Nobody needs more gear
It is a bit ironic, that I posted about me launching Gear Talk a week before Black Friday. Now I'm sitting at my desk, too many discount emails in my inbox, which leave me feeling disgusted about the consumerism that I am and we are all a part of. So had I not introduced Gear Talk last week, would I do it today? Do we need more reasons to buy stuff?
The answer is obviously no. Nobody needs more gear. Unless you're going to climb super big mountains any time soon, you probably don't need more gear for survival. I don't either.
Buying more never was the idea behind Gear Talk. What I'd love to do however, is to talk about things that I've used and loved for a while. Also gear that I'm excited about and would love to buy if I actually needed it - because it's made responsibly, with the right materials and also looks good. Not a lot of gear these days falls into this category. (Does any, actually?)
As this breakdown of Patagonia's recently published sustainability report put it so well: even Patagonia is manufacturing in the same factories as everybody else. Even they, whose marketing makes them look like an environmental NGO, are blasting out chemicals into the environment every day. (I'll never understand why almost everything they make is made of plastic, but I'm getting ahead of myself.)
So what will these emails you signed up for be about?
One thing is for sure: I didn't start Gear Talk to make anybody buy more stuff. Ideally, it'll provide you with some guidelines and an overview of some good things that you can buy out there, so when you actually need something, you can carefully choose an item you'll love and take care of for a long time. All while having fun in the process.
Hopefully, Gear Talk is going to be a place, where we can share our thoughts about all things adventure gear. Where we can inspire each other to consume responsibly. And ultimately, to ditch the screen and go outside more.
So today, I'll finish this post with a question to you: what would you like to read about on Gear Talk?
I'd love it if you actually clicked that comment button below to let me know. I'm genuinely curious. (You might need to "sign up" and enter your name and email to comment. Yes, Ghost is weird like that. But it's good in every other aspect: hosted in Europe, nonprofit, open source - you get the idea.)
Hope you have a nice weekend
Stephanie
PS. Thanks for signing up to a newsletter of which you had nothing but a vague idea what it'll be about. I'm so happy about every single one of you - welcome! (Also you Tobias, welcome 🙃)
