I, Backpack

I looked for this part on the linked wikipage and didn't find it. I looked at the edit history and it turns out that this wikipage is subject to a PR fight and the account DoBeautifulThings keeps removing parts that may be too critical and adding things that put it in a positive light. The source for the quote was this recording: https://www.npr.org/2019/09/04/757539617/the-litter-myth

Here is an edit from them that removes this part (2019-10-03): https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Keep_America_Beau...

A revert of the change (2019-10-03): https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Keep_America_Beau...

The change is back in (2019-10-04): https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Keep_America_Beau...

Another change that reverts some lobbying edits (2019-09-12): https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Keep_America_Beau...

If you want to see the wikipage version which contained the quote, here it is: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Keep_America_Beau...

Lobbying on Wikipedia is real.

I wrote to the company afterwards to thank them for a product that still works better than I could imagine, and in fact is better than any product they make today (at least for the purposes of a 17 day backcountry trip with almost no resupply).

Sadly, one of the reasons I bought the Arcteryx at the time was that they were still manufactured in north American (BC). This is no longer the case, and from my inspection of their current products, while they are still superb in comparison to the competition, they don't really do well in comparison to the late 90's versions.

I buy most of my long distance hiking gear from US cottage shops which have great service but sometimes you have to mend your pack or tarp yourself on the field. It's quite easy once you get into the habit of doing it early rather than letting it disintegrate into nothingness.

Not affiliated with either, but I am a happy customer.

If you’re thinking about sustainability policy, one idea might be to require warranties like this one for all material objects. This would force companies to internalize the cost of goods that wear out quickly and incentivize them to create more durable products.

It may sound radical, but I’m convinced that’s the general direction we need. If you sell a non consumable/perishable object, you should be required at the very least to accept the good back from the customer at no cost to them, and recycle/reuse/dispose of it properly. Requiring 5-10 year warranties or more is also something we should consider. I’m not sure what the exact answer would look like, but those directions seem like the right way to get ourselves out of the huge landfill/electronic waste hills we’ve buried ourselves under.

As an hobbyists backpack maker, who has made backpacks with padding on vintage domestic sewing machines it could have been repaired with the know how.

I currently have a Yellow Columbia half-track and the quality is unreal, I've used it every day for 6Y, with laptop+clothes+gear, no damage yet!

It helped establish Patagonia's brand, but doesn't seem to have done anything to the broader clothing industry.

The overall design was great but one of the key element is the shoulder straps that were tied at the front of the bag, not back-side. This was what made it theft-proof and extremely comfortable as it would push it towards your back, and more so with added weight, because physics.

Unfortunately I lost it (luckily it was mostly empty), and they don’t make it anymore. I’ve been unable to find a decent backpack til then.

For those who care, however, it's not too hard to learn to fix things ourselves with a little practice. Especially for non-tech products.