Manufacturers and retailers

[Happy44]

what are some A.T hiker friendly brands , i know Merrell has a one time only FREE replacement shoes if you are hiking the at, my 2012 hike they sent me the pair right on the trail , all i had to do was send a picture of my current shoes , are there any other brands that will do this? shoes/tents/sleeping bags/gear? if theres a list somewhere out there alrdy plz link me that!






HYOH

[blue indian]

Darn tough socks from Vermont

[jdc5294]

Keen hooked me up and also paid for the super hoodoo voodoo speedy shipping that got me my boots from Oregon to Connecticut in like 2 days.

[Dogwood]

This may not be what you want to hear but whether or not a gear manufacturer is AT hiker friendly is not solely dependent on the manufacturer. It's a two ways street! In my experience, when I've built up loyal relationships with various gear manufacturers/outfitters(Mountain Laurel Designs, Montbell, ArcTeryx, MSR, Western Mountaineering, Feathered Friends, Black Diamond, Oware, Keen, Vasque, RAB, Patagonia, Cascade Designs, Gossamer Gear, ProLite, BackCountry, CampMoor, etc ) and I ACTED CONSCIENTIOUSLY and GENUINELY in those relationships I have not found one gear manufacturer who wasn't willing to work with me to some extent. Yes, some companies more so than others, but I would say no gear company I've dealt with is particularly AT hiker UNfriendly.

[Happy44]

i just want to support the companies that support us, that is all, no need to take offense, im not trying to get freebees just asking what brands are hiker friendly! when you in the woods asking about a compression strap, knowing that osprey will send you without you having to dig throw your pack for a credit card is a wonderful thing and builds "BRAND LOYALTY"!

[Dogwood]

If those are the times you consider best to "build brand loyalty" suit yourself. Not offended at all. I want you to grasp though that your relationships with whomever factor YOU in as well.

[Happy44]

This may not be what you want to hear but HYOH

[Happy44]

there are some people with budgets out there and pray that there equipment doesn't fail but if does they dont have to leave the trial because they went over budget having peace of mind and a little trail magic from certain brands is why i started this thread! not to judge character.

last year i met 2 guys , one came with 20,000 total, and the other 500$ and used food stamps to pay for food! the first guy got mad at the second guy because he was " too poor " , and all i could think was they both had the same dream (to hike the AT) but there attitudes towards the trail couldn't had been different,

this post is intend to be for people to know that information like free replacement IS out there!

[adamkrz]

O.R.- Outdoor Research make great equipment and stand behind what they sell.

[Tuckahoe]

What exactly is your criteria for determining whether a company is hiker friendly?

If they are providing free stuff to replace normally worn out gear, are they then hiker friendly? Or that company that carries their customer service above and beyond expectation?

What then makes a company hiker unfriendly?

[Blissful]

Hikers doing hundreds to thousands of miles on gear should not expect gear replacement. That is why you save money for hikes so you can replace the gear that gets used.

Warranty issues are a different story. Most companies honor that.

As for the guy using food stamps for his hike, kind of wish he were like the majority us - work hard (maybe a couple of jobs if that's what it takes), save, then take your hike. It's much more fulfilling. I saved for thirty years.

[Happy44]

i admire anyone who try's to hike the AT, rich or poor as long as they gave it there all with what they got! this thread is getting 100% off topic, i was looking for more posts like adamkrz

[Happy44]

What exactly is your criteria for determining whether a company is hiker friendly?

If they are providing free stuff to replace normally worn out gear, are they then hiker friendly? Or that company that carries their customer service above and beyond expectation?

What then makes a company hiker unfriendly?

hiker friendly would be like shipping right to the A.T, like the post office with a return box to send the faulty gear back! so your not without product at any time! anything really that helps you stay on the AT.

[map man]

I've read many, many accounts of Leki getting trekking poles out to people fast, even when the hiker doesn't happen to be close to a retail outlet.

[Sarcasm the elf]

It feels like some of the responses are a bit harsh for what I see as a fairly straightforward question. Hiking gear is an investment and when I buy a piece of equipment I expect the manufacturer to stand behind their product for a reasonable lifespan of the equipment. I don't abuse return policies, but I also don't do business with companies who will sell me something and then tell me to go scratch when the equipment doesn't meet reasonable expectations.

