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im aware but still pretty ridiculous for ns to go all "lets go back to youtube edits" on this site and then sell out to some dude who doesnt know what a good place to shit is
Here's my experience with Virtika: quality gear that's worth the price if you get it during one of their sales.
Back when I was a struggling college student at Bridger/Big Sky University, Virtika kept me warm in the cold Montana Winters and dry during my winter and spring breaks to Mt. Hood.
Their customer service sent me a new pair of pants after I ripped the crotch on a pair that was 3 years old.
I have since moved on from my Virtika days, but I had nothing but positive experiences with their gear.
We're quick to jump on David Lesh and his antics, but just as quick to turn a blind eye to the modern day slavery utilized to create our modern convinces.
If someone was looking for quality gear on the cheap, one of the first places I'd tell 'em to look is Virtika during a summer sale.
>inb4 hate
QuaggyWe're quick to jump on David Lesh and his antics, but just as quick to turn a blind eye to the modern day slavery utilized to create our modern convinces.
am i missing something? does virtika produce their gear stateside or something?
End of the day, Virtika is giving money to this site still. I’m totally over the Lesh bad boy thing just like the rest of you but I also want this niche ski forum to stay alive. Late spring is not exactly the best time to advertise for a winter sport lol. You don’t have to buy the gear but the more links you click and close on here the better it is for the company to say its worth advertising with them. If we continue to trash Virtika, what company is gonna want to step in??
Unfortunately NS is in a position where they are super pressured by their parent company to hit sales marks and they can't afford to deny any level of advertising.
Virtika has been supporting ns since lesh started the company, regardless if you like him or not, he's contributed more to NS than most companies you love.
It should also be noted, virtika has never supported NS in anyway, potentially is a write off, and not a profitable import business, because,
David's mother writes those checks.
**This post was edited on Apr 5th 2023 at 12:45:19pm
I like them, they give the freeskiing community a collective place to shit on the brand, like stoning a criminal to death in the village square back in the day
Frankly, Lesh is a dick, but Virtika has the same core business model of almost all outerwear companies, which is to outsource production to China/Vietnam/Bangladesh/Indonesia and carry on your brand image as a "mountain company by mountain people for mountain people" or whatever and hope people don't notice.
I guess to me, the glaring problem of "are the people sewing my snow pants living in abject poverty and am I encouraging it by buying this product?" is a huge and industry wide problem, so Lesh riding a snowmobile where he shouldn't or photoshopping himself pooping into a lake or whatever seems kinda trivial
IsaacNW82Frankly, Lesh is a dick, but Virtika has the same core business model of almost all outerwear companies, which is to outsource production to China/Vietnam/Bangladesh/Indonesia and carry on your brand image as a "mountain company by mountain people for mountain people" or whatever and hope people don't notice.
I guess to me, the glaring problem of "are the people sewing my snow pants living in abject poverty and am I encouraging it by buying this product?" is a huge and industry wide problem, so Lesh riding a snowmobile where he shouldn't or photoshopping himself pooping into a lake or whatever seems kinda trivial
even if they're the exact same supply chain etc (which i really doubt), patagonia for example makes high quality gear that they encourage you to repair rather than replace, and the owner bought like 10 million acres of land for a national park
meanwhile lesh makes mediocre gear and crashes planes for attention. i don't think i'm following you; there are lots of companies to give your money to and virtika isn't a good one
i'm 100% fine with them sponsoring NS though, that's a win for both parties
SofaKingSickeven if they're the exact same supply chain etc (which i really doubt), patagonia for example makes high quality gear that they encourage you to repair rather than replace, and the owner bought like 10 million acres of land for a national park
meanwhile lesh makes mediocre gear and crashes planes for attention. i don't think i'm following you; there are lots of companies to give your money to and virtika isn't a good one
i'm 100% fine with them sponsoring NS though, that's a win for both parties
I mean, Patagonia according to its own internal audits found exploitation, forced labor, and human trafficking (mostly in Taiwan) in its supply chain in 2011, and then again was named in 2020 by a congressional report as having credible reports of using forced labor (this time in Xinjiang).
