Amid growth, Showers Pass doubles size with relocation

glad to hear that they are doing well…the way this winter and spring were, my showers pass gear was essential!

maybe they’ll start sewing the US, too, but I’m not going to hold my breath for that.

I really like my waterproof Showers Pass jacket, I just wish it was really waterproof as advertised… good thing it was a gift or I would have returned it…

As for Showers Pass quality, I understand that one must treat a waterproof material so it stays that way. What I don’t like is the sub-par zippers they use on the Event jacket. Other than that, it’s still the best bike jacket I’ve used.

I believe I WILL save my soda/beer can return money until I can afford something that gives workers HERE a half a chance to also afford to be a rain jacket. When is it going to STOP. Every manufacturing job eliminated cuts at least five other jobs, probably way more, truth to tell.

I bought my J&G rain jacket because it was made almost locally and everything else was made in China. It also has the longest pit zips of any coat I’ve ever seen. If J&G only had continued to make the XS instead of giving up because people kept buying them for their tiny children, I’d be even happier and not lost in it. Were it the right size and if it didn’t get tattooed with every bit of chain grease and brake crud in the neighborhood, it would even look good.

I’ve been trying to replace my current yellow rain pants after almost 10 years of use. Why is black my only choice? It’s raining and sometimes dark while I’m riding, black pants aren’t a color I want if I want to be seen by other road users, like cars.

how have i not heard of j&g until now? i will be looking into their rainwear before next season. and i will keep saving for the (locally made) North St. Panniers i have been wanting.

just because some people want low price above all else, there are still some of us who look at all the aspects of the purchase. buying locally made products has a greater net effect on my life than saving a few dollars on a jacket or bag.

Made in Oregon folks:

http://www.bicycleclothing.com/index.html

I’ve been happy with everything I’ve gotten from.
http://www.swrvestore.com/

They don’t have any hard-shell rain gear, but I don’t wear that shit anyways.

Chris I
Burr,
Do you want to make jackets all day? Is that something that we should be striving for as economic progress? I believe that workers here have the education to do better things.
Hopefully, by providing this income to impoverished countries, we can eventually enable them to improve health and education for themselves.

Do I personally? No. Probably no one does, including the Chinese people doing it. As it turns out, fabricating things is a necessary evil. Things don’t just magically appear. It also turns out that people need to work to make money to eat in modern society, so people have to work jobs they don’t necessarily want to do.

Would I see this as economic progress? Yes, it would mean having more jobs located in the US, cut down greenhouse gas emissions as well as not promoting bad labor practices.

Also, not all workers in the US are educated enough to do better things. I just listened to a piece how European companies have had to invest in a lot of training in the US because the workers were not educated well enough – at least not for manufacturing types of jobs. I don’t buy the US exceptionalist argument and there are obviously not enough jobs for the number of educated adults in this country.

While I agree that providing jobs/incomes in impoverished countries can improve health and education in other countries, that is not necessarily our job and there are a lot of other ways to promote those things without having to resort to that. Also, if we are providing jobs in that country, we should also be promoting keeping things local in that country, not shipping it worldwide so labor can be exploited.

Maybe if they would start making their coats in Portland I would buy one, but now, when people ask me what to buy jacket wise (and they do ask me) I steer them away from Shower’s Pass products.

Saying you are a Portland company, and being a Portland company are two entirely different things.

I for one try “Not” to buy products from companies that are riding the coat tails of Portland’s cycling popularity, without even trying to make the products here…

BIg mistake Shower’s Pass…..

Not to mention my disappointment that PDC money is being used to help them move….

Word on the street is that the the owners at SP are not always fair to their employees. I hope that changes, that they make amends to people they have been unfair to and that they build a more respectable company in the future.

Dabby
Wrong Dave.
People are willing to pay more for a jacket made here.

I did not mean no one will buy their product, many people – including me, are willing to send more for products made in the US. The question is, will more people buy a $500 jacket with a “Made in USA” tag than will buy the same jacket for $400 without the tag. My guess is no.

I probably don’t really have to re-iterate these facts, but then again maybe I should: (all from The Consumerist
http://consumerist.com/2011/05/chinese-ipad-workers-forced-to-sign-pledges-to-not-commit-suicide.html

“I-Pad Workers Forced To Sign “No Suicide” Pledge…. ….after a rash of suicides at the factories, workers were forced to sign pledges promising not to commit suicide and to instead “treasure their lives.”
In addition, they had to promise that if they did kill themselves, their families would only seek the minimum in legal damages.
* Illegal overtime is common. One payslip stated 98 hours of overtime. The legal limit is 36.
* Workers were pushed to only take one day off out of 13 days in order to meet the demand for iPad orders
* Public humiliation is required in some factories to discipline poorly performing workers
This is the human cost of the race towards the bottom that has become our consumer product cycle.

“You want fast, cheap, and in massive quantities? Somewhere, someone will bear that cost.”

Great products, always dry in Portland winters. But their customer service is as good as their product. Great news they are doing well… just hope some big conglomerate doesn’t move it and mess it up.

I work in the bicycle industry.
The shop I work in sells rainwear by SP.
I do not own an SP jacket.
Instead, I spent $100 last year on a J & G “Waterproof/Breathable” jacket, sewn right here in Oregon. Yes, the fit is somewhat boxy-utilitarian and no, it doesn’t make me look like a professional bike racer; but I’m not a professional bike racer and quite frankly the boxy cut fits over my chest and hips. It also repels the rain *beautifully* and without fail. I expect this jacket to last for years, and that is more than I can say for just about ANY jacket I’ve tried made Somewhere Else.

I’d rather pay premium for substance and quality than for style any day, even if I can’t buy it in a bike shop.

(Note: J & G will never make their ?Waterproof/Breathable” rainwear available to bike shops because the cost would be much higher and they want to keep the pricing competitive — so they sell direct online or by phone.)

Fascinating article found here:

http://www.rockyhillside.net/Blogs/index.php/2011/06/28/showers_pass_touring_jacket_review_updat