Fjällräven quality changing?

[forestwalker]

In my Forester trousers the seams were abysmal. Failure in the crotch, failure around the leg pockets (lost stuff that way). Not tears, but plain "rotted" after less than a years of use.

 

[barryasmith]

I have read this with interest. I am a happy Fjallraven customer and have been really impressed by the range and quality of their products. I own trousers, jackets and hats in G1000 and have had no problems at all. Their kit suits me well as I am tall and they seem to cut for that.

As for the brand being liked by football fans I think that it excellent news for outdoors folk that use ebay.. Our friends on the terraces will soon get bored of their Arctic fox logos and move onto the next fad. This will mean that the likes of you and I can buy barely used kit from ebay to use outdoors. Happy days!

My only complaint about Fjallraven is that the Barents trousers don't have the internal pocket dividers that I love in my foresters - if you can sort that out Fjallraven i will be really pleased.

Best

Barry

 

[oetzi]

My qualifycation for judging Fjallraven: I have worked in outdoor/maintaineering shops from 1986 till early 2011 and continously sold the stuff. My first Fjallraven clothing was bought way back in 1977, when some of our group at the german alpine club sent a member to Oslo by train to do some serious shopping with unavailable items ( he came back with a large backpack and two duffle bags). I always wore their trousers because they did fit, were hard wearing and I could get them quite cheap.

G-1000 really sucks nowadays.
I am wearing FR trousers, the model "Iceland", 9 out of 12 month a year. Usually I grew out of them rather than wear them out. My trousers older than 4 years are getting quite thin at the bottom now from cycling to work (2x10Km)etc. On the other side I have several 1-2 year old ones who are shot in that region right now. One of the last pairs was worn thorugh in just one season of cycling to work and everyday wear.

And another thing: no two trousers of one type and size are alike. Fjellraven ist nowadays totally unable/unwilling to cut and sew conform to a specific size. Try a specific model in, say, size 50 and three different ones may vary somewhere between 48 and 52. That really sucks at the point of sale. Thats incompetence and greed at a very high level.

Last year I wrote a letter to Fjellraven on this subject and gave them all the details I had acquired at work, never got an answer.
Maybe Molesworth can forward this post? (Not that it would make a difference anyway)

 

[Nonsuch]

I'd say the balance of opinion on this thread is that there is a problem.

 

[oetzi]

The obviously still sell enough. So its not much of a problem for them.

 

[Siberianfury]

i have a pair that i purchased second hand, not sure how old they are but the quality is great, however i prefer 511s as i find them more hardwearing and the pocket layout is superiour.

 

[Holme]

IF there is a change in quality - I´m not shure - then that change took place some 30 years ago. Up until then, Fjällräven was a quality brand with an inventive approach that made high quality products, made in Sweden, at least to a large part.

Then the company was sold to venture capitalists that changed the brand in to some sort of third range leisure wear fashion company with a well known result. I don´t know when Fjällräven last manufactured any of their products in Sweden, but it must have been decades ago.

I still have quite a few Fjällräven products from late 1970-ies that work just fine but I haven´t even contemplated of buying their contemporary products.

 

[aloha]

This is going to be a bit off topic and I apologize but, you all appear to be fairly knowledgeable about this and the thread still appears to be relatively active so I'm going to go ahead and ask in hopes that someone would be able to assist me.

Basically someone is trying to sell me their Fjällräven Expedition jacket and I want to know if it is authentic.

The first thing I noticed was that the zippers on this jacket are by 'Salmi'. I was not familiar with that brand so I googled 'Salmi zipers Fjällräven' which is how I ended up on this forum. Anyways, I was expecting Ykk or RiRi but, judging by the post a few slots above it looks like Fjällräven uses them from time to time. Can anybody confirm whether or not Salmi zippers are used on their Expedition jackets?

Second, the buttons on this Expedition jacket say 'Kuang Huei' on the back of them. Does anybody else own any Fjällräven items that have buttons by this company? Not that I know anything about buttons but, the kuang huei name conjures up images of knock off jackets coming out of china. The front of the buttons have the Fjällräven emblem/logo and looks ok.

A few more areas of concerns:

-I can't find the tag that states where the jacket was made in
-The size tag indicates that the jacket is xxl Japan and xl Europe. The Fjällräven website only has sizes xs to Medium so am I correct in assuming that Fjällräven does not make this item in XL?

