an older Volcom Lynx (also a full ripstop one with 15 k membrane).

I hate this trend to market products as eco while compromising at the durability. To me it is more eco to buy a jacket that lasts years than to spend money each year on something eco-friendly that tears easily. For example new Volcoms aren’t as durable as the older models.

[Spenser]

I don’t share that experience with Volcom, but perhaps I wouldn’t know, given my light effect on gear.

I agree though. Slightly less “bad” per product, but replaced/trashed more frequently - vs slightly less eco friendly per per product, but lasts a long time... there’s one whose end footprint is less. On that note, that’s why I love the “eco” approach of Stranda. Built to last via construction & material choice, graphics are timeless and don’t change often, and annual production numbers aim to sell through with no leftovers.

[C.Fuzzy]

It's a bummer the last rendition of EL might be lost because we're just repopulating the same discussions.

I try to wear the fukk out of my gear simply because when I find something I like I'm loathed to try and duplicate it so I'm more inclined to try and repair my stuff these days than just up and replace it. I've had zipper replaced, I've had blown seams sewed, I've replaced velcro and I slap tenacious tape on shit pretty regularly.

It's been a long time since I've been a fan of the oversized fit that snowboard brands generally have. It seems like everytime I catch a branch and blow out a seam or somthing it's on something of that baggy style. But when I order a medium in most snowboard brands it seems at a least a Large or bigger. It's weird when the Medium in board brand "Y" fits like an XL in ski brand "Z". And in the world of online buying without trying, it's a bigger roll of the dice on the true fit of board brands than the ski brands.

The smedium fit of ski brands kinda fit the way a medium should probably fit. but to that end, the only gear I have from those brands is Patagonia and it's all decade old at this point. So I'm not advocating for anything really.

Additionally, and the personal issue I have with snowboard brands, is even when they have really high end breathability and waterproof performance fabrics, they don't seem to generally match them with the construction improvements. I'm sure that's factored into the price. I get it. Different buyer demographic and whatnot.

It's not always the case, I know. But again, the roll-the-dice nature of buying snowboard brands makes it harder to replicate experiences. And I'm just over sending things to the landfill because a cost cut here and a cost cut there means that the whole garment is binned. All the energy inputs that go into making the materials and design and putting it together and sometimes it's just tossed because of small corners cut to shave some nickles but render it garbage in short order.

I get that this is a much bigger issue than just snowboard brands, so, I'm not singling them out. Just tired of this being how things are.

[pow_hnd]

I try to wear the fukk out of my gear simply because when I find something I like I'm loathed to try and duplicate it

Same, I also have favorite colors, like I need to be wearing something blue....

It's been a long time since I've been a fan of the oversized fit that snowboard brands generally have.

I still love baggy fit... Not Technine baggy, but not fitted either..

Additionally, and the personal issue I have with snowboard brands, is even when they have really high end breathability and waterproof performance fabrics, they don't seem to generally match them with the construction improvements.

I've never had that issue, personally, with high end AK stuff, especially the AK457/AK Japan stuff..

I've also had super good luck with their lifetime warranty, had a like 5-6 year old AK Hover jacket blow out the zipper. No questions, no hassle got a brand new jacket...

[pow_hnd]

It's a bummer the last rendition of EL might be lost because we're just repopulating the same discussions.

I tried like to hell to make it happen, but it just wouldn't work...