I have a Mountain Hardwear full-zip Fleece jacket. Bought in a sale in Autumn 1998 from Ellis Brigham (no bargains there!) for £90 reduced from £125. Mrs. LLD was stunned when she found I’d spent so much on a fleece. Similar items could be had from the supermarket clothing aisle for about £6 at the time. She borrowed it once when her fleece was being washed and despite it being baggy she did comment how much warmer it was than here cheap one.
Now this one has 3 zipped pockets and underarm zipped vents, fabric reinforcements on the elbows and shoulders. I wore it all the time for 8months/year from 1998 to 2015, 17 years. In that time 2 things happened… keys/coins etc. in the pockets wore away the pocket material and rucksack straps wore away at the embroidered Mountain Hardwear logo. This meant it was worn infrequently 2015-2025. The pockets have been repaired and apart from a worn logo it’s as good as new. Seriously it does not look 28 years old.
Cost to own: approx £3.22/year.
Berghaus still make some fine items, but you do need to pick and choose. I have a Bergahus Down&Feather jacket from 2008 specially made for Cotswold Outdoors. A little cost engineered but a steal new for £80.
What really shows how good Berghaus gear was is my 1982 Berghaus Pole Jacket. One of the original puffer jackets. A life saver when a student in the icy wastes of my digs! It was £56 which was big money back then. It’s Nylon so not at all waterproof. The filling is Dacron Hollowfil, tiny fibres the size of human hairs but hollow so very well insulating. If it gets wet it will capillary up water into the fibres and will end up weighing many kg. You need a serious clothes lines to hang it out to dry.
It doesn’t breath well so is suited for standing-about events such as astronomy / contesting / rally watching. But even after 44 years it’s still almost perfect. All the fasteners / zips work and there is a tiny wear hole about 3mm diameter in the out sleeve fabric. It gets washed once/year which is nearly a two man job and ties up the bath for a few days but when clean after Nikwax washing it’s just like when I bought it. Quite amazing. I checked on eBay and people are asking over £300 for them now as some kind of retro collectible.
Cost to own: £1.27/year
I bought Mrs. LLD a Mountain Hardwear 3/4length Down Jacket in 2013 for an indecent amount of money. It’s white so it gets mucky quickly. It gets washed in the machine then gently tumble dried and shaken to reloft it. 13 years of use and again it’s still like new. No wear, no tears and everything works. She says it’s still the warmest of a few Down jackets she owns.
Cost to own: £18.50/year
So it looks like paying good money for Tier 1 brands like Mountain Hardwear does payback in the end. Not sure how well modern Berghaus gear lasts but the 40+ year old stuff seems well put together.
Can anyone better these lifetimes for well used items?
Probably not, but it depends what you mean by ‘lifetime’. I usually find that winter walking jackets don’t “die” but have a long lingering decline before their owners ‘retire’ them.
For example, I have the classic Berghaus Cornice InterActive jacket - in fact, I have two. The older one is at least 20 years old and both front zips no longer work. I have to secure the front using only the press-studs. It’s perfectly usable for low-risk walks e.g. local dog walks and is still waterproof [especially after recent Nikwax cleaning and reproofing in the washing machine.]
Notwithstanding the NorthFace Apex jacket I have for the worst rain that G/LD and GM/SS can throw at me, I got another Berghaus Cornice because I liked the older one so much.
I can’t compete on the lifetimes, but what I have found is that a bit of well-timed repair work can keep stuff going significantly longer. Gore of Gore-Tex fame occasionally run events where you can bring any gore-fabric garments from any brand and they’ll do free repairs - I was able to extend the life of my old TNF pro shell jacket this way. I believe some of the more premium brands offer free repair services too. I’ve always had pretty good repairs from the Alpkit shop in Edinburgh too, although you do need to pay for these.
I have a Eurohike backpack that my parents bought me for school circa 1998, I guess it cost about £20 at the time?
It’s survived cycling to and from high school in all weathers and being used as a lunchtime goal post.
I still use it for activations now I figured out and fixed the problem with a zip so that’s under £1/year.
By contrast, a modern Eurohike backpack bought a couple of years ago fell to bits within a year.
My North Face down jacket. I bought it in San Francisco circa 1999, so that makes it 27 years old. Funnily, the red and black ones are back in fashion now, although I don’t expect they are the same quality. Well, I know they aren’t!
I only wear it when it is really cold, and it’s been away for cleaning once. It came back like new.
I managed 90 minutes stationary with no shelter when activating the GM5WS callsign a couple of years back. IIRC, windchill was -15°C.
Can’t find a photo of it, so here’s the video.
My Buffalo Special Six shirt is 16 years old. Again, it only comes out in winter, but it is in great nick. I air it after use and only let Mo wash it once a year.
I became a fan of Mountain Hardwear, but it was too late.
The Epicentre in Ambleside was the UK agent at one time and often had samples for sale upstairs in their bargain basement (attic!).
Unfortunately something went awry and Mountain Hardwear all but disappeared from the UK. SportsShoes carried a few pieces in recent years but last time I looked, it seemed as though they no longer carried the brand.
