Favorite Things Series: Sizzle - TAD Gear Explorer Jacket

Time to get friends involved! Faithful reader and longtime friend will be the first to take part in my new series entitled Favorite Things. This is an opportunity for folks to talk about one of their favorite item of clothing or accessory, one that truly defines them as a person.

The first entry comes from the man behind The Digital Edition, check out his post about it here. Although he freely admits that he "doesn't have much of a clothing arsenal, and doesn't consider myself an expert on fashion," he was up for the challenge. Sizzle is a huge TAD Gear fan, and owns many products from the company. His favorite though, is the Explorer jacket and here's what he has to say:

I might own a lot of TAD Gear jackets, but there's something about the Explorer jacket I picked up at the end of the summer that has me wearing it more than the rest. It definitely isn't the priciest or the highest performance of the bunch, but it's different. Unlike the others, this one sports a semi-rigid collar (as opposed to a hood) and forgoes any patch panels. Add to that that it's made of a somewhat more textured Rhino-Hide material, and I find it a lot more suitable for school and for just general about-town adventures. That seems to be about the most exploring I have asked of it, but, true to its namesake, I don't think it would let me down in the least should I decide to do some light outdoor adventuring. I know I made the decision to buy it more of stylistic reasons than of performance necessities, but trusting it wouldn't let me down if I should choose to test it is reassuring to say the least.

As Sizzle points out "thanks to a new marketing team, their gear has been picked up by a few style blogs (Selectism), and that part about having to explain and introduce their gear to the uninformed has become less necessary." Their main retail location is located in SF (more info on their website), however with their growing popularity, "they didn't sellout and cut costs to keep up with a growing customer base. They stepped up their production, but the quality is still the same, and if it sells out, it's gone, end of story. They don't bring gear back because that would go against the mentality of improving it at the next cycle. They move on. Of course, they make a few packs and accessories, but their pride and joy is their clothing line, or more precisely, their jackets."This jacket is a wonderful example of how special an item of clothing can be to someone, and I want to thank Sizzle for getting involved with my project here. I am really impressed with the personal touch that the owners of the company have put into their clothing as well as the attention to detail that goes into everything they produce. I look forward to seeing more things that he and others enjoy wearing and using every day.