Brands and Stuff That You Love (Emphasis on Quality)

[Darcy]

If you're a fan of TOM BIHN bags, you probably have other favorite brands that have earned your loyalty through their dedication to quality, style, and maybe the environment or fair labor practices.

Here are a few of my favorites...

Taiga Works - Fleece jackets, hats, and mittens, raincoats, shells, down vests and jackets for men and women. Manufactured in Canada.

Sierra Trading Post - You can find some amazing bargains here. They list the country of origin for everything that they sell.

Certified Jeans - Jeans made in the U.S.A. out of U.S.A. grown organic cotton.

Maggie's Organics - Socks, tops, tights. Made in Nicaragua.

Sanita Clogs - Shoes. Made in Denmark/Poland/Ukraine.

[PM4HIRE]

Darcy, checkout http://www.wintergreendesigns.com/ for American made jackets.

[Darcy]

Darcy, checkout http://www.wintergreendesigns.com/ for American made jackets.

Wow, cool! I had never heard of them. Thank you.

[scholar]

http://www.utilikilt.com

utili kilts... they sell freedom, with VERY high quality, both on the product, and the service

j

[Meryddian]

I'm a huge fan of Columbia sportswear (http://www.columbia.com/). In particular, I love their jackets and footwear. I've had their "Bugaboo" coat for a couple years now, and it's kept me dry and warm in all kinds of weather. If only they made a stylish trenchcoat / long winter coat, I'd *really* be in outerwear heaven!

I also like PacSafe (http://www.pacsafe.com/) for two things - their mesh PacSafe bag protectors (I've had one since '99), and their "unslashable" traveler gear (money belt, etc). Their bags aren't quite so stylish and pretty as Tom Bihn's, but I like that they have reinforcements in them.

[grumpy3b]

Excellent idea Darcy...THANKS...

It really is difficult to find products we can trust to be made honestly anymore. And while I still have problems trusting so-called organic/non-gmo products made in countries other then the US and Canookia I am certainly going to look into some of the sites you indicated...

Now I am not sure if all of their products are, well, honestly made, but I have gone back to wearing Earth Shoes...yup the old 70s Earth Shoes are still alive and kicking!

I have foot issues and their shoes are the only shoes I have found that make walking/hiking possible for me again. Something nice is they have Vegan shoe lines.

http://www.earthshoes.us

I just ordered some of their new men's hiking boots so it will be interesting to see how they work out. BTW, their men's shoes do not come in wide sizes but I wear a 9.5D in their shoe and it fits my stubby fat feet. Something about the Kalso sole design positions the foot so one does not need a wide shoe...and weird but darned if it is not true for me. I normally wear a 8.5-9 EE or E width depending. But regular D width is fine.

Now, armed with my trusty Bihn Bag-o-the-day I can wander around dragging my laptop with me pretty much anywhere...and still get work done no matter how much I try to avoid it.

[PM4HIRE]

Well Darcy, you seem to have a thing for Canadian stuff, then checkout http://www.tilley.com/ for your next hat. I've had the LT 5 hat for years. Tilley has an international reputation.

[GaryS]

Well Darcy, you seem to have thing for Canadian stuff, then checkout http://www.tilley.com/ for your next hat. I've had the LT 5 hat for years. Tilley has an international reputation.

Oooo, Tilley hats.

[Darcy]

Hey man, Tom Bihn wears a Tilley hat!

[GaryS]

Hey man, Tom Bihn wears a Tilley hat!

Really? On purpose?



I'll bet Josh doesn't wear a Tilley hat. (Now, a silly hat maybe...)

[Josh]

[b]I'll bet Josh doesn't wear a Tilley hat. (Now, a silly hat maybe...)

Hey! I wouldn't consider any of my hats silly! Other people however.....that's their call.

[Darcy]

Still Made in USA.com

[GaryS]

Still Made in USA.com

She doesn't list Tom Bihn. She does list Tough Traveler though.

[scholar]

hey, the tough traveler factory store is right down the street from me, and they are definitely a great company to deal with... all of my bags with one exception before I got my first bihn was from them... the one exception was a targus bag, that I absolutely hated... so when I checked out TT, just didn't like the styling on them, so I searched around and found you guys

[PM4HIRE]

Click http://www.chuckroast.com/ to view. Great quality at competitive prices.