thermarest price jump while others went down

I was in a big outdoor store the other day while the employees were changing prices, I noticed that most of the stuff was going down (employee called it a perment price drop due to the economy) but thermarest was the only thing going up price changed buy the thermarest not the store as told to me by the employee, example shomething $39 was going to $49 I would guess all of there products are doing the same, I thought you would like to know this.

I noticed that most of the MSR stove line had a price increase too. Sign of the times?

both are products of the mother company cascade disigns.

You all think that Cascade Designs is a huge company...thanks for bringing a smile to my face:). They are privately owned and have about 250 employees. They run on a very tight budget as well. It's amazing that as much innovation comes from such a small company...

There are many reasons why price increases are occurring at CDI. One is R&D costs. To be a true innovator, a company must spend money. If there is no money, then we shouldn't expect any new items coming from them. Seems fair. However, there have been some amazing new products in the past year from Cascade Designs including the Reactor, Hyperflow, and soon to come NeoAir. Innovation is paramount to their success.

Material costs have sky rocketed in the past few years. These have been absorbed as long as possible, but that can not go on forever. Stainless steel, titanium, aluminum, brass, high-quality nylons and polyesters, and so on have required Cascade Designs to raise prices in order to stay in business.

US manufacturing has also contributed to the increase in prices. There are many benefits to having stuff manufactured in the US, but it also costs more. Some of the benefits include far more control of production, communication between production, engineering, etc., treating employees right due to the USA's labor laws, money stays in the US, etc. However, if you compare quality to anything else on the market, you will see the Cascade Designs is very competitive. The bottom line is you get what you pay for.

This is simply a matter of Cascade Designs not bearing the 'cost of doing business' in today's global economy. With the thought of not selling as much volume, the company has to try to maintain gross margin. They will do this by increasing the MSRP of their products. If the economy continues the way it has been, MSR will drop prices. They will have to in order to survive.

The good thing is that the vast number of large outdoor retailers are going to do the opposite over the next year as they absorb the additional cost through sales. Keep your eyes on the internet.

+1 on that. Having seen the interior of their plants in Seattle it is beyond awesome that they do what they do. Many of the machines were invented on the fly to make products that an employee had an idea of. A friend of mine works for them and I can say that it is a rarity in the US these days for a plant like theirs to exist anymore.