UKH

Hello

I've been having problems trying to get some of my Rab gear mended. Has anyone got any advice/suggestions that may help?

They have quoted me £30 to mend 2 faulty zips on a gilet - firstly this isn't actually my fault (I have a good chunk of outdoor gear that I look after, this is the only items with faulty zips).. does anyone know anywhere that would replace zips cheaper or if I've been misquoted? It seems very steep!

Secondly.. they've quoted me £50 to replace a patch on my down jacket!

Also they said softshell and fleece repairs were not possible?


I am quite simply stunned with the pricing and ability of one of the Uk's top outdoor clothing manufacturers...


Any tips on where else I can go to fix my gear that won't cost close to the actual price it was purchased for?!
OR anyone have a contact at rab who might be able to help??

Thanks!!

In reply to Lucy.a:

Patches on down jackets are 'traditionally' done using gaffer tape ...

If you wanted a fancier repair, then you could probably glue on a matching piece of nylon (or whatever) fabric. A 'simple' sewn repair would have to be done by hand. If you were prepared to take a lot of the jacket apart, you could do fancier repair by machine, but that would time and effort. Hence the 50 quid perhaps.


Anything's repairable. Whether a particular repair makes economic sense is another question.


These guys are serious - https://www.scottishmountaingear.com - so perhaps make an enquiry of them.

Failing that, it's not rocket science: you might be able to do what you need yourself, if you can get access to a sewing machine. It's always satisfying to try the DIY approach, even if the results aren't as cosmetically good as the pros can manage.

Good luck, anyway.

In reply to Lucy.a: Sounds fairly normal. Getting outdoor clothing professionally repaired to a very high standard is hardly ever worth it. It's just the natural consequence of nearly all the UK's textile manufacturing capacity being moved offshore to China, Vietnam etc..

Also, there is a very big difference in the standard of professional repair that would be considered acceptable by a major clothing company and what many climbers would be happy with. Hence the confusion when manufacturers decide that many garments are not 'repairable'. They tend to mean repairable to an 'as new' condition, not as we want, just repairable to a functional condition.

Your best bet is just to go to a big city clothing alteration shop. There is no shortage of small, busy shop in towns and cities up and down the country that'll do a passable job at replacing zips and other basic repairs and alterations. The place down the road from me in Oxford put a new front zip in a down jacket for me for £20 and has altered legs on softshell trousers for £5-£8. (In one case, I'd been quoted £40 elsewhere but ended up paying just £8.)

In reply to Lucy.a:

I've seen a Rab and an SMG repair of a down jacket. In both cases they replaced the entire panel and added additional filling. The repair was invisible... unless you knew what you where looking for- the stitching on that panel was slightly different to the others.

Zips tend to be very expensive to replace; as far as I am aware they tend to remove the entire zip run with a new one. If you say the zip is faulty then they should probably repair it free of charge- unless it's over 2 years old. Generally speaking a lot of manufactures warranty covers the garment for two years.

I suppose it depends on what sort of repair you want to go for. I've got a ME Bastion jacket with duct tape on it; I'm not planning having it repaired anytime soon. Ive heard tales that duct tape becomes brittle in the cold, but I've not notice yet.

Cheers
Andy

PS

3rd Party Repairs

SMG- https://www.scottishmountaingear.com
LSR- http://www.lancashiresportsrepairs.co.uk

In reply to Lucy.a:

Thanks!

Any tips for other places that people have used would be greatly appreciated!

I think the £50 is a bit steep, especially when the same repair cost half the price a year ago.
The fabric patch needs replacing.. the jacket cost circa £100.. it can't have cost £50 per fabric patch on a down jacket otherwise the thing would be worth over £2000.

In reply to Lucy.a:

When a seam split in the hood of my rab lofoten waterproof they repaired it for free despite being around 18 months old. The stop on my rab belay jacket failed and the local dry cleaners/sewing shop offered to replace it for £5 if I wanted a bog standard zip or £10 if I wanted a waterproof zip like the one currently on the jacket.

Regarding the patches on the down jacket, I'd buy a stick on repair patch or stick on a patch with seam grip. Either way I'd do it myself.

In reply to Lucy.a:
If you've repaired any clothing, you'll know it can be pretty time-consuming and quite fiddly to do, especially something like a down jacket, or anything double-layered. Time is money, and with UK overheads, I'm not surprised at a £50 charge. And no, it doesn't mean making a new jacket would cost £2000...

Zips are often one of the easiest repairs, since you just take the old one off and sew a new one on; no mucking about with layers, fillings, undoing panel seams, etc. Even plackets aren't much additional effort.

In reply to Lucy.a:
TBH I think you're being a bit fussy and over-dramatic, those prices sound OK and fair to me for the work involved, and they may be not far off the price of the item, but the cost of replacing a zip is not going to vary much whatever the cost of the jacket is.

In reply to Lucy.a: who did the same repair 6 months ago? Unless you're doing something outrageous that sounds like reason to complain - 20something weeks isn't long

In reply to JayPee630:

Yes, manufacturer repairs can be pricey (not only in outdoor clothing, anywhere!) as they have slightly different standards. As someone else mentioned, you wouldn't know it was even repaired, which is a lot more different from duct tape patching. On the other hand, you will be seen as hardcore climber with few duct tape patches on your jacket.

