Thrift-gear is dedicated to the discovery and creative use of lightweight and ultralight outdoor gear found at thrift stores.
There are three primary veins of gear development and distribution for lightweight and ultra lightweight outdoor gear. First there is the cottage industry, which through individual creativity defines the cutting edge of lightweight possibility in terms of design, typically utilizing highly technical materials. Next, homemade gear, often related to the cottage industry, and owing thanks to the generosity of those designers who provide either inexpensive patterns and materials or open source design often leads to new cottage companies, or simply to an inexpensive albeit laborious access to cutting edge gear. Finally, there are mainstream companies that utilize their technical advantage and access to economy of scale materials and expensive talent to sell high end gear at the very top of their product range. Typically these companies also offer a huge range of less than cutting edge gear, which may support the "top shelf" equipment. However, the larger companies often are a season or more behind the cottage companies in producing the most cutting edge gear.
There are problems with the above approaches to lightweight and ultralight gear acquisition.
Although often a great piece of gear can be found from any one of the above designs outlets, all of them use new materials, which are typically newly manufactured petroleum products (with at best a small percentage of recycling) and are typically shipped from overseas of diesel powered barges.
Even the most inexpensive home made equipment then, is not as low impact on the environment as one might hope.
The cost of homemade high quality gear, while far cheaper than retail, is still expensive, with a kit costing around two hundred dollars, and many hours of sewing.
I support all three of the traditional design outlets. I especially think that the time spent on home made gear is not wasted, and puts an outdoors-person in touch with their equipment in an important way.
However, I wonder if some of the creative verve of making ones own gear can be found through thrift-gear, with a much lower cost to the environment and the pocket book.
A second purpose of thrift-gear is to help me, and anyone else who becomes involved, in moving away from the type of gear fetishization many of us currently occupy. Clearly it's only another type, but my hope is to strip myself back, not only to light weight, but to simplicity. Starting at zero, what does one actually need to have fun (maybe a new kind of fun) in the wilderness? What strange preexisting gear will satisfy my safety needs? I think the industry has in a sense been good to us, and offered some really fun items. Thrift-gear this is just another way of accessing some of the creative impulse involved in intimate participation in gear.
There are problems with the above approaches to lightweight and ultralight gear acquisition.
Although often a great piece of gear can be found from any one of the above designs outlets, all of them use new materials, which are typically newly manufactured petroleum products (with at best a small percentage of recycling) and are typically shipped from overseas of diesel powered barges.
Even the most inexpensive home made equipment then, is not as low impact on the environment as one might hope.
The cost of homemade high quality gear, while far cheaper than retail, is still expensive, with a kit costing around two hundred dollars, and many hours of sewing.
I support all three of the traditional design outlets. I especially think that the time spent on home made gear is not wasted, and puts an outdoors-person in touch with their equipment in an important way.
However, I wonder if some of the creative verve of making ones own gear can be found through thrift-gear, with a much lower cost to the environment and the pocket book.
A second purpose of thrift-gear is to help me, and anyone else who becomes involved, in moving away from the type of gear fetishization many of us currently occupy. Clearly it's only another type, but my hope is to strip myself back, not only to light weight, but to simplicity. Starting at zero, what does one actually need to have fun (maybe a new kind of fun) in the wilderness? What strange preexisting gear will satisfy my safety needs? I think the industry has in a sense been good to us, and offered some really fun items. Thrift-gear this is just another way of accessing some of the creative impulse involved in intimate participation in gear.
1 comment:
dude you rock, Iove this shit....
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