Gear

I've had no problems with my drishell Minimus jacket. I've had it for a couple of years now and used it a reasonable amount (though not at all this winter; too warm down here!) and the outer has certainly stood up to a reasonable amount of punishment.

Presumably you caught it on a thorn or some barbed wire or something; it isn't the sort of tissuepapery stuff to spontaneously split under normal use.

I've not had any problems with my drishell jackets or sleeping bags.

It may be worth contacting PHD. They are very good at dealing with any problems (IME).

It may possibly be a minor fault? Rare for PHD if it is!

I've got a drishell windshirt which I'm considering wearing when I go skiing.

I agree with Aguirre.

If you have any doubt contact PHD. They are extremely good about after-sale care. If they had made a mistake (which I doubt) they would want to know what it was.

Some of my DriShell gear is 6 or 8 years old now.  It has had regular use in the colder Uk weather as well as skiing, ski touring and husky sledding in Lapland.

So far, the only signs of use or wear is some bobbling on the fleece collars, I've never had any issues with the DriShell fabric.  In fact, my Sigam is still pretty much as waterproof as it was when I bought it thanks to regular re-proofing.

J

PS - if you hold the customs guys down, I'll help administer the kicking they deserve.  I got a load of charges landed on some radio control electrical gear a week or two back which almost doubled the cost!