Rocky Mountain Featherbed - Unbelievable Story!

[tooshay]

My girlfriend and I live in London. She's from Wyoming. When Present opened up in Shoreditch (London) last year, we made a trip there to sample the coffee and check out the merch; My eye instantly wandered towards the Rocky Mountain Featherbed rack, a brand I had never heard of before that day. My GF looked at one of the vests on display and non-chalantly purred: "I have one just like this." Being the patronizing, snobby idiot that I am I dismissed her cute naivite with a "no, no you wouldn't."
"I do - it's back home in Wyoming," she protested. We left the store.

Fast forward six months; We go to visit her family in Wyoming for Christmas. First thing she does is drag me to her closet where she proceeded to pull out an immaculate Rocky Mountain Featherbed vest. When I asked her how and where she got it, she said that friends bought it for her over five years ago at some second hand store in Montana for $20. It was - and still is - utterly pristine. I collapsed in a fit of jealousy which I've yet to shake.

I've since done a bunch of research about the brand: apparently they went about 25-30 years ago, and the rights to produce extortionately-priced replicas of their awesome garments went to a Japanese company called 35 Summers just a couple of years ago.

I'm guessing this thing must be at least 30 years old. Does anyone know how much it could be worth? Can anyone tell me more about the brand from its earlier days before it got revived?

 

[robin]

That is a very cool find.

Personally I would keep that for as long as possible.

 

[Nataku]

Rocky Mountain Featherbed down vests bring in crazy money on Ebay. I've been coveting one for a long time, but I don't have that kinda money laying around. I've watched some hit $800+. She got a hell of a deal on that thing, especially if it's ion as good condition as you say it is. I may be wrong, but I could have sworn I've seen a bunch that have Jackson Hole, Wyoming on the tags, instead of just Jackson. Regardless, it's worth a pretty penny.

 

[CityHunter]

That is an amazing piece!

 

[garmis]

I want

 

[shoreman1782]

Originally Posted by Nataku

Rocky Mountain Featherbed down vests bring in crazy money on Ebay. I've been coveting one for a long time, but I don't have that kinda money laying around. I've watched some hit $800+. She got a hell of a deal on that thing, especially if it's ion as good condition as you say it is. I may be wrong, but I could have sworn I've seen a bunch that have Jackson Hole, Wyoming on the tags, instead of just Jackson. Regardless, it's worth a pretty penny.

As someone who values old-school craftsmanship and believes in holding onto things that are important to you, I say sell the **** out of it and go on vacation.

 

[robin]

Originally Posted by shoreman1782

As someone who values old-school craftsmanship and believes in holding onto things that are important to you, I say sell the **** out of it and go on vacation.
Haha. There is wisdom in this.

 

[ter1413]

And while you do have a nice fine...the story is HARDLY unbelievable!

 

[Jekyll]

Holy ******* ****. I hadn't even considered that this might not be spam until I saw the linked images and noticed the lack of url. I think that says a lot about your prose.

 

[Yardsale]

great writeup thanks

 

[Simontuntelder]

Looks really good. As it has been said, RMF are sold for insane prices on eBay at the moment, but this being a women's vest, I don't know how it would go. Pretty good, I suppose, but not as much as regular men's vest.


The funny thing is that even though RMF is a relatively small and unknown brand (at least everywhere else than Japan) fake editions have already popped up on eBay. So beware if buying one. Actually this isn't that funny. Kinda sad really.

 

[sq4you]

I once gave a girl a "rocky mountain featherbed" in college.

 

[Simontuntelder]

Originally Posted by sq4you

I once gave a girl a "rocky mountain featherbed" in college.

Call her an get it back...

Your virginity that is

 

[Simontuntelder]

On a more serious note, could somebody comment on the quality of the Japanese produced RMF?

I quite like the gore-tex parka, but the price is of almost a $1000 is harsh..

 

[tooshay]

Originally Posted by Simontuntelder

On a more serious note, could somebody comment on the quality of the Japanese produced RMF?

Indeed. I'm trying to get an idea of how the quality of the new Japanese ones compare to this vintage one. Anyone know?

Also, how does a $300 vest end up in a second hand store for 20 bucks? I still can't get my head around that.

Thanks for the lovely comments!