Owning vs. Renting

We are one of the few outdoor apparel brands making our own products, and the only brand in cycling apparel that manufacturers here in the U.S.

All the other brands support jobs in other countries, harm the environment by shipping finished goods back to the U.S. (a shocking number use air freight, which is obviously even more harmful to the environment -- we know, because we used to do it too).

But we don't intend to shame customers or brands for these choices, because almost all of us are in it too. At Kitsbow for example, we still import gloves from Vietnam and socks from Italy because we couldn't find the quality we needed in the U.S. Most customers don't even know that they can make a choice from time to time, and we won't convince many people to give the U.S. a try if the technique is shaming.

So let's try a different approach: let's start making decisions as owners, not renters, of the big blue spinning ball.

We want to own our actions and decisions, and avoid the attitude of a mere temporary “renter” without regard to consequences. Kitsbow’s team is investing for the long-term, taking a view that spans generations, not just next year and certainly not with the short-sighted obsession for doing whatever it takes to make the next sale.

One of the culprits in this thinking is a concept sometimes called Fast Fashion. Constantly introducing apparel that is more desirable than the apparel you already have, in a whirling cycle of purchase-and-replace.

The average American wears a new item of apparel just five times before discarding it. Researchers calculate that each American sends 80 lbs of clothes to landfills each year.

In contrast, every Kitsbow piece is designed to last for years. And we make it durable, because we assume you’re moving, working, and stressing your gear in the rough and tumble outdoors.

This requires thoughtful decisions in how we assemble our gear, the thread and stitch used on each seam, and the choice of raw materials -- often much more expensive. Simply put, if we can make a shirt or a pair of shorts that lasts twice as long as the other brands, then regardless of how harmful it was to make it -- we’ve slashed that impact in half.

And inevitably it means that our products will nearly always be more expensive than the short-sighted alternatives. It also means that we offer repair services (where we lose money on each repair, but gain additional use of each garment).