You should also remember that standing behind their gear is very good business for gear makers. Repairing or replacing a defective item is potentially very cheap when compared to the amount of free advertising they get from a happy customer and the reputaiton that this builds for them.

With that said, to the OP's question:

Osprey - A friend of mine had an incident where his new puppy chewed and broke the main buckle on the pack's hip belt (happened at home). He called them to ask if it was possible to purchase a new buckle and was told not to worry about it, they would just send him a new one. (It probably cost them under $5 including shipping and in return Osprey got a loyal customer who has not only recommended them ever since, but been directly responsible for getting two of our other friends to buy Osprey packs in the past couple of years.)

Kelty - We bought two of our friends a very heavy duty Kelty backpack style child carrier as a baby shower gift years ago. They are a very active couple and actually used it until some of the load bearing webbing straps wore out. The husband called the company to ask about gettting it repaired and got a response along the lines of "They're not supposed to be able to wear out, send it back and we'll take a look" he expected to get it returned with new webbing and receive a repair bill, instead they sent him a new carrier and a note saying it was covered by the warranty. (Guess what brand of carrier they recommend to everyone now?)

Leki Poles - Too many anecdotes to mention, their customer service is legendary. Several people have told me that the company's philosophy seems to be that once you buy their hiking poles you own them for life.

Over the past couple of years I've started to buy gear from smaller/cottage manufacturers. If you want to see companies that really help hikers, search online for reviews of the little guys such as ULA packs or Henry Shires's Tarptents, (just to name a couple). I wish I had a firsthand story to give about these companies, but the stuff I've bought from them has been great.

Also keep in mind that alot of gear, especially stuff that is designed to be ultralight, simply has a finite lifespan. Expecting a company to warranty a pair of gortex shoes that leak after three weeks is one thing, trying to return a pair of trail runners with a thousand miles on them is a different story.

[Happy44]

thank you elf, that was a great response, my goal in this post was to help new hikers and get the knowledge out there for them, in to incite a flame war, i have heard about leki also , so i got a pair, hopeful more will share story's on this thread!

[Tuckahoe]

It feels like some of the responses are a bit harsh for what I see as a fairly straightforward question. Hiking gear is an investment and when I buy a piece of equipment I expect the manufacturer to stand behind their product for a reasonable lifespan of the equipment. I don't abuse return policies, but I also don't do business with companies who will sell me something and then tell me to go scratch when the equipment doesn't meet reasonable expectations.

You should also remember that standing behind their gear is very good business for gear makers. Repairing or replacing a defective item is potentially very cheap when compared to the amount of free advertising they get from a happy customer and the reputaiton that this builds for them.

With that said, to the OP's question:

Osprey - A friend of mine had an incident where his new puppy chewed and broke the main buckle on the pack's hip belt (happened at home). He called them to ask if it was possible to purchase a new buckle and was told not to worry about it, they would just send him a new one. (It probably cost them under $5 including shipping and in return Osprey got a loyal customer who has not only recommended them ever since, but been directly responsible for getting two of our other friends to buy Osprey packs in the past couple of years.)

Kelty - We bought two of our friends a very heavy duty Kelty backpack style child carrier as a baby shower gift years ago. They are a very active couple and actually used it until some of the load bearing webbing straps wore out. The husband called the company to ask about gettting it repaired and got a response along the lines of "They're not supposed to be able to wear out, send it back and we'll take a look" he expected to get it returned with new webbing and receive a repair bill, instead they sent him a new carrier and a note saying it was covered by the warranty. (Guess what brand of carrier they recommend to everyone now?)

Leki Poles - Too many anecdotes to mention, their customer service is legendary. Several people have told me that the company's philosophy seems to be that once you buy their hiking poles you own them for life.

Over the past couple of years I've started to buy gear from smaller/cottage manufacturers. If you want to see companies that really help hikers, search online for reviews of the little guys such as ULA packs or Henry Shires's Tarptents, (just to name a couple). I wish I had a firsthand story to give about these companies, but the stuff I've bought from them has been great.

