Their push for lighter, less bulk, flexibility in mountain gear and fabrics has certainly impacted durability. Design-wise they are advanced and innovative, especially working with Gore, but they've blown into so many new markets - snow, dirt, pavement, casual - now they've definitely lost their edge in bullet-proof gear that you get from testing production gear. Too much reliance on design and not enough real-world testing, and I'm sure cost reduction pressure, results in quality gaps. They redefined the OEM PG&A industry, crushing the OEM's most profitable business line, and opening the door for so many others at different price points - think Motorfist, 509, FXR, ToBe, etc. Best bang for buck is Motorfist now - who knows what the screwballs at Textron will do with this, but you can find some crazy good deals on really good Motorfist gear on the web. Klim used to have great warranty and service, pre-Poo - used it many times for repairs in their little shop in ID. Those days are gone. Expect nothing better from Motorfist. The rest are overpriced at full MSRP, like alot of Klim gear now.
Reference point - started buying Klim in 2000 with the original Valdez and pants, many sets of base, mid, outer layers, gloves, helmets, myself and family. Easily into $xx,xxx of gear. Stealth jacket and pants the past few years. I stopped buying first year products 5 years ago - the improvements in year 2/3 in new designs were often big - testing works. Version 2 of just about every product is much better than version 1. Was also just matching up gear this week to work with a new BCA float vest, and I was looking closely at the lessor quality of stitching and findings - zips, etc. - in the past five years. This is all geek stuff, but, what you see and are experiencing is real, and after this week, was compelled to reply.
