4th of July Reflections

As we celebrate the 4th of July, we bring you a little reflection on what it means to design and make our gear in the USA.

Seattle has been our home from the beginning. It all started in the basement of our founders’ home, and continues in our factory in the SODO neighborhood of Seattle and our retail space in South Lake Union. While the city has gone through major changes since we started in 1972, our philosophy hasn’t.

To the greatest extent possible, we create each garment, sleeping bag, and comforter at our Seattle facility. Some of our pieces, like the Snowy Owl sleeping bag, take years of training and are completed by only one or two of our specialized sewers. Other items may take less time to sew, but every piece that comes out of our factory receives the highest level of care and attention to detail.

In most cases, each piece is finished with a specific person in mind, their name scrawled across a tag as the item moves from the cutting room to the sewing floor, on to the stuffing station and through inspection.

We want to make sure you’re getting the highest quality and longest lasting garment, bag, or comforter possible, and to do so we hire some of the best sewers and production staff out there. In a time when the average American changes jobs every four years, many of our production folks have been with us for decades.

As an independently owned and operated company led by the original founders, we have oversight and control over all aspects of your down gear’s production, from design to final inspection. In addition to excellent quality control, we also strive for a minimal carbon footprint by limiting the shipment of materials before and after construction. As a result, we are are able to guarantee excellent quality and maintain a commitment to ethical treatment of our employees and the environment.

We take great pride in what we create, and are humbled to be trusted by adventurers, explorers, and sleepers across the world.

The post 4th of July Reflections appeared first on Expedition Tales.