Also keep in mind that alot of gear, especially stuff that is designed to be ultralight, simply has a finite lifespan. Expecting a company to warranty a pair of gortex shoes that leak after three weeks is one thing, trying to return a pair of trail runners with a thousand miles on them is a different story.

Very well said.

Companies live and die based on the quality of their customer service. Those that treat their customers right, or better yet go well beyond what is reasonably expected should be made well known and praised. And those that fall short of even the most minimum expectations will eventually suffer for it.

The OP certainly asked a straight forward question. But it should maybe address the quality of customer service. I believe that he is potentially setting too high an expectation for determining whether a company is hiker friendly.

I have had dealings with Mountian Smith and Merrell, and in both cases I was very pleased with the outcome. In the case of Merrell it two weeks to resolve, and i thought a very reasonable amount of time. If I were on the trail, and Merrell was not able fix the issue for two weeks, would that cause them to not be a hiker friendly company?

[Dogwood]

I'll try again. I'm TRYING to be helpful based on sharing my many earned experiences in getting gear "freely" replaced but that's not going to work if I don't exactly know what you want or IF you want to stubbornly refuse to consider what I'm saying. Some BIG BOY talk is included in this post. If you don't want to play like a reasonable adult than don't read on and don't always expect cooperation from gear companies/outfitters getting gear replaced as well.

LOVE the HYOH mantra but ALL too often people forget that HYOH ALSO entails being responsible for managing your hike well. It definitely can apply to the OP's topic.

I don't know exactly what you mean by "free replacement?" However, IF you mean warranty defect replacements/repairs all these companies I have dealt with WHILE ON various U.S. long distance hikes have sent me replacement gear or done free(to me) gear repairs or provided credit(like on out of stock exact gear replacements) when one of their products was warrantied/No postage paid by me to get my replacement gear back( although w/ some companies I might have to pay for the postage to mail in warrantied defective gear): Mountain Laurel Designs, Leki, Montbell, MSR, Black Diamond, Keen, Vasque, RAB, Patagonia, Cascade Designs, ProLite, BackCountry, and CampMoor. Probably a few others I'm forgetting about. IMHO, ALL these companies, as well as the above I listed, stand behind what they sell! I can't give a higher reference than that! *BUT, THAT DOES NOT MEAN MY BEHAVIOR HAS NO BEARING IN MY RELATIONSHIPS WITH THESE COMPANIES AND IN GETTING "FREE" REPLACEMENT GEAR!

You FIRST might get out of the mindset that there is ANY SUCH THING as "free replacements", at least not according to those you seek replacements from! You'll have a much higher success rate of companies working with you to get you what you desire IF you look at things from their perspective and NOT JUST YOUR OWN. PLEASE, again consider what I said above. This is FOR YOUR BENEFIT I'm saying this. Your attitude, degree of reasonability, strength of relationships, etc factors into getting your "free" replacement gear in a timely fashion OR even if you get "free" replacement gear.

I usually already have a DOCUMENTED buying history with various gear manufacturers/hiking gear outfitters I seek "free" replacements from. I typically have access to this documentation(acct #'s, memberships, payment/buying histories, PERSONAL NAMES OF REPS/OWNERS I have worked with(I typically am on a first name working basis relationship w/ several large and some UL companies), etc) when I'm in the midst of a long distance hike. I POLITELY make these companies understand that I'm in a the middle of a thru-hike. I also have a damn good idea about about what gear companies are likely to see as a warranty issue and warranty replacement. If I was simply seeking to get "free" replacement gear every time something was abused by me or I wore out or improperly used or that wasn't under warranty or I wasn't sponsored by that's ON ME NOT a company AND I find it unethical and irrational to assume I'm going to get much headway from a gear company on that basis. I've seen people(backpackers/hikers too!) go down that path of unfair and unreasonable personal entitlement too MANY times. Companies notice it more than me.

[Happy44]

Please don't post in my thread anymore dogwood, you are coming across arrogant and off topic "Some BIG BOY talk is included in this post" <---- this is just cyber bullying

[Tuckahoe]

I'll try again. Blah blah blah, yada yda yda...

Please don't post in my thread anymore dogwood, you are coming across arrogant and off topic "Some BIG BOY talk is included in this post" <---- this is just cyber bullying

Ha ha ha... bully!