Ventile durability

[mbiraman]

I just received my first ventile smock . I know many of the folks here use ventile and i'd like to get an idea of what i can and cannot do as far as being in the bush is concerned. I won't be running through thorny patches but i do walk off trail quite a bit. Your advise would be helpful.
thanks
bill

 

[John Fenna]

My Ventile jackets get used for all sorts - including harvesting brambles for basket weaving - and have not yet shown any damage from wearing in rough country.
The main source of damage is wearing through on folds and drawcord areas where the fabric is rucked.
I have just had to repair a Ventile smock that has had the edges of the cuffs wear through after (I think) 8 years hard wear.
Other repairs on this smock have been -top pocket corners where stiching has burst through when over forced and a hanging loop ripped out when someone at work did something silly but did not let me know and I had to find my jacket ripped without anyone saying anything...
The Glory of Ventile is that all these bits of wear/damage are easy to repair using a domestic sewing machine!

 

[Toddy]

I agree with John Ventile's very, very good, but it does rub through at folds and gathers, eventually; sometimes it fails after years of stress on pocket corners (expecially if the owner is a hands in his pockets pulling down on the fabric type).

That said, I do mean years of use, and how many of us have delaminated modern jackets so it's all relative. Ventile takes abuse that the nylon based jackets just don't, and the ventile is very repairable, unlike delaminated jackets
HWMBLT still has a ventile jacket that's in useable nick after nearly thirty years of wear. It's had repairs for everything from acid splashes (science teacher) to a pocket corner, to a new channel for the waist draw cord, but it's still sound, and looks fine if a little faded.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[British Red]

I have two rips in mine. One from catching the inside back of the jacket in the boly of a gun when lying on top of it as a shooting mat, the other in the hem from barbed wire. Both were invisibly mended by my wife and its as good as new. Its about five or six years old and has been covered in blood, manure, black powder and sundry other horrors. It washes out and just keeps going

Red

 

[mbiraman]

Thanks folks; then i'll carry on and won't think about it,,,besides like it.

bill