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fourtown
PostPosted: Thu Oct 28, 2021 1:55 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 25 Jan 2014
Posts: 223
Location: MN

Early Columbia items

This morning I took a few bags of items to Goodwill. Before I left I took another look in my closet. I reluctantly picked a Columbia Sharptail Shirt off the rack. This was my "dress" shirt 25 years ago that I wore to nice events, and then I wore it to the bars to chase women for many years. Fifteen years ago I quit chasing women (except one) and started wearing the shirt for hunting. About five years ago I got a newer hunting shirt with some nicer features. Then I started wearing the Sharptail shirt around the house and yard on weekends and evenings. It got some grease stains on the belly area and cuffs that wouldn't come out. The collar and cuffs were in shreds. It had been washed hundreds of times. It was time to go. I had worn that shirt regularly for over 25 years, thats quality to me.

I also picked up another Columbia fishing type shirt that I wear for summer events. Recently we were looking at some old photos from a birthday party. It was over 20 years ago. My wife commented that I still wear that shirt. Well not any longer, it went to GoodWill today.

I lusted over a Columbia Widgeon Quad Parka in realtree camo. I was invited to Arkansaw in the early 90's to hunt ducks. I had no money. I lied to the banker so that I could get a loan to buy that coat and pay for the gas to Stutgart.

It was a wonderful trip. I wore that jacket for duck hunting and turkey hunting for 25 years. I left the liner jacket at a "camp" on Bayou LaFourche about ten years later. This spring I was wearing the jacket for turkey hunting and the zipper exploded and I reluctantly recycled it. Again over 25 years of heavy wear.

This fall I tried on some new duck hunting jackets. They have some nice features, but each one I tried gave me the feeling it would last for five years. I didn't buy one.

Those early Columbia items were made it Sri Lanka and Viet Nam, but they lasted.
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canvasback
PostPosted: Fri Dec 10, 2021 6:17 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 12 Mar 2012
Posts: 684
Location: Ontario

MSM2019 wrote:
It wasn't the American people that asked that things were made cheap in 3rd world countries, or have we forgotten Mr. Nixon sending Mr. Kissinger to China? Kissinger didn't go there because the American people wanted China to take over their manufacturing jobs. Being blue collar all my life I can promise you that. The bottom line was more profit for the same item by the CEO's of many American companies.
.


While I agree with many of your observations, as someone who spent 35 years selling brand name consumer products to retailers, I can tell you, for sure, you are wrong in your understanding of what drove manufacturing to China. China wasn’t even the first country it started migrating to.

It was the rise of retailers like Walmart, and the ceaseless demand by consumers for better prices.

I worked with US companies, with factories in places Chicago and Mass and Maine , and watched them make the hard choice of either go out of business or move manufacturing off shore. Their CEOs weren’t getting rich. They were trying to keep the company alive.

It was the incessant grinding on price and price alone by the big retailers. And trust me when I say that if the consumer wasn’t grinding them, the big retailers wouldn’t have been doing it either.

Manufacturing and general product quality declined because consumers liked paying less more than they liked the product quality.

_________________
1921 Pieper 29" 6 lbs 10 oz
2003 Citori White Lightning 26" 6 lbs 10 oz
1932 Husqvarna 310AS 29.5" 6 lbs 7 oz
1925 Ferlach 29" 6 lbs 7 oz
1923 Greifelt 29" 6 lbs 1 oz
1928 Simson 29.5" 6 lbs
1893 Lindner Daly FW 28” 5 lb 11oz
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Chicago
PostPosted: Sun Dec 12, 2021 7:13 am  Reply with quote
Member
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Joined: 12 Aug 2007
Posts: 1376
Location: Northern Illinois

I like to buy quality and I would prefer it was made in the USA, but for the most part our manufacturing moved offshore quite awhile ago. One of best purchases I have made was a used 1997 Toyota Land Cruiser. When I purchased it for $8,000 the odometer read 125,000 and it is now over 260,000. It is not fancy but the darn thing will go just about anywhere without getting stuck. It is compact and I can turn it around on a two track, albeit it takes a few turns of the steering wheel. The only rust is a few pencil size dots on the rear hatch. I think I can drive it for 500,000+ miles if I keep it maintained.
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Old colonel2
PostPosted: Sun Dec 12, 2021 6:38 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 07 Jun 2020
Posts: 224

Quality is both real and subjective to our desires.

My list:

Filson vest and brush pants
Orvis Upland gloves
Russell Boots
Gokey Boots
Selected Willis & Geiger
Randall & Morseth knives
Peterson Supreme pipes
Rolex watches
Ponsness Warren Presses
Fox Guns
Purdey & Boss guns
Smith & Wesson Revolvers

Yes, my list is overkill, whatever I like, I like too much.

I won’t get into food or drink

Sadly many product lines like Filson and others have exported their sourcing and no longer produce the same quality


Last edited by Old colonel2 on Mon Dec 13, 2021 7:50 am; edited 1 time in total
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nj gsp
PostPosted: Sun Dec 12, 2021 9:15 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 09 Aug 2007
Posts: 437
Location: WI

I prefer to buy American whenever possible, and yes I’m willing to pay extra - if the value and quality is there.

When it comes to guns, depending what it is and what it’s for, in many cases I have preferred to buy older guns in “as new” condition over current production guns.

For example, when I wanted a 22 lever gun, I waited until I found a pristine Marlin 39A, made in ‘77. It’s a very well made gun and the quality shows. Same when I wanted a 44 Mag lever gun - I found a like new Marlin 1894 made in 1971. That thing shoots a 2ish inch group at 100 with iron sights and Winchester white box ammo. Both of them are better made than anything made in the last, what, 10 years or more by Marlin.

There’s a reason pre-64 Winchesters cost more than the versions that came later.

I’ve had the same Filson stuff for many years, and it’s been a worthwhile investment.
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AmericanMeet
PostPosted: Mon Dec 13, 2021 11:42 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 26 Apr 2010
Posts: 3172
Location: NCWa

The problem with making and selling quality stuff is that it doesn't wear-out. Because it doesn't wear out, people only need to buy one and once everyone has one there are no further sales. so the company goes out of business. Imagine what the automobile business would look like now if every car made since the Model T was still serviceable and on the road. Planned obsolescence is on purpose. So people are trained to buy something, knowing that it will only be used for a year or two or three. Either it will wear-out or it will be out dated because a new model will have better features. So then price becomes a dominate factor and countries that enjoy cheap (slave) labor have a pricing edge. there isn't any reason a country with cheap labor couldn't produce a quality long lasting product and under price relative to other countries- but why should they? Make it cheap in both definitions and you'll corner the market.
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