Because the market for so many products is so saturated today, it is really difficult to differentiate one from another. Manufacturers know people don’t really want to buy cheap nasty products, so apply every positive adjective they can to convince the consumer that their product is a good purchase. But since this is all advertising, it is 95% ‘hot air’ as Mike said. I admit I am a cynical consumer, and rarely believe any claims a product may make. I’ve had enough frayed jumpers and worn-out shoes and half-functional cleaning sprays that I now ‘expect’ a certain low level of quality invested into a product.

When a friend of mine first showed me a howies catalogue and raved about them, I was no less cynical. “Here’s a marketing gimmick”, thought I. “A personal writing style, a light, humorous tone, an underlying trend of fashionable pro-environmental POV – squarely at the dissatisfied middle-class demographic”.

Then my girlfriend (now wife) bought me some backyard jeans for my birthday.

I have never loved a pair of jeans as much in my life. I have practically lived in them for the past year. The more I wash them, the comfier they get. Not a seam has come undone, and the knees (though scuffed into oblivion) are gamely remaining untorn and intact.

Exactly as howies said they would.

It seems a bit sad that these days a company like howies has to spend £185 to make a bag that will do exactly what a bag _should_ do (likewise the jacket), but I for one believe what they claim about it.

I find it hard to justify thinking about £185 on JUST A BAG when I could get one for a tenner at Burton or Topshop or anywhere else. But my last 3 bags from there have lasted a year at the best. I know their level of quality. So can howie’s bag live up to its promise? What do you think Tim?

I am a little confused why you would think that the statement “quality sells itself” is totally accepted by all. In my experience quality only sells itself to those who recognize it themselves and are willing to pay for their own idea of it, and what the word means to them. People have lots of different ideas about what constitutes quality. A good example of what i mean is that you say you know quality, you have invested in it and believe it but dont know where your merino comes from? how then do you know the quality? quality in relation to what? other merino we dont know the quality of? the word merino meaning quality? we are fuzzy already.

You also mention about guaranteeing a product for life, in reality those words in no way guarantee that any product is of any better quality than anything else. It just means that if it does fail you’ll get another. It may also be as you say ‘a contract that might just be a load of hot air used to sell the product as a gimmick,’ but that would only apply using your own reasoning, not mine.

We dont all find the same things attractive or of interest so the idea that because a product is of good quality is no guarantee you will have a market for it. I would also add that not everyone cares about quality all of the time. Value for money comes into play in certain circumstances too. One may spend hundreds of pounds on a technical jacket for example and then go and buy some bargain basement boots despite their being hundreds of pairs that are better quality, this did not mean they were sold. Said person may have all manner of other household and lifestyle products that are anti environmental and lacking quality, sound manufacturing and employment practice. This is a deep hole we could dig here if we are to really look at this subject. Not for now though.

Quality does not always sell itself to someone who knows quality and to someone who can afford the best quality, sometimes we need to tell a story, we choose to not make such broad assumptions about why’s and wherefores and hope that we are helping you the customer make an informed decision by our attempts to pass on this information, so we bother to explain it in a way that all can understand. One cannot just put a label on something calling it quality and expect everyone to get it. i think that is expecting too much from the consumer and can leave them open to being misguided at times about what brand and what product to invest their cash in. We hope that our way lets them know where we are coming from and where we are going with it.

So even with quality being recognized this is never any guarantee of a sale. As an example if there was you might have bought our merino product whose history we have made a point of explaining as opposed to a competitors whose origin you are unsure of but whose product you still purchased. In this case it’s quality (using your won ideas of what that means) must not have mattered so much to you otherwise you would know the processes of how it was manufactured. Therefore we do need to market a product and explain the concept behind it if we want our potential customer to understand the process by which we have come to make it. Otherwise they might be buying a product just as you have done whose origins they are unsure of which is why we take the time to explain these things to our customers. Even after we’ve done all that does not mean we are guaranteed a sale as you have bought another product from someone else but at least someone who has bought howies merino knows what they got, or has access to the process and information regarding it’s origins.

Your comment about it being a ‘cheap gimmick’ to you may be true, relative to your own thought processes and maybe some others who think like you. But put into context there may equally be others who like the fact we’ve bothered to take the time to explain a little bit about the process of how we came about making not just the bag but many other howies products so they can make decisions to buy based on facts. we cant please everyone all of the time, though i’d like to think we try our hardest to deliver our best.

if you are interested in merino and would like to know where howies comes from, we have a booklet that you can download here that tells you, not a cheap gimmick but something that informs the customer if they want to know about the product they are buying, and certainly not hot air, that’s not howies style.

here’s the addy for merino link. http://www.howies.co.uk/content.php?xSecId=101

Here’s and excerpt:

Ok, the question you’re itching to
ask: is it comfy to wear?
Oh yes. This is not your grandad’s
thermal underwear. It’s like…
You know your comfiest pair of
socks, the ones that make you
feel fantastic the minute you put
them on? Well, it’s a bit like that.
All over.
The superfine Merino fibres for
our NBL base layers are just 18.8
microns in diameter, about five
times finer than human hair.
(A micron is one millionth of a
metre. Or one thousandth of a
millimetre. That’s teeny.)
The finer a fabric, the more
comfortable it is next to the skin.
And our Merino is known as “the
silk of wool”.
It’s not been chemically treated,
like some wool products. Just
combed, washed, spun and dyed.
Our NBL Light styles have
contoured seams which are all
flat-locked to avoid bulky seams
that rub and irritate. They have no
side or shoulder seams. (We know
people who wear them under a
wetsuit while surfing.)
In winter, it keeps you warm
because making the fabric
creates millions of tiny air spaces,
the best insulation nature can
provide. Merino fibres are so fine
they trap more air pockets and
keep you warmer. When you start
to warm up, the Merino helps you
cool down by transferring heat
and moisture away from
the body.
In fact, on a hot summer’s day,
a light Merino is a lot more
comfortable than a damp
sweaty cotton t-shirt.
Once you put it on, you won’t
want to take it off. Then again,
you don’t have too very often.
We gave John, one of our
kayakers, a base layer to take to
Brazil and he didn’t take it off for
five months, except to shower.
Maybe next time we’ll give him
two. (They still let him on the
plane home, mind you.)
Try one, and if you don’t like it,
send it back and we’ll give you
your money back. No quibble,
Officer Dibble, as we say round
these parts.
We think you’ll love it. You may
even want to marry it.

All the best Mike

Kind regards

Tim

ps, so do you want a bag or not, you love it dont you.

My finisterre merino wool base layer and sweatshirt comes with a lifetime guarantee. They are made in a factory in Portugal but I am unsure of the source of the merino. They guarantee all their products for life. They have a load of really good info on the website. Well worth a look.

http://www.finisterreuk.com/

You are talking up a concept that has been around for a very long time. Making a good quality product that will last.

What I am saying is that you don’t need a load of hot air and a contract to sign when you buy a well designed and manufactured product. Quality sells itself.

In fact a contract to sign sounds like a cheap gimmick to me.

http://www.dolectures.co.uk/speakers/michael-braungart

It shouldn’t be a selling point but the norm!

Can I ask where this bag will be produced?

Can I also ask why not guarantee the bag for life?

Where do I sign?