I've noticed that outdoor style clothing has begun to bleed in to many people's main wardrobe. This coming from the increasing numbers of outdoor type jackets in retail stores(Merino-costco, Down Jacket-Target, etc.) and people wearing name brand outdoor gear for day to day(Understandably so. The stuff actually works).

My thoughts on it is this. I've often come across cheaper brands/alternatives to the gear that I buy, but I RARELY ever buy them. This is because they don't have history, they don't have credibility. I don't know if I can rely on them. While it's totally possible for my North Face(<---Insert outdoor brand name here) down jacket to start suddenly bleeding feathers, NF has some 50 odd years of gear history that proves it won't. It has reliability. It can confidently claim that my jacket is windproof to 60+ mph, and the best part is that it will be. I know it's not some advertising gimmick by a large vanilla brand trying to dip it's finger in the "outdoor gear" pot. I can count on the piece of gear to work, which is all that much more important when your life depends on it.

For some people, the Target down jacket will work great, and sometime they really are great jacket. I do believe that they have their place in the market today, but I'll pay that extra $50, $60, heck even $100 bucks for a piece of gear that is tried and true if it's coming into the backcountry with me.