“Don't buy this jacket,” Patagonia austerely argued in its famous 2011 New York Times Black Friday advertisement. Five years later, I bought one anyway.
The jacket Patagonia told me not to buy has been on every big adventure since, from tramping to special places like Maungahuka Hut in the Tararuas, to bikepacking from Wellington to Wānaka, along with three annual Richmond Roulettes and endless backcountry riding missions throughout New Zealand.
I'm not quite at objectophilia, but the memories attached to this jacket have helped nurture a platonic love. Like all relationships, trust is the glue that helps form a bond. Patagonia and its fundamental principle of accepting responsibility for everything it produces from birth to rebirth gave me
