What should I do with my product if it is unrepairable?

Sea to Summit does everything it can to keep its products working for as long as possible: we provide spare parts (usually free of charge) for almost everything we make, we repair tents, sleeping mats and sleeping bags (and only charge a nominal rate for a non-warranty repair), and we keep fabric swatches for those end-users who want to repair gear themselves.

Nevertheless, at some point, every item of gear reaches a point where it can no longer be restored to a functioning condition.

At this point, we would like to think that those products could live a useful ‘second life’:

Donate it! Check your local area for charities who accept damaged hard goods and fabrics (shoutout to the Madison, WI high school sustainability project which made waterproof hats for homeless people out of repurposed dry bag fabric…)

Part it out! Email us to ask if your larger product (sleeping bag, tent or tarp) can be used for parts. If so, we would be happy to have you return the item to us.   

Repurpose it! Use an old self-inflating sleeping mat as a dog bed, or zip-tie sections of the foam around a garage or basement pillar that shows an appetite for snacking on the paintwork of car doors.

Send us some pictures of the fun and creative ways you upcycle your old Sea to Summit gear and we will send you some stickers!

And – if we really can’t re-use or recycle something, we will let you know. Shipping items around the country just to give the impression that they are being re-used is not just greenwashing – the fuel burned increases the carbon footprint of a no-longer-useful item.

(When we need to recycle something – like damaged tent pole segments - we utilize the Center for Hard to Recycle Materials (CHaRM) Facility near Boulder to ensure the items are reused or disposed of in as benign a way as possible)