Do you know about outdoors wear or REI discounts?

May 10, 2020 7:55 PM

I am considering buying these steeply discounted pants as a gift for my sister. But she works at REI and gets employee discounts on their merchandise.

So I don't know whether these are a good buy for the situation or whether she could get herself pants that are at least as good for the same price or better. I don't know whether I should just let her get her own outdoors gear.

Also, I wouldn't be giving the pants to her until Christmas, so if the didn't fit, that could be a problem.

posted by NotLost to Shopping (4 answers total)

Best answer: I'm pretty deep in outdoor gear and I've never heard of this brand before. They make a lot of claims about the pants--basically great for every situation--that isn't really true about any actual outdoorsy pants, and they're significantly less expensive than any reputable brand. And, both the page you linked and the brand page give super hard sells.

If your sister works at REI, she's probably up to speed on her outdoor activities of choice and what gear she likes and wants to do those. She also has that discount. Given that and the above, and I'd hard pass on these.
posted by Special Agent Dale Cooper at 8:08 PM on May 10, 2020 [6 favorites]

Response by poster: Thanks for the quick and helpful response. I suspected that all might be the case.
posted by NotLost at 8:12 PM on May 10, 2020

Best answer: Nothing but red flags on their site. No physical address. No 'made in (country)' info. Little to no brand names or product specs. Unprofessional web site. Reverse image search using tineye.com returned identical images used on sites just as sketchy, or known ebay-ish sites selling low cost, low quality Chinese products, i.e., Alibaba and Lazada - which is owned by Alibaba.
posted by Homer42 at 12:00 AM on May 11, 2020 [3 favorites]

Best answer: Former REI employee here - the discounts are good, but employees also have access to “pro deals” from vendors where the discounts run from 15% to 50% (ski hardware) off wholesale.
Just buy her stuff she can’t get at work.
posted by dbmcd at 7:40 AM on May 11, 2020 [2 favorites]