In reply to Lucy.a:


You do realise that the patch doesn't magically attach itself to the jacket don't you? You're paying a small amount for the material, plus for the time involved with removing the torn section, attaching the new layer of material, refilling it with the right amount of down, plus the cost of the down. Being Rab it would almost certainly come back professionally cleaned too (usually costs around £15?), plus I'm guessing the postage is included? Sounds good value to me.

However, as other people have suggested, I wouldn't bother getting it repaired. Instead I'd use Tenacious Tape to patch it. I've got it on my Rab down jacket and it's been on for about 6 years now.

Then you say it's £30 for two replacement zips? I'm guessing at least one is for a pocket? Significantly more fiddly to remove and replace therefore even more time involved. Is one a water 'proof' zip too? They're heinously expensive. Especially if you're getting the exact right version, rather than one of a random size that's cut to length.

If you want a second opinion SMG and LSR are both worth a phonecall for a quote.

I'm assuming that the gilet is out of warranty too?

In reply to Lucy.a:

I've used Lancashire Sports Repairs in the past to put zips on down and fleece jackets (and tents). However I don't remember them being amazingly cheap - but they did do a good job.

In reply to Lucy.a:

LSR (link in post above) did a great job replacing zip on my sleeping bag. They charged about £30 I think and return postage would have been another six or seven quid. So £30 doesn't sound too bad to me for two gilet zips repaired by the manufacturer.

Duc or spinnaker tape is the way to go with duvet repairs
https://www.google.co.uk/?gws_rd=ssl#q=spinnaker+tape+repair

In reply to pacman:

"> Duc or spinnaker tape is the way to go with duvet repairs



That's the stuff, being trying to remember the name since this thread was posted.

I was in Tiso's old Inverness store probably 15 or so years ago, wearing my then new Rab with a small hole in it. Chap behind the till produced a small piece of spinnaker tape from beneath the till, gave it to me for nowt, and it lasted until I replaced the jacket last year. I rounded off the corners with scissors before simply sticking it on.

I have also used clear tenacious tape, but preferred the "badge of honour" of a black patch on a blue down jacket I rather suspect I actually caught it on a door latch rather than doing anything heroic though!

In reply to Lucy.a:




I think I was charged around £20 or so when Rab were in Sheffield and they just sewed a down filled patch over the hole, or it might have been a tiny bit less, but thereabouts.

http://www.mountaineering-designs.co.uk/

These people may be cheaper if you just ask for a simple patch to be put over the hole.

If you can find the same kind of pertex online or one which looks pretty similar, you could sew up the hole quite simply yourself, and then sew a patch over it and not tie a not in the thread, but leave a bit sticking out and follow the thread round again through the holes already made in the patch, and then tidy up any ends of thread poking out/away from the jacket, before carefully putting a tiny bit of superglue onto each bit of thread as you go around the patch.

Have done that on a sleeping bag and it's a robust enough repair, and it doesn't as bad as the hole just being sewn together with a needle and thread and left as it is.

In reply to Ysgo:

I do realise that you have to attach the patch, in addition to creating one. However the average down jacket has 20+ patches sewn together, with pockets, zips, hem adjusters and a lining.

To replace one patch on a jacket for £50 on a jacket that cost £100 for the entire thing (including the mark up from a retailer which is usually about 70%..that suggests the jacket would cost around £30 to make and ship out to the retailer).

Rab do not cover the cost of postage.. this is £5 + the cost of the method I choose to ship to them.

Also, the clean is not free and would cost an additional £30.


I am a student. I have bought numerous rab products, I have been a member of the BMC for a very long time and yet the repair cost for the jacket has doubled in price within a year and stands to cost me £60 (60% the cost of the jacket when it was brand new).

It doesn't really make sense to get it mended unless it has sentimental value. Which maybe is what is being aimed for as I'm pretty sure the company would prefer that customers buy new items.

But it does seem a shame not to be able to repair and reuse equipment.

In reply to Lucy.a:

Thanks for all the advice!!

In reply to Lucy.a:


<Pedant alert>
If only.... You described a margin of 70%, not a markup of 70%. A margin of 70% is pie in the sky for most of the climbing outdoor trade.

The mark up for retailers in the outdoor sector is typically 70% net. So your £100 gilet will typically have cost them £50. This does not necessarily detract from your other points, of course.
<Pedantry over, sorry>

In reply to IainWhitehouse:

That's pretty interesting. Thanks It's good to learn new things!

In reply to Lucy.a:


A sewn-through down jacket is generally a three-panel body, and single panel sleeve. Doubling up, that gives ten panels. They are sewn through, then filled, and finally assembled. It's done in an order that makes it easy to manufacture. But not so easy to dismantle and repair.

And it's made in China, where labour is cheap.

Yes, it's sad that repairs are expensive, but that's an artefact of mass production vs bespoke manufacture. Go and ask how much it would cost to get some item of clothing fully made to measure, from scratch. That's a better comparison for bespoke repairs.