Kuiu Gear and prohibitive customs duties and charges....

[375shooter]

All I want is the best clothing available which is suitable for mountain hunting. I'm not interested in being cool, or being part of the cool crowd. Camo or not camo - it doesn't particularly matter. Slight preference would go to camo, though. I just want to be comfortable, dry and quiet, as I hunt. And the clothing has to be lightweight and compact. I wish clothing selection was simple, like rifle/caliber/bullet selection, but it's not. It seems people just can't agree on what's best. It's the same for pack selection. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to keep researching, then try different things as I go along, until I find out what works best for me. That process will likely involve buying some Kuiu products.

[khoffnbud]

I don't get WHY anyone would ever buy this over-hyped, very costly stuff, except to be one of the "kewl" types who inhabit various forums and seem obsessed with having only the latest gear.

Look at the photos of Big Whitey's dad, the legendary "Willie442" and other real bushmen with HUGE sheep and other game.....wearing plain old clothing and often NO camo........any inklings of what is REALLY important in hunting-bush gear, based on such photos?

I disliked the stunt that Hairston pulled off here in Vancouver and how he sold Asian-made gear as "Made in Canada" and as a result, I would never buy squat from him or his company(s).

That said, there is LOTS of sound mountain gear available that is not camo, works just fine and where the makers stand behind their products. I would buy a Westcomb Neoshell or eVent parka for ANY hunting long before a Kuiu or some of the other "kewl" stuff.......I am going to buy a First Lite Vapour shell and probably just in dull old green......which works fine.

I'll start by saying firstly that I have a number of KUIU items, but I also have stuff from first lite, sitka, icebreaker and many more. You have your opinion on it, so here's mine, I don't care what brand of clothing or gear a guy buys if it gets people outdoors hunting more and can get new people into it, all the better off we are as a group of like minded enthusiasts. Some guys want the top quality, tried and true old school gear. That's great. But if the new 'stylish' stuff can pull people into our sport, if that's what it takes, that's great too. Let's not miss the big picture here.

[khoffnbud]

Speaking of Kuiu, I have 30$ to spend there so I don't have to deal with them again. Does anyone have any experience with their game bags?

Edit: or their ULTRA merino socks?

i got a set of their game bags through giru, they are a top quality product.

[A.D.M]

I bought a Yukon jacket from KUIU. Great jacket! $350 USD I got hit with $100 duty! Then on a separate order I bought the bino harness roughly $90 USD and I got hit with a $50 duty!!!!! Insane!

[1899]

My wife ordered me $650 worth of stuff for my birthday - Duty was $220. Never bothered to pick it up. Canada Post returned it and KUIU refunded our money.

[1899]

Sounds about right to me.....

To be honest, a lot of people don't understand 'duty' and 'tax' and how its applied and the percentages depending on what type of items they are. When you start talking textiles, clothing, and footwear you can expect to be in the 18-21% range. Some electronics, etc are 4-9%. If its made in a country that doesn't have a free trade agreement, expect to pay it. No different than retailers in Canada who are importing clothing made overseas. Consider yourself lucky on the last large shipment you got without duty.

Two friends ordered last fall and there was no duty.

[adriaticum]

I would never buy anything that I have to pay additional taxes on top of taxes which are on top of taxes.
Just stop buying it.
Now I have to pay duty on chit because it's made in China and in the same breath I bitch about everyone outsourcing jobs to China.
Stop buying that chit.
Don't care how good it is, you can do just as well without it.

[swampthing]

Right on Ovis!! Glad to have you on-board. Will be dealing with you for sure. My wife will at xmas anyway!!

[brian]

I bet there are a lot of old hunters who would love to have been wearing quick drying or wicking clothing, but it simply didn't exist.

Old time clothing wicked etc etc etc. It did it all the exact same things if you had the right stuff. I have some wool layers that will pull the sweat right off my skin and bead it it up on the outside. Really cool to see. What the big difference is the old stuff does not come in light weight. That's where the new man made fibers really shine. The invention of polyester and nylon revolutionized how people go into the woods. The old stuff gets dismissed these days but don't underestimate it, you'll just never find it in the weights that most mountain hunters want to carry these days.

Much of the gear we had in the 50s, 50s and much of the 70s was FAR SUPERIOR to a lot of the hyped stuff some find necessary today.

I'd believe it. The man made materials are strong so they can be made very light weight. But this is a double edged sword, they sacrifice durability for weight. This works great for the people making the clothing. They get to replace more of your light weight gear that's cheaper for them to make rather than sell someone clothes they may never need to replace. That is old economics vrs new economics in a nutshell.

[Stone Sheep Steve]

Hey Folks,

I am the Canadian Rep for KUIU Canada.

I've been reading all the comments in regards to the surprise costs once the gear makes it to your door step. In a couple weeks KUIU will be announcing a few things for Canadians that will alleviate some of these frustrations. At that time they will also be announcing my position in Canada.

Please feel free to contact me by email if you have any questions or concerns, or if you just want to talk about gear.

Dallas Cota

dallasc@kuiu.com

Thats great to hear Dallas! And not just because I melted my attack pants on my motorbike muffler for the third time.