12:30 in the afternoon, and it is time to take the recovering-from-expensive-knee-surgery dog out for her extremely short (in distance), extremely placid walk. We'll stay out for half an hour, sniffing things, because we all feel sorry for her. As we head out the door it begins to rain--hard. I grab my raincoat, put it on, and we head outside. Ten minutes later I'm standing there in the pouring rain, bored, watching the lame dog sniff something totally fascinating in the grass. And I think, "What a kick-a** raincoat..."
I remember the raincoats I had as a child. They all leaked at the seams. Stand outside too long in too heavy a rain, and you could feel drops forcing themselves through the stitching and onto your clothes. They all had no ventilation. Zip them shut, and soon your skin would begin to sweat as your body heated up the air inside the raincoat and it had no place to go. Leave it unzipped, and you stayed more comfortable but got wet faster.
Today's raincoat has excellent ventilation. Today's raincoat has very tight stitching. Today's raincoat has excellent systems for keeping your wrists water-tight, your neck covered, and your hood drawn tight (if necessary) around your face. The lining on today's raincoat actually keeps you warm. Highly water-resistant PVC-coated nylon feels softer and more supple. Fleece lining adds warmth. Rain stays out of eyes thanks to visor on hood. Large vents in front and back prevent you from overheating. Zipper and pockets have covered storm flaps, a feature you'll appreciate for keeping wet weather out. And you can buy it from Land's End for only $39.50!
It truly is much much better at performing its function--and much cheaper in terms of the hours of labor-time needed to earn the money to buy it--than the commodities that went by the same name a generation ago.
What other stuff that we use everyday has slowly, imperceptibly, but massively crept upwards in its quality over the past thirty years?
Posted by DeLong at March 25, 2002 10:03 PM | TrackBack