michael pollak

patagonia repair #2

in january the zipper on my beloved patagonia softshell broke. that pretty much sucked, and because i am currently reading a book about the company patagonia, i remembered their claim to repair and stand behind their product.

so three years after buying the jacket i contacted patagonia about the problem and how to fix it. i was impressed when i heared back from their european branch with information on how to have it fixed. a few emails later i shipped my jacket to portugal, where their repair shop is.

they told me it will take about four weeks to process it all, and after 3 weeks i got my parcel back. patagonia covered the cost of the repair, i only paid shipping to portugal, so as far as i am concerned that’s outstanding and i am happy about that.

interestingly my jacket felt strange when i got it back and after wearing it for a week i figured out why. not sure if the problem here is really to be blamed on patagonia or on their repair partner, but they sewed in a zip that was too short, and thus the jacket now looks a little strange. i got a different kind of zipper, but that was fine with me. maybe that’s obsessive, but where and how the zipper ends is an important point in how well a jacket fits. the lower seam now is flared out and that looks kinda stupid to me. if i’d have paid for that service i’d be not happy, i guess i will inform patagonia. it s a shame they stick to their products but then fail at doing it properly.

To sum it up, I give them high praises for standing behind their product and fix things instead going the usual consumerism way of throwing it away. I just think this should be done properly too, because if the jacket now looks ridiculous I might just have to buy a new one anyways.