Tuesday, October 07, 2014

Filson is about doers doing things


Filson is about doers doing things. It’s about quality. It's about durability. It's about classic style. It's about lasting generations. It’s about being Made in the USA. 

This is my new work cape jacket designed by Nigel Cabourn for Filson. Inspired by a vintage 1930s Filson Cruiser that Nigel found while digging around in Japan, the work cape jacket features a corduroy collar for added comfort, snap clip buttons which are easier to maneuver with gloved hands, just in case you're on an Arctic expedition, and the classic plaid-patterned wool from the mills of Pendelton, an American heritage company older than Filson. 

Filson's heritage is the cruiser, the work shirt that timber cruisers wear. When Filson hits the mark with a product, it starts with the cruiser as the inspiration. Cruisers were meant for timber cruising—gauging, observing, recording a forest’s characteristics. I’m not a professional timber cruiser, but a recreational forest cruiser, a writer and storyteller. The writer sees, he walks, travels, taking down notes.He cruises. A cruiser could be cruising a few weeks at a time seeing country few other humans have and then he might pull back a branch and stand face to face with a moose. Not fear but a tranquil calm engulfs the cruiser.

The cruiser, scoping the land is like the fisherman reading the waters. There is no deeper connection to the land or water. That's how I aim to be when I walk with my dogs through the forest. Here Marcos is wearing a Filson dog coat with the classic shelter cloth on the outside and mackinaw wool underneath. This was the first Filson product I purchased."Might as well have the best," which is especially true for a dog like Marcos, a retired therapy dog and hero of my book Pick-Up Dogs: How Two Rescue Dogs Save the West from Being Won

Underneath my work cape jacket, I'm wearing a Filson Jac shirt, which I have coined the "Brown Bear Hug." Brown Bear is one of Marcos's many nicknames and wearing the shirt is comfortable. Like hugging Marcos. All in all, I'm very pleased with my Filson gear and will do stories on other Filson items. Though known for their cruisers, I really love my Filson pants, which unfortunately I'm not wearing in these pictures.  

Filson Work Cape Jacket designed by Nigel Cabourn



"Might As Well Have the Best." C.C. Filson

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