Outdoor production in the Czechia (advice, opinions, controversies)

Vladimír Bureš

Here you will find opinions and experiences, given by many years of experience in outdoor activities and production. Not everyone will agree with a lot of things. And a lot of it is indicative of our species being afflicted with hereditary stupidity (which is good, we are not fooled by our own self-importance).

I've been going on the water, rock climbing and mountain climbing for about a decade now. And for some (shorter) decade we have been honestly making and repairing outdoor clothing and equipment in Europe (more precisely in the Czech Republic). Here I will answer the questions people ask us from time to time. I will answer 80% truthfully. The rest simply cannot be said (know-how, trade secrets, it would upset too many people...).

Why is it difficult to sew a "piece"? One single different jacket or bag?

We often have to provide material that we don't normally have. It can be bought in whole rolls. It takes a similar amount of time to make a product as it does to sew a whole new jacket from a regular range. Then to create the pattern, sew the pattern and sometimes more. And that's where we come in. Not everyone (no one) is willing to pay as much for a custom jacket as they would pay for three actually sewn jackets. Even if it costs twice as much as the regular product, we've made a loss on its production. Do you have an interesting idea and can't make it yourself? We are happy to accommodate you if it is within our means. But we want to pay for it accordingly. If the idea is interesting for us, we will produce it and we can include it in our product range. We will appreciate such cooperation and you will not have to pay so much. Frankly, most ideas are bullshit... Reasonable is 1 out of 10.

Why don't we sell fabric in yardage as a matter of princip

The customer as a layman usually has no idea what he wants. We also stock a bunch of variants of similar materials. We are not allowed to trade the fabric according to the manufacturer's license. Among other things, we would not ensure the quality of workmanship and seam taping, which we have in our contract with the supplier. We do not have price lists for such sales and the price is our trade secret. Packing and preparation for shipment and payment formalities cost a lot of time. And sending the material to us afterwards will bump our inventory. So we understand you, but you understand us. It's a dead end.