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Any Frostline fans out there?

Old 08-19-19, 10:02 AM
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stardognine
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Any Frostline fans out there?



As in 1970s sleeping bags & jackets & such. I guess they came in a kit, that your mom or someone sewed together & stuffed with down. 😎 There are some ties between early North Face & Frostline, like people who started the companies knew each other or something. 🤔

Anyways, I picked this bag up yesterday at a swap meet, for $5.00!!! 😁 I never even opened it to look, when I bought it, I figured it was worth a gamble. Turns out it's practically new inside, just the stuff sack is kinda dirty. Maybe it was stored in a car trunk, for emergencies? 🤔
I haven't looked online much yet, but that patch that says Broomfield, CO instead of Denver, dates it back to around 1975-1980.
Kinda cool, and very light & well made. It might very well outlast me. 😉
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Old 08-19-19, 12:55 PM
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Originally Posted by stardognine
As in 1970s sleeping bags & jackets & such...
I have a Frostline Parsenn Ski Jacket, made by my Mother in ~1977. The goose down would fly out of the insulating baffles with the slightest touch, which together with the slick fabric made it a difficult sewing project.
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Old 08-19-19, 05:44 PM
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In the 1970s, good quality camping gear was quite expensive. You might think it is expensive now, but back then most of the good brands were still sewn in USA, not asia, it cost a fortune. I think my first down sleeping bag cost close to $100, and the minimum wage at that time was $1.60. A lot of people sewed up their own gear due to the cost of professionally made gear. I recall getting a great price on a tent body that lacked the tent fly, somehow they got separated before the tent body got to the retailer. But I bought some coated nylon and a grommet kit and sewed up my own rain fly.

I think I still have a down vest that I sewed together in the 70s or early 80s, but I do not recall if it was a Frostline kit or a Holubar kit. I did not attach a label to it.Often people were not that great at sewing up the kits and seams would meander somewhat instead of being in straight lines, etc. If your Frostline looks like it was professionally sewn, you got lucky.
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Old 08-19-19, 06:35 PM
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Wow, what a blast from the past. My first panniers were a Frost Line kit. So was my first Goretex rain gear. Thanks to my wife for being able to sew.

That was in the late '70s early '80s and we were living in San Diego then. By the time we moved to Boulder in 1984, the company was gone.
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Old 08-19-19, 07:05 PM
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We have a Frostline travel bag that my wife sewed up in the '70s.
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Old 08-19-19, 08:13 PM
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Originally Posted by Tourist in MSN
Often people were not that great at sewing up the kits and seams would meander somewhat instead of being in straight lines, etc. If your Frostline looks like it was professionally sewn, you got lucky.
LOL, look at the footbox on this one. 😁 Not picture perfect, but I'd bet these seams hold well. It works, and that's what counts. 👍
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Old 08-20-19, 12:24 PM
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In 1977 my mom sewed two down jackets, one for me and one for my brother. The outside was a regular looking jacket, but inside one could see the pockets with down in them. Kind of like a faux exterior. Very warm and durable. Sledding, hikes through the woods, camp fire embers, etc. could not kill those jackets. We had 7 kids in the family, and much of our clothing was sewed by my mother, and most of it was handed down from one person to the next.
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Old 08-21-19, 05:26 AM
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Ah yeah! I sewed my own vest in high school, late '70's. Then a pair of down booties. Then another vest was sewn by a friend who was much better and that one looked professionally made. Last winter I looked up Frostline to see if it was still around.
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Old 08-21-19, 09:21 AM
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I still wear My Frostline jacket like this one:


Still have these



Offers (haha)?
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Old 08-21-19, 02:12 PM
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Oh cool, you have the panniers. 👍 I was looking for a pic someplace online, once I read they made panniers too. Just to tie it into bicycling better. 😉
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Old 08-27-19, 02:07 PM
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@stardognine I have that same gold sleeping bag and it was advertised as either a warm weather bag or it could be used as a liner for the full Frostline down sleeping bag. I just used mine a couple weeks ago.

As mentioned back in the mid to late 70's there weren't as many options for good outdoor gear and the do it yourself concept with Frostline made it affordable albeit with a bit of work. My mother and I assembled the liner bag, the full down sleeping bag with a single layer tie in nylon liner that can be removed for washing, a down jacket (I think the Parsenn Seeker333 mentioned), a set of panniers, and a handlebar bag.

Both sleeping bags are still in very good shape. The full bag is heavy by today's standards but very warm. The puffy down ski jacket is dirty but still warm and functional and I wear it for snowblowing etc. I sold the panniers and handlebar bag a number of years ago.

It was a cool business model concept and for the times the designs were up to date and the materials were very good. The taffeta nylon on my products is still holding up well. As with most early products made of waterproofed lined nylon like the stuff sacks and panniers the lining eventually got gummy and started to flake off however.

​​​​​​​Thanks for the flashback :-)
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Old 08-28-19, 06:13 AM
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Originally Posted by badger_biker
@stardognine I have that same gold sleeping bag and it was advertised as either a warm weather bag or it could be used as a liner for the full Frostline down sleeping bag. I just used mine a couple weeks ago.

Thanks for the flashback :-)
No problem, on the flashback. 😎 And thanks for the info. 👍 That's pretty much what I figured it for, a liner for a synthetic bag. A full sized down bag doesn't necessarily fit inside another bag very easily. 😉
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