What do you think of when you think of Patagonia?

[dynaflow]

I agree with NVTrout,Patagonia's stuff is well made but it's outrageously priced,especially in Australia,and any product I've bought (clothing) I've bought from places like Ebay

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Patagonia products are really well made and well designed.

I don't know if they ever got their waders sorted out though.

[johnsquires]

I'm a big fan of the Nanopuff jacket. Base layer, Nanopuff, and a GorTex raincoat got me through eight straight days of camping in the rain in AK.

[DAVID95670]

patagonia products are really well made and well designed.

I don't know if they ever got their waders sorted out though.

my waders were REPLACED for the third time in October. This year i have fished no more than 30 times in the new waders

i was soaked after fishing for three hours on saturday afternoon. They are already leaking from the seams

patagonia waders are not worth it

[Rossflyguy]

my waders were REPLACED for the third time in October. This year i have fished no more than 30 times in the new waders

i was soaked after fishing for three hours on saturday afternoon. They are already leaking from the seams

patagonia waders are not worth it

Patagonia has the best jackets but Simms has the best waders. I buy Patagonia jackets, sweaters, and shirts. That's all their really good at. Plus all their clothing is recycled material and they donate a lot of money to environmental organizations. Just my two cents.

[Gregg]

Just saw this thread. I've owned a handful of Patagonia products from different categories over the years, and am a huge fan. The conversation about Patagonia is two-fold; product quality, and brand quality. As fas as a brand goes, it really doesn't get much better. Their level of transparency, their commitment to the environment, and their general business vision are all things to be in awe of. They have one of the highest employee retention rates of anyone in the industry, and for good reason. They take care of their staff and everyone along the production line, and people are so committed to Yvon and the Patagonia brand they border on cult status. How they operate should be the model everyone looks at and attempts to recreate. I want quality, but even moreso I want to know that I'm supporting quality people behind the brand. That is the most important part to me.

As far as product quality goes, I haven't had a single warranty issue, or really even an issue outside what would be considered a real warranty claim. I am super hard on my gear, and don't take care of it. I've had Simms, Redington, and Patagonia, and all three have been fine. For years. Small patches here and there from being an idiot and sliding down blackberry covered boulders, but really nothing to trip about. If I put 80 days on a pair of waders a year, and get 3 years out of them, I'm beyond satisfied. I think $400 is a fair price for hundreds of uses of an item. When a brand like Patagonia warranties something out with no questions that's going above and beyond to me. I'd rather keep repairing something than getting something new and trashing the still workable previous item, I guess that mentality aligns me with the Patagonia brand concept already. 4 warranties in the last year or two seems bizarre to me, I've never had a failure rate on any product of anything I've ever used like that, and it sounds like nobody else has either.

Whether you buy Patagonia, Simms, Redington, or some cheap Bass Pro thing is really up to you, but I think all sides of a brand should weigh in when making a purchase. For me, Patagonia satisfies all of the boxes I'd like to check.

[JasonB]

I have lots of thoughts and feelings about Patagonia. Similarly to Gregg, I have nothing but respect and admiration for the company as a whole. On their product quality, workmanship, warranty, service, etc, I've been quite happy as well. I do think that in some ways the quality has slipped a little here and there over the years, but it's still pretty damn good! I have had some issues with my waders, but the company has really stood by their product and given me no hassles in replacing them 3 times.

The last time, I had called in ahead of time with a request for repair/inspection and after some question and answer the service rep informed me that it sounded like a warranty issue and that they had a bad run on some of the seams. Being that it was mid fall, he was concerned that the time to replace mine in my size might take a bit of my valuable fishing time he offered (as an option) to upgrade me to the next level at cost ($100 out of pocket for me). Overall this seemed to be the best option for me, so I went ahead with that. The new waders were in my hot little hands in less than a week.

My experiences with other outdoor gear has lead me to believe that EVERY single company has some "lemons" here and there; a bad batch of material, or compatibility issues with glues, coatings, or whatever. Singular anecdotal accounts along the lines of "these waders are the best" or "my waders leak so bad, they suck" don't really mean much to me; I'm much more concerned with the long term average impressions, and even more with how the company handles those issues when the undoubtedly do arise. For me Patagonia scores very well on pretty much all fronts...
JB

[TyV]

I have very mixed feelings about Patagonia. Great company with a conscience. I have been a fan for a very long time. That changed considerably when I bought my last pair of wading boots from them a few years ago. The first pair, blew out in 3-4 months. They nicely took the time to replace them. That pair blew out in about 12-15 trips on the river over maybe 8 months. I sent them back, only to be shocked by what they did. I received no communication from them, simply a gift card for $30 of their merchandise. That was all. Well, that was the last time I will ever do business with Patagonia. I have no idea what or why as there was no explanation. I called and couldn't get one either.

Extremely disappointing and really surprising to say the least. I got less than a year and less than 20 days on the water combined out of 2 pairs of their wading boots...that's not ok and the way that they handled it couldn't have been worse honestly.