I’ve seen threads about climber’s preferences for certain cars, recreational habits (smoking da kine), and clothes. What difference does it truly make? Granted you wouldn’t wear cotton, but does the jacket constitute the climber? Am I the climber extraordinaire if I wear Arch’teryx rather than TNF? Get real! It’s your experience that sets you apart. I may wear a certain brand because that’s what I can afford, sometimes we have what we have based on contingency. Seems climbing becomes more about style over substance, appearance over experience. Yes, style adds another dimension to climbing and I feel damn cool with the hippest stuff. Seems that the real culprit here is mass marketing, the selling of the outdoors as an antidote to the chipping-away of our youthful freedom as we gain more responsibilities growing older. I’m chained to my job! Advertising has commodified the vision of the outdoors as the emblem of individual freedom. This may sound stupid but it’s often not what we look like on the outside rather it’s what we possess inside. Characteristics labeled Will, intelligence and spirit. I suppose you could say that if one possessed those characteristics then the money would follow. Anyway, the advertisers can’t sell you these characteristics. Or, can they? Memes, anyone?