I wrote this with the hope that an owner of an authentic Fjällräven Expedition jacket would be able to help me determine if this is an authentic item or not.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this!

 

[Tiley]

I bought some Forester trousers about ten years ago and have worn them extensively. They look used but not beyond all hope. I bought another pair, based on this experience, a couple of years ago and they are a greatly inferior product. The seams are OK - just, the pocket linings are a revolting slippery fabric and the G1000 on my newer pair is NOT the same as my first ones - it is lighter and more flimsy.

Despite all that, I still like and wear them but mostly because they dry so quickly when wet.

It's a shame that there should be such a drop off in quality in what used to be a good, reliable brand.

 

[oetzi]

The first thing I noticed was that the zippers on this jacket are by 'Salmi'.


A few more areas of concerns:

-I can't find the tag that states where the jacket was made in
-The size tag indicates that the jacket is xxl Japan and xl Europe. The Fjällräven website only has sizes xs to Medium so am I correct in assuming that Fjällräven does not make this item in XL?

I wrote this with the hope that an owner of an authentic Fjällräven Expedition jacket would be able to help me determine if this is an authentic item or not.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this!

All my jackets (the oldest one is +10 years old) have zippers by Salmi, the rear of the press studs reads "WASA", one has a labels with sizes like you mentioned.

 

[Barn Owl]

I recently bought some Barents in dark olive and black and a pair in olive from different shops.

the dark olive pair appear to be more robust,they just feel that way.
I can't put my finger on how but they are.

Never had any from years ago though.

 

[aloha]

Thanks for the reply! I saw someone with the kanken bag and the bag also used 'wasa' buttons.

Has anyone seen Kuang Huei' buttons on their Fjällräven gear?

Also, called customer service and they told me they actually have xl sizes in the expedition which was a surprise because these things are massive.

 

[Gill]

There was something in the newspapers a few months ago about Fjallraven jackets becoming the new 'Burberry' clothing for some football fans? Not sure if this has any bearing on the quality of their products though; where is the clothing now made? Outsourced to China perhaps?

Footie casuals have been wearing Fjallraven gear as Terracewear probably longer than us bushies oi polloi in Manchester and other shops have been selling it for donkeys.In fact this is maybe cause of the high price tags as its classed as designer wear rather than clothes for the outdoors.In my opinion it is way overpriced and quite frankly not up to the job the material is a bit thin and certainly not waterproof.

 

[Lasse]

Gill, the not-waterproof is a feature, not a bug It allows the jackets and trousers to be much more comfortable when active than any rain gear.

The good thing about fashion shops stocking it, is the fact that they often offer big discounts which outdoor shops usually don´t, at least around here. They can change ´way too expensive´ into ´bargain!´

My Kaise anorak also has Salmi zippers.

 

[fast_freddie]

I recently started wearing Fjallraven (especially the trousers) the past few years and at first i was quite happy with the quality, however i have noticed that they are not always upto the price you pay.
At first i just noticed how softer the fabric was for a pair of Nils Trousers i have, i checked the labels and the softer ones are made in Sri Lanka where as all my other were made in Vietnam.... okay i thought, well see how they go, anyway so far so good... then i purchased another pair of Nils Trousers just last year actually so ive only wore them off and on for 2 summers and autumn/ spring, as i switch to Barents Pro and Karl Pro during winter.... i have an habit of putting my mobile in the mesh pocket inside the leg pocket and too the side of this i put my e-cig (vape) which is an Aspire PockeX so not too bulky.... last night i looked down and noticed an hole starting to appear on the outside of the pocket, i then checked the inside and the whole had gone straight through!
I was shocked i can tell you, since when i do go out (walking the dog mainly) im not usually out for more than 2 hours... i also checked the Pockex for any sharp edges and too be honest the edges are not too bad, not enough to wear through the pocket that quick anyway.... i then checked where these were made.... and lo and behold.... Sri Lanka!

Am sorry but thats terrible quality for the price.... even 2 pairs of cheap Peter Storm or similar would last longer than that.
I would post some images but do not know how, since its asking for a URL

 

[Laurentius]

Isn't that the way of the world. I tend nowadays to avoid buying "label clothing" at new prices. I use ebay to buy stuff that has been field tested as it were. I don't think the big outdoor brands are what they were at all since the brand became more important than the quality. That being said I have recently purchased a new Akubra hat, (and been stung for import duties) to replace the one that I wore to destruction many years ago having learned a few lessons in hat care during the meantime (do not don and doff your felt hat using the pinch or eventually it will wear a hole) Anyway back in the day German army surplus moleskins used to be pretty good, but I think like everything else what you will get today are more likely to be Chinese fakes.

