Brand loyalty!

G

goatariba

Joined
Apr 18, 2008
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307
Was hunting for some quality tarps online and stumble on a canadian company offering them. Did some light research and found them to be reputable. While looking through their selection i found two packs that were clear clones of Snugpak backs, both the sleeka force 35 and rocket packs. i've attached pictures of the snugpak packs aswell as the packs from this other brand. they could not be any more identical aside from the Brand name of the company switched out for snugpak's. i contacted snugpak and they were oblivious to these twin packs and are now looking into it on their own.
My question is this. Should it stop me from buying other items from this company? i do not recognize any of their other items as copies but i don't know how to be certain at this point. also i am a longtime snugpak user. furthermore the "other" brand is selling them at half the snugpak cost.
the first two photos are actual snugpak. the second two come from this other company. Furthermore they have even done their best to copy the snugpak names for these packs. instead of "sleeka force" and "rocket" they are "life force" and "shuttle." al very fishy to me though they seem to have a decent reputation as a company.
i was unsure about naming names here so let me know if it's alright to do so and i will post the brand so that perhaps other items they are selling might be identified as clones. this is my hope for this thread. so Mods let me know if it's alright or not. it is a camping specialty company.
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Does this company make the packs or just sell them?, I can't see a problem if they just sell the knock off packs, but if there are makeing them and selling the as there own design than thats a different story,

I get what your saying , sometime if gear has bad mojo attached to it I tend to just throw it in the closet and not use , so if you think it will leave bad mojo on the tarps I would stay away if not grab em.

cya
jimi
 
i don't know if they do the actual manufacturing, but the embroidered emblem is the same as the rest of the gear (tents, sleeping bags etc) that they sell.
 
Sorry, but they just all look like army surplus style packs to me.....Not that I want to be overly contraversal, but can Snugpack lay any real claim to the design. Again just saying the snugpack isn't really so far off from an ALICE pack in the looks department. There are a tonne of maxpedition look alikes also. The thing that draws people to maxpedition stuff has much to do with the quality of materials and construction. The same would go for these bags is my guess.

Snugpack would have a claim if they have a design patent pertaining to a feature that they developed - e.g. some kind of snap closure or novel suspension system. I don't thing they can lay claim to bags that look like an ALICE pack...
 
They don't look like knock offs too me, pretty distinct differences. As for sharing common traits, well pretty much all of my packs have buckle down hoods and side pockets, and aside from the colour that looks like all they have in common.
 
yea I wouldn't exactly say they are knockoffs either... there is a resemblance, but I've seen similar traits in many other brands as well.

I agree with ankar and kgd on this one.
 
To add to the above... Could it be that snugpack (or another reputable pack manufacturer) is making these packs for the "camping specialty store?" Danner makes boots for Cabela's, and while these boots carry both the Danner and Cabela's name, many of Cabela's house branded items only carry the Cabela's name- even though they are manufactured by another company and sold by Cabela's at a deep discount relative to buying the "name brand" merchandise. In that vein, is Snugpack a manufacturer or a merchant? I'm reminded of the sage wisdom from Bernard Levine's forum concerning markings on knives... "Most markings on knives are merchants' marks, not manufacturers' marks." In other words, does snugpack make the bags or outsource the manufacturing to a jobber that puts snugpack on the bag?
 
hlee said:
To add to the above... Could it be that snugpack (or another reputable pack manufacturer) is making these packs for the "camping specialty store?" Danner makes boots for Cabela's, and while these boots carry both the Danner and Cabela's name, many of Cabela's house branded items only carry the Cabela's name- even though they are manufactured by another company and sold by Cabela's at a deep discount relative to buying the "name brand" merchandise. In that vein, is Snugpack a manufacturer or a merchant? I'm reminded of the sage wisdom from Bernard Levine's forum concerning markings on knives... "Most markings on knives are merchants' marks, not manufacturers' marks." In other words, does snugpack make the bags or outsource the manufacturing to a jobber that puts snugpack on the bag?
Click to expand...

Their website explicitly claims they are a manufacturer of clothing and sleeping bags. so perhaps they do outsource the packs, it's a very distinct possibility.

As to the similarities between the packs they are in fact identical in form. perhaps only differing in materials (i have not been able to confirm this.) the snugpak people have confirmed with me that they are identical and that they will as a company be looking into these twin packs.

My question was intended to be more theoretical however, not bound to this example necessarily.
 
I don't "buy" brand loyalty at all in general.

One brand can make a very good product and the next one completly crappy. You generally buy an indication about how serious they are but it doesn't mean their next product will be as good.

It is particularly true when a company launches a new product line: being a good sleeping bag manifacturer doesn't mean you'll necessarly figure out how to make a good backpack.

My point is products have to be judged to their own merits.

Now about that particular pack problem.
Those are pretty plain packs, no great original feature to brag of. Actually, the snugpak pack is very close to the Karrimor Sabre version, and all those are based on the british mod versions, so the copy problem doesn't look so bad to me.

On a side note, I've heard the Snugpak packs aren't as good as premium brand ones.
 
I read an article in Backpacking magazine (I think) about a backpack factory in Vietnam. At least five companies had their bags manufactured there.

Apparently it was hard to keep designs distinct among the brands. If one company came up with a new pocket it eventually found it's way into all the brands. There wasn't separate lines for each brand, they would do a lot for one company and then do a lot for another company.

Maybe the factory who made the packs for Snugpack decided to go into business for themselves. I think this might be a future trend. The Chinese are probably getting tired of making products at wholesale prices when they could be getting retail prices.

Chad
 
ChadHahn, you've got a good point there.

I've seen exactly that happening with mid-range flashlights and binoculars that are outsourced.
 
While the packs look similar they don't look like identical copies or clones. I'm sure I read somewhere that as long as there are 5 differences between two designs then they are treated as different designs.

So change the color, a couple of buckles, add or remove a pocket and you've got your own design. Might not be true but look at how many very similar sneakers you see from different companies.
 
goatariba - you clearly like snugpack designs so I suggest sticking with that company in making your purchases. Knockoffs usually don't survive too long because in the end they are just copies and can't make their own innovations. In their quest for producing cheap copies they also cut many corners on material quality and workmanship.

The real innovative companies keep forging ahead and producing novel products and gain their reputation based on good quality. Stick with the companies you like and trust. What is a 25% savings in money for a product that you have to re-buy in half the period of time? Well after replacement, you've lost 50% by going the cheap route!
 
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