These Brands Offer Free Repairs

I just received a Mountain Hardwear jacket back from a warranty repair - no charge. It’s a ghost whisperer down hoody, several years old, now our son’s jacket. The bottom of the zipper disintegrated - the male part - no way to zip it up. Cleaned it (required for all repairs these days), sent it in for evaluation, and it came back with the old zipper removed, new one stitched on. Nice job, too, practically can’t tell they did the work, zipper pull is identical.

Arcteryx issued me a credit for a several years-old Alpha AR shell - parts of the gore Tex membrane had started to delaminate from the nylon shell. Delaminations aren’t common, so they tend to be grounds for warranty claims. The North Face replaced a shell for me (15+ years ago) for the same reason.

For jackets and backpacks with waterproof coatings vs. membranes, different story. The coatings sometimes fail - start peeling, flaking, or turn gummy, I’ve had all three happen. I haven’t bothered to ask about a repair because the gear was old and used hard, figured i had gotten my money’s worth.