UKC

Just had a gander at the Alpkit website and noticed that the Kangri has gone up 33% to £400 whilst the Zhota has also increased in price by £75.

Most UK equipment brands and suppliers are going to run out of cheap dollar at some point next year, therefore we're going to see steep price rises across the board. The only question for those companies has been whether to hike prices now or later.

With a goretex jacket going to cost around £70 more, are we all rushing to get kit before the price rises hit completely? What else have you noticed jump up in cost over the last couple of months?

In reply to FreshSlate:

On the positive side, when people realise what a catastrophe Brexit is turning out to be they'll call it off and prices will soon return to normal ...










... maybe.

In reply to FreshSlate:

Off topic but I had a puncture heading back from Snowdonia last weekend and when I dropped into the garage for a new tyre , the guy told me that the prices were going to rise soon post brexit.

In reply to FreshSlate:



Nope. Just bought a worn once berghaus goretex for £45 on eBay. You need to be more savvy with your cash and not be drawn in by post Brexit scaremongering .

In reply to Dave the Rave:

It always amazes me how many things are worn once. You never seem to see anything that's been worn 10 times.

In reply to andy.smythe:

"As new" if your idea of new is crumpled, sporting dog hairs amd from a smoke filled home.

In reply to andy.smythe:

Worn once by each of its 40 previous owners.

In reply to andy.smythe:


Even so, it's in mint condition and pukka.
Better on the wife's back than in a wardrobe.
I suppose some folk have a phobia about second hand.

In reply to Dave the Rave:

I didmt meant that to sound like second hand is bad (I buy and sell quite a bit of used gear). It just makese laugh that everything I see for sale is described as "used once".

In reply to Dave the Rave:




This is true - but in the case of modern, lightweight goretex jackets anything that's about 2/3 years old probably leaks unless they have been well cared for, and you just can't tell. Many other things are fine second hand though!

In reply to FreshSlate:

How about people who voted to leave pay double the price increase and people who voted remain carry on paying the normal price? Seems fair to me.

In reply to Greasy Prusiks:
I agree. This principle is also why I'm completely opposed to the government making any special effort to keep Nissan sweet.

In reply to andy.smythe:

It's the ones that sold as BNWT (brand new with tags) that baffle me.
I bought a jacket from someone on here described as such only to find the pockets full of sand.

In reply to gethin_allen:

If you ever do returns for a mail order company it's amazing what a state something can get into when it's "never been taken out of the bag". We had a pair of trousers returned Kitkat wrapper in the pocket and mud round the ankles and the bloke insisted he'd never even opened the parcel. I dare say some nefarious post office worker had worn them out for their morning round.

In reply to gethin_allen:

You got free sand. What's not to like?

In reply to FreshSlate: I believe that
Hilleberg price going up 15per cent in January. Although I suppose if you can afford a Hilleberg it won't make any difference to you

In reply to FreshSlate:

Alpkit just said they've had to raise the price of their bikes exactly because of the exchange rate. I guess we will see it everywhere sooner or later.

Petrol is going up again at the mo', does anyone know if that it exchange rate connected or just the normal global fluctuations?

In reply to TobyA:
Oil is priced in $$

In reply to FreshSlate:

The Brexiters tell us the pound has been overvalued for years, and we are just seeing the adjustment now. I feel so much better knowing that. Much happier paying more for everything. Aren't we lucky? Who'd have thought... we might have been forced to go on paying lower prices for years...

In reply to leon 1:

Yes but it also bought hugely in futures isn't it, so hedged within a certain period of time. Plus you have govt. held strategic stocks and all that sort of stuff which I'm sure makes the market weird to some extent.

In reply to TobyA:

At what point will companies like Alpkit move more of their production to the UK?

what proportion of PHD's costs are labour, and when will other brands start to have to push their prices up...

There maybe some positives here amid the gloom.

In reply to Dr.S at work:

It's not just labour, fabric costs will go up, Gore-Tex, Polartec etc....

In reply to digby:

I don't really understand what these people mean, the value of the pound is what someone will pay for it, which the market dictates. If the pound was considered overvalued in the market the price would drop. What overvalued really means is 'at risk of a sudden drop', which of course light of a referendum on EU membership was true.

Therefore they are effectively stating, "the pound was at risk of a sudden fall because of the possibility of Brexit". Well no shit.

In reply to FreshSlate:

Looking at the disparities in price between outdoor kit between the UK and either the EU or the US, there have been periods of quite marked difference - but the last few years had been pretty even overall.

Sure some items have been somewhat cheaper, but often budget kit while the higher end of the market was fairly even, especially when allowing for delivery and import duties. A Hilleberg still costs an arm and a leg wherever it comes from. Cheap stuff from bergfreunde or decathlon fits the budget market nicely, whilst cheap tat from Regatta remains exactly that (see also the 20 quid leather boots from Go Outdoors). The huge differences in price between e.g. ropes or ice screws we saw in the late 90s / early 2000s, where the exact same product could be half the price if bought overseas, have dramatically lessened.

The UK (I now see after living overseas for some time) has quite an unusual and crowded outdoor gear market, probably driven by a general attachment to the outdoors in general, an unbelievably good footpath system and map infrastructure, and a generally mild, damp climate. I suspect the events of the last 6 months will just demonstrate that for those of us with some disposable income and the desire to get outdoors, we really have had it pretty good up until now.

The "ooh, we needed an adjustment" - "Oh yes dear, you've always said we needed an adjustment, haven't you?" "Oh yes, a lovely adjustment, thank you, that's just what we needed" lines are from an Alan Bennett play about self-justification, I believe.

b

In reply to leon 1:


Yes, for now, but I strongly suspect that within a few years it won't be. Maybe the rial, the yuan or ... the euro!

In reply to galpinos:


Yes, and it's the proportion of the cost made up of labour and components that is critical, plus any impact on U.K. Wage inflation in the slightly longer run.