I did receive an email very recently with the headline ‘Mountain Hardwear is back!’. The email was from Ellis Brigham, but it seems as though the range is mostly skiing stuff.
I really wanted a Mountain Hardwear Monkey Phur jacket about 20 years ago. I could never afford one but I did find a MH Mangeby fleece for £50 in Blacks in Chelmsford. I cherished my Mangeby fleece and I still have it, but it’s rather past it’s best now. I replaced the Mangeby with a Rab Boulder fleece, which is also Polartec Hi-loft fleece. The Rab fleece still looks like new and I’ve had it for about 10 years.
I’ve always liked my Mountain Hardwear gear, but it’s hard to find these days. I learnt that Mountain Hardwear has a new boss, so fingers crossed for better UK availability.
Shein/Temu et al? Bought today? Probably Tuesday. Wednesday teatime if you’re lucky.
Another reason I like Patagonia. Yes it is expensive, but you get a lifetime warranty on everything and can take your clobber in to be repaired.
Passenger is a similar brand I like for stuff like that.
I think stuff these days isn’t made as well as in the past. Changes in materials and chemicals and all that stuff thats over my head.
So long as the rags I buy have decent ethics (well, minimally questionable?) and don’t make a balls of the environment, have a decent warranty and customer service then im pretty much in.
No point buying a load of old pony that wouldn’t stand up to a light mist from a Febreze plug-in.
I have a lightweight duvet jacket made by Slater, it dates to the early 1970s and is in close to new condition. I bought it to slip over my gear on stances on ice climbs so at the time it was oversized, and tbh didn’t get all that much use, just the occasional outing in Glencoe and on the Ben - nowadays its a bit too small so just sits on a shelf, a memento of great days!
To start I am a fair weather hiker, but winter is coming. That being said I would like opinions on blended fabrics. I understand cotton kills; what about 60/40 polyester/cotton blend over wool/cotton long undies? Any thoughts?
For above waist use thin synthetic shirt with wool sweaters. In dry weather a cotton sweat hoodie. Outer shell of nylon (not really waterproof, just what I’ve got). Wool cap for head.
Feet, I know the value of good leather boots, just wish they weren’t so darn expensive.
Nothing but 1) heavy when soaking wet and takes ages to dry out 2) can feel too warm in direct sunshine 3) even sheep go under tree cover, if they can, in heavy rain or hot sunshine.
Unfortunately, many outdoor brands eventually shift toward fashion and cut production costs—though that is understandable. If you’re just taking the dog out for a quick walk, you don’t need to look like you’re tackling the Eiger North Face.
Jack Wolfskin, The North Face, and Mammut are examples of this decline in quality. All these brands now have their own stores and shops—places that feel more like boutiques.
For me, it’s a telling sign when premium suppliers like Gore-Tex or Malden Mills (Polartec) are no longer used in the materials. That has become a key factor in my purchasing decisions!
However, I’ve noticed huge differences in quality even there. I rode motorcycles for a long time and always wore Gore-Tex riding suits from Rukka or BMW. The quality was on a completely different level compared to, say, IXS (even though they also used Gore-Tex).
Some of my oldest gear is probably around 35 years old now; certain fleece jackets are indestructible, and plenty of items have easily passed the 20-year mark. I have a 3-layer Gore-Tex pant from Mammut that I wear every year for snowshoeing up to summits—and once I reach the top, I switch to a Patagonia down jacket that’s over 20 years old.
I’ve always been a fan of virgin wool, and these days I wear almost nothing but Merino T-shirts. But no more Icebreaker—they always end up with holes. (And no, I don’t have moths.)
@DL6GCA - do you mean the long- or the shortsleeved shirts from Icebreaker? Someone in the family has got trouble with the longsleeved ones and ended up having to darn them in several places after washing them.
Mine suffer the same problem - that’s due to modern washing machines and laundry detergent.
I find a Merino-wool base layer great for hiking on cold winter days but it’s too warm in summer. So they make me sweat where the other materials like cotton or cotton/polyester mix don’t.
I find that interesting… I also find merino much more comfortable to wear than, say, cotton—especially in the summer. It doesn’t get cold even when it’s soaked with sweat, and it dries very quickly.
Sometimes I think I should get rid of all my cotton T-shirts.
I have a merino wool base layer that must be 20 years old. Must have been when it first started to come out for outdoor gear. I wore it for the entire week of backpacking the west highland way back in 2002/3. its great. I still have it somewhere and use it on the rare occasions i get out on the hill. I’m not sure i could afford one as good these days they seem to have gone silly money for them. I bought it back when i was a poor student at uni around 2002. Still going strong but it doesnt get much use for the last 10-15 years. I agree with the comfort when its on. Doesnt feel wet or cold ever and always comfortable. Doesnt smell really either as its naturally odor resistant. Although after a week of backpacking it must have started to smell a bit
edit might be a smartwool one. it was way less than the £80-105 they are charging now. probably half that or less.
You need a serious clothes lines to hang it out to dry.
for better UK availability.
