My pack cost my $99 - not 150 to 200.. as for the jacket, you answered it yourself - Northface - Which every high school kid wears because it is trendy. I find many of the big brand names are pricy not because they are selling backpacking gear, but because they are selling upscale brands to yuppied and yuppie puppies who wear them around town to look cool. Same thing for brands like Patagucci (Patagonia) - which is unfortunate because some of their stuff *is* very good.

Sometimes high end brands are totally worth it, for the quality, sometimes not.

*PRICE* is never a recollection of that however, while the item won't get made if they can't sell it at a profit - take an economics class. PRICE is *WHAT THE MARKET WILL BEAR*. if yuppies buy it because it it trendy, it'll be priced accordingly. if you drop the price you'll probably even lose that market - because if the jacket cost $100 it wouldn't be as cool to wear to junior high school in Suburbia or while having coffee with the other moms in front of the Cadillac Escalades at the soccer field.

Most of my gear is cottage industry, homemade, or MEC house brand. As such it costs a lot less than many of the alternatives. Good gear *does* cost money to make. I've looked into making my own tarp's frinstance - I can't do it as cheap as I can buy one from MEC or campmor. Ditto backpacks, even simple ones, once I pay *any* amount for my time.