I don't think the sort of trash I wear hiking is all that new, or fashionable.
I guess to me it is. :-)
maybe functionality itself is a fashion trend. not too long ago, female commuters decided wearing heels while commuting might look good, but their feet hurt, so they opted to wear running shoes on the commute and change back to heels at work.if you think about it, would it be more practical to wear a suit ,shirt and tie in a rainstorm, or a Marmot PreCip?is it the romantic notion of backpacking or is it simply more comfortable and functional?among the wealthy ski wear was the in thing years ago. but you cant wear skiboots on the street, so they've gone to timba lans.
I have lightweight and quick dry stuff for the trail .
but it's cotton tshirts and blue jeans everywhere else
Posted that in the last page.. try to keep up eh?
I don't care if non-hikers wear "hiking clothes"...I just wish that the hiking clothes were being designed more for their function than their fashion. I'd be wonderful if the women's outdoor clothes were designed to be functional for backpacking and everyone one else wanted to wear it, too. That would ensure that they kept making functional clothes!!! Unfortunately, it's getting harder and harder to find the stuff that I like...but then again, I have no fashion sense!
I meant "It would be" instead of "I'd"....oops
There is one big advantage about hiking clothing becoming a fashion statement, it means that lots of high quality technical clothing is starting to make it's way into thrift shops. I just picked up a North Face puffy jacket for $50 and an pair of fleece pants for $8, if I had known about this a couple of years ago it would have saved me a lot of money on hiking clothing.
Now if we can just find a way to convince people that tents, ultralight backpacks, sleeping bags, and climbing gear is trendy as well...
Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.
Try looking at it this way. Hikers are cool. Therefore, hikers clothes are cool. People want to be cool. People want to be or wish they could be hikers, since they can't the next best thing is to look like one. To imitate one. "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery". Take it as a compliment.
"Hiking is as close to God as you can get without going to Church." - BobbyJo Sargent aka milkman Sometimes it's nice to take a long walk in THE FOG.
whats wrong with function? think about the usefulness of a necktie. outside of a convenient way to hang oneself from the stress of urban living, and possible alternative napkin, what use is it?and personally, id like to see more stillettos on the trail.
It's not just hiking clothes. Some cycling items are commonly used by non-cyclists - the messenger bag, originally designed for bike couriers, has been upscaled beyond belief. That said, I guess we are lucky lycra shorts haven't been mass marketed yet.
Or for that matter- cammo hiking thongs for men.Originally Posted by The Historian
"Hiking is as close to God as you can get without going to Church." - BobbyJo Sargent aka milkman Sometimes it's nice to take a long walk in THE FOG.
Hiking clothes are the new in thing
I probably do more walking and being in the elements here in NYC than many people do elsewhere where they have cars, parking lots, etc. I'm happy to have well-made, warm clothing while waiting for the bus in the cold rain. Perhaps,to some of you, I might even look like a non-hiker on your average weekday...
ESTRAGON: I can't go on like this.
VLADIMIR: That's what you think.
I bought one of their own Gortex jackets in 2002, my first one. I couldn't afford the $300+ ones and their label was $139 at that time. I still have that jacket and it's still as completely waterproof now as it was then.
As for the choice in womens clothing for hiking, I am sick unto death of the tiny form-fitted t-shirts that seem to be the only type REI carries. I used to buy their REI Tech-T's - 100% poly as soft as cotton, loose, boxy, comfy. Wonderful. Then they stopped carrying them because they (as a store rep told me) believed women wanted the tight form fitting shirts in the garish colors and hideous stretchy ichty fabrics. So I started buying the North Face version in Mens Small.(the REI Tech-T in Mens Small was still too big). Then THEY stopped making the shirt!! Now, when someone in my hiking group asks me where to buy hiking clothes I tell them to go to any Target, Wal-Mart, Ross', etc and go to the "Active" racks. Cheap, loose, comfy. I think even more over-sold than NF in the "outdoors" dept is UnderArmor. I. Hate. It. I hate the feel of the fabric and I am allergic to silver- the fabric is impregnated with silver nitrate and it feels like a 1000 needles on my skin. My husband can't wear it either and he's not allergic. But to the NF thing - we were in a local pub and I counted 8 NF jackets and trust me, those jackets probably never saw anything more rugged than a brick sidewalk. Kinda like those pristine super-pricey 4WD vehicles that you just know have never once been off of a paved highway.
"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us."
My wife and I went on a semi-adventurous off-trail trek yesterday up on Mingus Mt. Lingering snow, slick mud, bushwhacking, even climbed an alligator juniper tree to get to a geocache. Filthy after the hike, we looked at each other and realized we didn't have a stitch of "hiking clothes" between us--just old sweats, running shoes, old nylon windbreakers. We had a GPS to find the cache, but absolutely none of the "ten essentials" other than a nice picnic lunch. Luckily we didn't run into any people up there, or any "real" hikers with gear. It would have been so embarrassing.
There's a mile-long hike around an urban lake in the last town we lived in, in the foothills above a major city, and we used to see people come up from the city decked out in convertible trousers, Patagucci jackets, Leki poles and gaiters even, for that hike and come staggering in to the local coffee shop afterwards for refreshment. Funny.
"Throw a loaf of bread and a pound of tea in an old sack and jump over the back fence." John Muir on expedition planning
First pub patron, "Hey, what's with those weird people in the corner? Looks like they're counting and taking notes." Second pub patron, "Who knows, but I saw them earlier in the parking lot crawling under a Range Rover. I think they were looking mud or something. Really weird!"
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
