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Comment by hyperbovine | Hacker News Reader

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hyperbovine·

Fun fact, any (authentic) GoreTex-branded garment is warrantied _for life_ by W.L. Gore & Associates:

https://www.gore-tex.com/support/guarantee-and-returns

I have never personally used this policy but I know others who have.

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"For life" is such a misleading statement I'm surprised companies get away with using it without running into legal trouble. It most definitely does not mean that your jacket is guaranteed to last as long as you're alive. They are not talking about your life, they are talking about "useful life of a product", which can mean pretty much anything.

My ski jackets which are goretex easily last 10+ years. Membranes are things that usually fail. I had a raincoat membrane fail while I was in Thailand during the monsoon season. It was a cheap rain coat at a 1/3 the price of a goretex equivalent. REI wouldn’t take back the raincoat even though it was only 4 years old so I replaced it with goretex active coat which is still going strong though I burned a couple holes in it that I had to plug with wax. I don’t think it’s unreasonable for a waterproof membrane to last the life of garment. Most of my camping gear is 20 years old and still works fine.

For what it's worth, that Gore-Tex page seems to be pretty up-front about it being for the useful life of the product.

Arteryx honored a busted zipper and torn inseam in my snow pants. I live in these clothes a quarter of the year.

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