Backpacks got worse on purpose

Theodores

I am okay with these big American corporations getting bought out, for their products to be reamed out, for the brand to be discarded, only to exist as a brand in a private-equity backed holding company. This is because other companies come along to fill the niche occupied by the established brands. Since they can't cheapen the products any more than the behemoths can, they need to innovate and evolve. As for the backpack product, I wish the likes of Eastpak and whatnot would just die, since they have not innovated in a very long time.

ButlerianJihad

I swear by Swiss Gear nowadays. However, it's been several years since I purchased one. I don't know if they've maintained the same high quality. But I had a Swiss Gear backpack that was fantastic, and it lasted me nearly a decade. It was originally purchased at a Target. It was versatile and I could take it anywhere. It had little grommets to pass-through earphone cords and such. It survived even through several washes in a washing machine. Then at a thrift store, I found a Swiss Gear suitcase. It has wheels and a telescoping handle. It expands very nicely. I have it stored away and still haven't found occasion to use it. I also picked up a Swiss Gear laptop bag with a "messenger bag" shoulder strap. These I found at Office Depot. It's really nice. It has a velcro fastener to secure the laptop itself. It has mesh pockets for all kinds of accessories. If I don't put in a laptop, it can carry documents, folders, or binders. It's been very durable.

emtel

I bought a north face backpack for college in 1998. It cost $60. It was an extravagant expense for me at the time and I felt horrible about it for weeks. That backpack is currently at college with my son, who used it all through high school as well. It is by far the oldest and most durable daily-use object I’ve ever owned.

consumer451

I spent way too much money on a Peak Design backpack. 4 years in, the zipper broke. They honored the lifetime warranty, and swapped me for a brand new one. That was my first time ever dealing with such a high-end product and a lifetime warranty. Just sharing because it was a good experience.

nslsm

This is some damn irritating writing. This writing irritates me more than a broken backpack seam would.

Sharlin

If you're looking for a backpack that can survive just about anything, and don't mind a "tactical" look, check out Savotta: https://www.savotta.fi/collections/backpacks They're expensive, but last a lifetime or more.

brainzap

its the normal cycle of sports gear

furyofantares

> I'll be writing about those next. I doubt it, you didn't write about this! You prompted it and signed your name to it.

whalesalad

The enshittification of all things. It’s happening in the service industry, too. A lot of contractors like roofing and plumbing are being absorbed into private equity megacorps.

cortesoft

As much as the result for consumers sucks, is this just a result of the quality backpack business not being a very profitable business to be in anymore? The reason they were able to buy all those backpack brands is because each of those brands were not making much money running a backpack company selling quality at a reasonable price. The purchaser makes some money leeching value out of the brand reputation, but then that brand value falls because of the crappy product, and they sell the brand because they leeched all the value out of it. This is only possible because you can’t make much money selling quality for a good price. Consumers will pick lower quality for the cheapest price every time.

nekusar

Its EVERYTHING that has gotten worse, on purpose. Capitalism ends up being owned by single companies across goods families. Private equity buys, strips, and bankrupts. Materials are engineered to fail near the end of their warranty. Companies lie about details hard to identify or prove. Companies use historical goodwill to loot the current landscape. Take for example, a citrus squeezer. We needed what I thought was a decent juicer. https://us.josephjoseph.com/products/helix-citrus-juicer-yel... Well, guess what... since its all just plastic, the 2 posts that provide the downward force when turning get sheared off when you fucking use the thing. We ended up going to an antique/flea market and found a all-metal juicer. It fucking works. And it likely will for the next 50 years. Capitalism itself is the scam. It was sold to us of "innovation, innovation, innovation!" And its just "worsening, extraction, destruction".

parineum

> The sense that you were choosing between competitors was a fiction that VF Corp had no incentive to correct. I can't speak for everyone else but this isn't what I'm doing when I compare two backpacks. I'm comparing two different backpacks for their features and design. I don't really consider the brand name attached or care who owns it.

jonahs197

You what? I buy my backpacks from Aliexpress.

readingnews

On the flip side, a really good bag, and these have lasted so long I can not recall when I purchased them, are really expensive [ https://www.tombihn.com/ ]. What is really irritating is that sometimes we see the same thing within a single brand (we have a garbage entry-level item and a top tier item which is good).

kstrauser

I gritted my teeth and bought a GoRuck GR1 a year ago. If it fell into a volcano, which is what it might take to destroy it, I’d buy another one. It’s still possible to find “buy it for life” backpacks but be prepared for eye-watering price tags.

egypturnash

I'm waiting for this to happen to Tom Bihn's bags now that they have new owners who're starting to outsource the smaller bags to Vietnam instead of sewing them in-house in Seattle. Luckily for me, I've got what I need from them and expect it to last for quite some time

chinathrow

> This is the pattern. Acquisition. Cost optimization. Quality decline. Warranty narrowing. Brand equity extraction. And eventually, divestiture. PE at work.

llmslave

Private equity, and computers, optimized all the profits which drove profit quality down. We all have lower quality products to enrich a few finance individuals

bovermyer

Why do we allow megacorporations to exist at all?

harisenbon

Whenever I buy something with a zipper I check that it’s YKK first. If it isn’t, I know there’s a good chance they’re cheaping out on other places as well.