Worldwide Gear Manufacturers

My Terra Nova Laser tent which I purchased from the UK, is made in Vietnam!

BPLs new line of UL merino is made in Fiji…

Exped is based in Zurich (Switzerland).
BTW, Have a look at the new Mountain Pro 40 (42L) backpack.
Franco

I think this would be great on a wiki. That way, everyone could edit it (rather than saying “please add this…”). It doesn’t have to be a wiki, exactly (or course) but something that everyone could edit would be nice. Like wikis, you have to able to manage hacking and all that.

Ross, I think that is a great idea. It would certainly free me from having to do all this myself. If I listen to those who aren’t happy with what I’ve done so far I think this will become a full-time job for me! (though I know there are problems with the list…). The only catch is where to host the wiki. Do you know of any free, online wikis? I’ve found Wikidot so far. Might you have any other suggestions?

I was thinking that with setting up a wiki connected to BPL we could have other centrally located information as well, like walking routes around the world, food and recipe databases, tips, forum user contributions like Bill Fornshell’s projects, book lists, etc, all contributed by forum readers. This will make hard-to-find information about local hiking conditions and such much more accessible. A lot of forum information could be gathered and organized here. The only thing we would want to avoid is creating something which conflicts with BPL itself.

Anyone have any ideas for topics to concentrate on in a wiki (BackpackingLIght Wiki???) ?

Worldwide Gear Brands
Recipes for UL Hiking
Local Trail Information
DIY Project Database
Bibliography
Videography
Gear Lists

Just some ideas off the top of my head…

Miguel, I think a lot of us here would like to see a Wiki associated with this site. It only makes sense….

Incorporating gear reviews, of course…

spot a couple errors: cassin is italian; salewa is german.

"spot a couple errors: cassin is italian; salewa is german."

Actually it's an interesting question – although Salewa is often seen as a German company (that's how they're marketed in Australia for example) it's actually Italian owned – from their website:

"On 8 July 1935, Josef Liebhart founded SALEWA GmbH in Munich.

The Italian importer Heiner Oberrauch and his Ober Alp Group took over the SALEWA brand and led it to success.
quot;

Here in the States, many "distinct" brands are actually owned by the same holding company! I suspect the same occurs in Europe — where even "national" brands may be owned by other nations.

You add to the above the fact that more and more brands source their products all around the world…

I really believe that delineating brands by national origin is becoming increasingly meaningless — and trying to delineate brands by the country which actually makes their products is downright ridiculous — and impossible!

Except for the tiny cottage gearmakers which will always have a special place in our hearts and wallets — for all other brands — I say we gear heads should just evaluate gear by their design, material, workmanship, durability, suitability to our use, customer service, and price — and forget the whole jingoistic "country of origin" nonsense!!!

Just to illustrate how inane this has all become (again cottage gearmakers excepted) — this whole exercise can be compared to arguing whether a Ford or GM sourced from Germany or Korea is really "American" — and whether a Nissan that's made in Tennessee is still "foreign"? Who's going to tally up all the parts that are actually made "everywhere" — and totally variable depending on "lot number"???

To further add to the Salewa saga, the Oberrauch family is based in Bolzano ,Italy,an area where most speak German as their first language and consider themselves South Tyrolean rather than Italian or Austrian. Reinhold Messner is from that area and has had a close association with the group.
He too has been branded German because that is his native tongue and has had mostly German or Austrian climbing partners, before he went solo.

I think that Miguel really just wanted to make it known that there are more brands available than the ones usually discussed here. Maybe just a list of brand names, type of products and web site will do.
Franco

As far as wikis are concerned: I've played around a bit with WetPaint. It seems pretty simple to use. The free version seems to have a fair amount of ads, but that seems to be normal.

I think that Miguel really just wanted to make it known that there are more brands available than the ones usually discussed here. Maybe just a list of brand names, type of products and web site will do.

Franco had it right, personally I have no interest whatsoever in where products come from… I have no loyalties to any country, being a mix of too many different cultures to identify with any one culture, and therefore don't feel, in any way at all, special affection for any one nationality. What I was trying to do was simply offer a list of what is available around the world, in part as an antidote to the rather messy forum thread earlier. Besides, I think it is enlightening to see just what is available all over and what kinds of gear design people are concentrating on in different parts of the world. I think that being exposed to all that is going on is a great source of inspiration for new UL ideas. After all, isn't the whole UL movement based on unconventional ways of thinking?

On the wiki front I contacted the BPL powers that be and asked about the possibility of connecting a wiki to BPL. Here's the response I got from Don:

Hi Miguel –

Best,
Don

Well, it looks like our prayers have been answered! Something to really look forward to. I just hope that something actually comes of it sooner, rather than later. So many times things have been planned, but got lost somewhere along the way.

The wiki ought to allow all of us to make a good, strong contribution to UL gear, UL methods, and UL philosophy. Looking forward to it!

Miguel

"I really believe that delineating brands by national origin is becoming increasingly meaningless — and trying to delineate brands by the country which actually makes their products is downright ridiculous — and impossible!"

Agreed – as an example of that, how would you categorise a multi-national gear company that's owned by a hedge fund? With anonymous owners who may well be sovereign funds?

Re Salewa, I'd guessed that the company probably came from the north of Italy – I've spent a bit of time around Vicenza so know how Italian culture segues into German-speaking culture around there.

…

Australian Made-Mont adventure equipment…some really nice stuff

http://www.mont.com.au/index/home