Specifically packing tape, like Roger, I’d point out that the name-brand stuff (3M) works better and lasts longer than the generic stuff. I’ve had functional lifetimes of between 6 months and 10 years. Indoor use of name brands going the longest. Off-brands outside in the UV lasting the shortest time.
I don’t have the decades of experience with them as other options, since they’re new, but the Gorilla brand of “duct tape” in a darker gray has worked very well for me over the last few years. It is stiffer than standard duct tape and that can be a downside for some clothing repairs.
Other very long-lasting options come from building supplies. Vapor-barrier tape (red, smooth, very sticky) lasts for decades inside your walls. Pipe-wrap tape in 20- and 40-mil is used to wrap iron pipe before it is buried and lasts a long time, even in the UV. It is closest to electrical tape on steroids. Wider (2″ and 4″), thicker, and stickier. If someone wrapped padding around their Jeep’s roll cage, this would be the ideal stuff to apply over the foam layer.
But for clothing, I like something that is very sticky and yet very flexible so the garment doesn’t get stiff in the area of the repair. Off-the-shelf rip-stop nylon repair tape is pretty good as a field repair and then just stitch the perimeter of the patch and seam-seal it when you get home (and definitely before you launder the item).