I guess my point is the rage over Lesh's antics just seem really unimportant when the entire industry is still struggling to not traffic humans or use forced labor
FWIW I actually think Patagonia is one of the better companies in the industry still. I mean, to my knowledge, nobody else even bothered to look to see if they had humans rights abuses in their supply chain
IsaacNW82FWIW I actually think Patagonia is one of the better companies in the industry still. I mean, to my knowledge, nobody else even bothered to look to see if they had humans rights abuses in their supply chain
yeah that's what i was thinking. i'm not disagreeing about those aspects, the human rights abuses in some of our supply chains are ghoulish but i'm sure virtika is on the same level at the absolute best. so, generously set that aside and pretend that aspect is a wash and then compare the companies and i can't think of much reason to give virtika my money rather than others
QuaggyHere's my experience with Virtika: quality gear that's worth the price if you get it during one of their sales.
Back when I was a struggling college student at Bridger/Big Sky University, Virtika kept me warm in the cold Montana Winters and dry during my winter and spring breaks to Mt. Hood.
Their customer service sent me a new pair of pants after I ripped the crotch on a pair that was 3 years old.
I have since moved on from my Virtika days, but I had nothing but positive experiences with their gear.
We're quick to jump on David Lesh and his antics, but just as quick to turn a blind eye to the modern day slavery utilized to create our modern convinces.
If someone was looking for quality gear on the cheap, one of the first places I'd tell 'em to look is Virtika during a summer sale.
>inb4 hate
Honestly though, he did a lot for our freeride team in their starting days. He does massive discounts on gear for teams/clubs. Pants for like 70 bucks and jackets were 100? This was years ago, but there would have been no way to get my team branded and school colored jackets without them.
On top of that, he was always super courteous in our business. All orders went through him specifically and when an order was messed up one year, he personally called me and made it right. Mailed us a new set of pants and jackets or two in the correct size, let us keep the old ones, and then sent the team a ton of t-shirts balaclavas hats and other crap. Was really cool to be doing for a team getting 60% or whatever off already.
Idk his antics are douchey. That's kind been his brand for 15 years. IDK why people are surprised. Last Friday came out like a decade or more ago. But honestly for the price point the gear is pretty damn good. Id rather see people in Virtika than dope or montec lmao.
cyphersi have never torn up alpine tundra with a snowmobile or taken a shit in a protected lake so i’d say my sense of superiority is very real
hE tOrE uP tHe aLpInE TuNdRa!!! Lmao shut the fuck up have you ever been to Colorado? People tear up shit in their vehicles on public land every second of every day. You don’t even want to know what kind of degenerate shit I’ve done in those woods.
Craw_DaddyOh that kid is definitely the type to unblock people to see if they responded to him. Total bitch just like you.
hes blocking you because you're annoying, he doesn't want to see what you have to say because its cringe. You're fuming inside because you probably just figured out that most people on this site dont even read what you say.
eheathhes blocking you because you're annoying, he doesn't want to see what you have to say because its cringe. You're fuming inside because you probably just figured out that most people on this site dont even read what you say.
tutipupsu know that u can just press the show button and dont have to unblock people to see what they wrote?
Dang i would be curious what the show rate is lol. I bet you its pretty high. If I blocked someone i would most definitely be like “oh what did this piece of shit post now?!” And click show lol
partyandBSDang i would be curious what the show rate is lol. I bet you its pretty high. If I blocked someone i would most definitely be like “oh what did this piece of shit post now?!” And click show lol
i guarantee you i always press show if i blocked somebody
I do think it's worth noting that a lot of their gear is made in Vietnam, China, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, etc. Pretty sure it's a similar situation with arcteryx. Sad to say that at this point I just automatically assume that any given outerwear company is sourcing their gear from factories in countries with minimal worker protection laws, unless I see evidence otherwise.
StaticPatagonia is hypocritical as fuck, they don't support skiing, they actively work to stop ski resort development for their own PR.
IsaacNW82I mean, Patagonia according to its own internal audits found exploitation, forced labor, and human trafficking (mostly in Taiwan) in its supply chain in 2011, and then again was named in 2020 by a congressional report as having credible reports of using forced labor (this time in Xinjiang).
I guess my point is the rage over Lesh's antics just seem really unimportant when the entire industry is still struggling to not traffic humans or use forced labor
eh after the news of him today, yeah kinda important