 

[gibson 175]

Hi, I work for the UK distributor of Fjallraven. I've been a member for a while but haven't posted anything before. When I came across this thread recently I took the issues raised to my colleagues in Sweden for their comments, since it's these guys who are in charge of the design and production. The product manager, Donna, and marketing manager, Jerry, were most concerned that some of you had some experiences and opinions of our brand that weren't too good. Below is their reply which I am posting on their behalf. They had tried to respond direct to the thread but couldn't access it for reasons we don't understand. I hope you all are ok with us, the manufacturer, responding directly. It seemed the right thing for us to do. (By the way, I tried to log on with my real name rather than the forum nickname I've got, but the site wouldn't allow me. I don't want you all to think I wish to remain anonymous! My name is Ralph White)

" Dear loyal Fjällrävs,

We have noted you concerns on the Bush craft UK blog and are happy that you took this to our attention.
As most of you know Fjällräven has been committed to classic outdoor gear with a focus on function and the highest quality for 50 years.. This is something we take with the utmost seriousness. I am sorry to hear that you have had some less than exceptional experiences with some Fjällräven garments lately. This is something we take action on daily to assure quality..
Here are some of the choices Fjällräven makes to insure the best quality products:

We use: Coats thread ( Epic and Astra ) which is the highest quality thread for our garments.. This is the same thread that is used for the toughest work wear.

We use: only YKK and Finnish quality Salmi zippers. 5 years ago we had some issues that the waist button was being placed a few millimeters off that caused extra stress on the zipper. This problem was correct within the same year.

Our Own: G1000 has been made by the same trusted supplier for over 15years. The quality is often and routinely tested to assure the original standard is being kept.

Our garments and hardware are made in a few different places. Vietnam, China, Hungary , Portugal, Estonia , Lithuania, Denmark , Sweden and Sri Lanka. Our trousers partner factories have been making many of the same trousers styles for over 18years. We only have long-term partners in manufacturing.

We inspect 100% of all productions with a team of 6 Quality assurance professionals.

Our Greenland Wax is now and has always been made in Sweden.. Is it made from simply Paraffin and Beeswax with no chemical additives. It is the best way the lengthen the life of your G1000 garments and hardware as well as increase wind and water resistance .

We have for a long time back avoided the use of chemical additives or treatments in our garments..These treatments are often used for anti smell, anti wrinkle , anti tick and mosquito etc. These chemicals are often dangerous for those applying the chemical and even to the end consumer..many of them only last 5 to 10 washes.. We have made an active choice to avoid this..

We use only Flor Free WR treatments on our waterproofs. DWR treatments are known to be harmful to waterborne organism in water shelters.

I hope that this information gives you peace of mind and understanding of the unwavering commitment to quality by Fjällräven. We appreciate your loyalty and hope you have many great adventures in the outdoors with our gear for years to come.

Kind regards,

It doesn't give me peace of mind at all actually. I just bought my greenland jeans from trekkit 10 days ago and paid £150. The seam has now come apart on the left leg. Oh boy! What a shock.I am not a rich person to throw £150 away. I will be asking for a full refund. What a hassle and waste of time and money. I wish I had never bought them. They look nice but not so nice when the seam comes apart after 10 days of occasionally wearing them around the house and the occasional dog walk. I will not be recommending Fjallraven products to anyone

 

[Allans865]

So what would some of you recommend as alternatives? Brands for clothing, tents, backpacks in earthly colours.

I have quite a few Fjallraven garments, a couple of shirts and a couple of pairs of trousers.

I have had them now for a few years and the quality is good as they are all still going strong, but Helikon Tex is my favourite outdoor clothing brand now.

I have about five pairs of shorts, four pairs of trousers and a smock, and I must say that the quality and workmanship of the garments is excellent.

Cheaper than Fjallraven, this is my number one clothing brand now, and I haven't bought any other brand now for ages.

Thoroughly recommend



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[gg012]

Another vote here for Helikon. I have a few pairs of their trousers, shorts, a fleece and a couple of jackets and they are all spot on for quality while being reasonably priced.

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