The lower part of the zip on my Montane Event Superfly jacket has just broken. The jacket is perhaps two and a half years old but has seldom been used. I may have worn it about a dozen times all told.

The jacket was bought to provide a lightweight waterproof jacket to be carried in my rucksack most of the time. When not actually packed in to the daysack its been kept in the wardrobe on a hanger. Needless to say I'm gutted at the poor reliability of the garment and I will be returning it to Montane for comment and hopefully repair or replacement.

In the event (pardon the pun!) that Montane are not helpful I will need to replace the jacket. So I was wondering if anyone else had experience of zip failures in either the Superfly or Rab's equivalent Event jacket offering.

Thanks.

Zip failures seem to happen randomly in any brand of garment - just about all manufacturers use YKK zips which seem to be industry standard.

Had a jammed zip in a year old SuperFly XT. Montane sent a new jacket. Good service.

MIne hasnt failed , but its not very easy to do up quickly with gloves on, as zip's a bit flimsy at the bottom.

Never jammed a zip on my outdoor gear, but I have ripped off squares of velcro.
I realise that's no help at all.

Just as an update, Montane returned the jacket to me and said that all of their stuff is manufactured abroad now. They do have a local company that will do repair work and yes my zip is under warranty.

BUT they said the jacket could not be sent to the repairers in its current condition and that it needed cleaning. My wife examined it and we were puzzled by this claim. Nevertheless I cleaned it and sent it off and so far I've heard nothing.

Just as an aside although I think I know the answer.... does ANYONE still manufacture their kit in the U.K. or even the country of origin e.g. Sweden? Might start a thread on this!

Captain as usual you are a star. I salute you :-)

Well, that's all wrong. A Major can't salute a Captain unless he's won the Victoria Cross. You'll have to offer Captain Paranoia a field promotion.

I bet that nearly all the companies where ever they sew up the garments use YKK zips made in China...

I recall being awarded a field promotion recently, to Major Savings. I'm not sure if Majors salute each other...

In field, salutes aren't a good thing; identifies command hierarchy to snipers...

Perhaps changing services might be more appropriate - how about Admiral Service?

Yep, most zips are YKK. Interestingly, there seems to be a rogue batch of reversed double-ended YKK zips out there. I've come across a few garments recently where it's been very difficult to start the zip from the bottom of the garment, though it will happen with perseverance. As they're from different brands, I suspect that it's a zip problem rather than an issue with a particular brand.

Sometimes zips break, though to be fair, it's not something that happens often these days. I'm more likely to damage zips by overfilling small packs, the less said about which the better.

Is anything made in the UK? most things are contracted out to sweat shops in Asia. Bought a zip-up sweater with a YKK zip, see how long it lasts.