Kuiu review

[Avalanche123]

As mentioned above the owner does not make clothes for "fat people". If you look on his Instagram hes got training pictures of him on a treadmill hooked up to all kinds of sensors and breathing tubes with a guy holding a clipboard observing his process.

They're all about the "hunter athlete" image. And the push that in all their advertising.

Hell, they got ads with hunters scaling glaciers with full on crampons and ice axes and harnesses ..... I mean do people actually hunt like this?

Anyways .... most of the accomplished hunters I know of wouldnt be caught in Kuiu unless they got it for free. Lol.

We are all guilty of it in some ways. I have a stone glacier pack that even used was absurdly expensive when most guys I know use a $100 pack frame and have killed WAY more game than me.

As I said to a guy I hunted with last year that donned all Kuiu stuff .... it's Gucciflage

Two things turned me off. One was his terrible shot of a stone sheep with Donald Jr (it's on YouTube) and the fact he wears a heart rate monitor when he hunts. Hunting isn't a race.
The only thing I own that I just bought was a duffle bag. We do have to keep in mind that he was a Pro Athlete at one time so fitness is a huge component of his marketing mojo.
To each his own. Anything camo is just marketing anyway IMO.

[SR80]

Not to stick up for hairston, but when he said he doesn't make clothes for fat people, I believe he said the whole purpose of kuiu was to make mountain hunting clothes, for sheep hunts etc. Most mountain hunters are fit, some aren't and still get it done, but most are fit and athletic to some point. And I think thats what he wants to cater to too, not bubba in the duck blind that needs a XXXL jacket. Not saying that all duck hunters need an XXXL either lol. Still a very arrogant thing to say.

[firebird]

He didn't need to say it. Simply not making those sizes works

Obviously changed his mind on the women's

BUT
Somebody does need to say something about LArge plus and yoga pants!!!

[g2mike]

Jason gets alot of hate but I think the majority of the haters are people who have read (on certain forums) that some industry people dont get along with him and jump on the hate wagon. He certainly doesn't come across in videos as someone Id be friends with, but hes apparently not really that bad in real life. And at least hes a real person while Sitka is owned by a mega corporation. And at the end of the day, Im not buying gear to be friends with someone, Im buying gear because that gear works.

Kuiu makes some elite quality mountain hunting gear. You really can't go wrong with Kuiu, Sitka, or Firstlite, its like Ford, Chevy, or Dodge. And I still cant figure out why they're the only people making zip off long johns!

Sitka is great because you can get it locally in store but maybe a bit overpriced generally.
Firstlite is nice being a smaller company immersed in the community and makes some good stuff but is alot more difficult to get in Canada.
Kuiu at least has a Canadian based E-store and easy shipping to Canada, and has a Canadian rep, and is at all the shows. They may have moved manufacturing out of Canada, but they're at least trying to be in Canada.


I had an issue with an order that wasn't getting resolved via email with kuiu hq, and sent an email to dallas (canadian rep) and he called me back in less than 2 minutes with a solution. That is a level of customer service that doesn't exist anymore.

[AgSilver]

I try to ignore all of the "gucci" and "kewl" comments about Kuiu. I picked up most of my stuff on sale at prices that were quite reasonable for the quality of gear (especially if I hadn't had to pay duty on that first order...damn, that one hurt). And I really do love some of it. Some of it, I'd change if I did it again.

But...Hairston is a pretty piss-poor portrayal of the hunting community and, as an industry "leader" (or at least a high profile guy in the industry), does a shit-ass job of creating any sympathy or acceptance for what we all love to do. He could learn a few lessons in diplomacy from someone like Callaghan or Rinella. Making public dickhead comments about someone that disagrees with your point of view instead of educating just creates further divisiveness that we don't need in society. Like it or not, what we do is a privilege, not a right. A guy like that just jeopardizes that privilege for the rest of us.

[firebird]

First lites supposed to have a Canadian E store coming. So they keep telling me.

[Muskydawg]

If you watch the YouTube videos where he has the mask on and the guy with the clipboard it’s actualky pretty interesting stuff. I think he only wore the heart rate monitor the one time as part of the same exoeriment. Basically Trying to optimize his athleticism and diet to minimize the amount of food he has to bring. I like to exercise and I know it makes me more comfortable while I’m hunting. Not necessarily more successful, but more adventurous and comfortable. You can’t really knock the guy for taking care of himself, putting in the time and money to do the experiment, and then sharing the results with us for free.

[Jordan f.]

If I remember correctly, a big part of that experiment was to see just how much lighter gear benifits a hunter (or something of that nature). Since he is the owner of one of the biggest light weight hunting brands... his direct involvement makes it way to biased for me.