Discussion: Sports clothing for Orienteering and other sports

Hello everybody,
I have noticed the growing popularity of Trimtex clothing, and noticed most are happy with their products. But they're really expensive. I would like to tell you of a company who produce custom clothing for orienteering clubs for the Baltics. They're a no name company but the quality is almost identical to Trimtex and they sell at almost factory prices. As far as I know they make for orienteering, cycling and they make training suits as well. Their training suits are amazing, I would actually say they're better and more comfortable than even Craft and Trimtex but faaar cheaper. If anyone is interested, I could pass the coordinates just email me at john-marx@live.com

Prepare to face the wrath of eddie!

John...what is the URL for the Trimtex like company?

It doesn't sound like John has an interest in this company other than to spread the word about quality & reasonably-priced o-gear. I hope AP continues to be a good forum for these reviews. John, please post any such information and opinions.

Who is John Marks? I hope the intentions of John's post are good, but a few things raise my "spammer or scammer?" antennae. I see no previous posts on attackpoint, no training log, no location, no seniority (eg John is a brand new member). A google search for "John Marks" + "orienteering" turned up a few leads which I don't have time to check right now, but not a long list of events and results like you would get if you typed in the names of many active orienteers and "orienteering". This is not to put down "John" (or anyone else named John Marks). I would not have found much about a very active adventure racer, rogainer, etc this way. But until I know more, I would approach with caution. Anyone vouching for "John" & his O' connections?

http://www.trimtex.no/uk/

Their "athletes" page says they sponser "bright" athletes.

Are you talking about company called ISC? From Estonia?

Mike, you make a good point & perhaps I was hasty in asking John too post a review here. If this thread does turn sour because it was started by a spammer, I hope Estonian company ISC is not assumed to be the culprit. It's hard to imagine they would lower themselves to such subterfuge.
ISC makes very good outerwear, in my experience. I own a pair of their o-pants and an excellent waterproof/windproof jacket. My only wish is that they distributed to the US so I wouldn't have to mail order it from Finland. With the Euro conversion & shipping, it's not cheap.

and link to english website version doesn't work...

Hello everyone, hehe I foresaw that some people would think I'm spamming, but I assure you my intentions are in fact good. Its not that I have much interest for this company but what I believe is that many brands overprice their apparal... not to say that they're not good, but there other options where people can get the same quality and even better without overpaying. Most people don't know about the "behind-the-scenes" companies and especially new companies with a good outlook but overshadowed by the big guys. I believe in this company and I would like to spread the word. The company is from Estonia but no its not ISC. The company name is Areal as matter of fact, Areal have produced clothing in cooperation with ISC for the Latvian Olympic Team

btw, they don't have a website unfortunatly.. atleast not that I know of

I know lots of small companies that I'd like to spread the word about, but I don't consider AP my own personal forum for doing so. If you want to buy ad space, talk to the webmaster.

I'd recommend the adspace, but I'm not affiliated with the company whatsoever, I work with statistics myself in the Baltics and know a bit of the company, then became slightly interested in orienteering. And noticed people here talking of high prices of Trimtex. But I apologize that my post that was originally of good nature, was percieved as spam or an advertisement. While at the same time reviews that simple people post are themeselves free advertisement for those brands.

a website goes a very long way on the road to becoming one of the 'big guys' and would have helped a great deal here!

John, your opinions would be more likely to pass the de facto censors and (at the same time) be more useful if they were about specific products or lines. It would also be valuable if you could provide a more first-hand account of your ordering experience. In short, less general, more specific.
BTW, I am but a user of this system and the above are just the opinions and interpretations that I have developed from reading these fora for a couple years. Cheers... =)

Trimtex needs more competition, way over priced in my opinion

The big companies are Trimtex (NOR), Craft (SWE), Noname (SWE/FIN) and Kampela (SWE). All scandinavia, with high incomes and high taxes...

I think it would be good to have companies such as ISC break into the market, I don't want to pay 100 euros for a training jacket!

Maybe we could get some chinese company in on the action... 7th

Thanks expresso, Trimtex have a matter of fact looked into producing in China, Craft already make their garments in China specifically their mass produced garments. Quality certainly comes from Europe in my opinion for example Kampela makes their stuff in Poland I believe and same with Craft with custom work.

I also believe that Trimtex needs competition, Trimtex is afraid of competition, Trimtex used to have their products manufactured at ISC, then Trimtex have tried to make an agreement that ISC would give up their other clients to specifically produce for Trimtex. Because of that they left ISC.

How I came across Areal, I'm not an athlete myself but I strive to keep myself in shape by doing a lot of jogging (a lot of jogging especially because I'm a big fan of beer) but in the winter I hate running in winter clothes its just uncomfortable, in the summer jogging is much more pleasant and doesn't take up too much time in the morning to get dressed. Then I met a girl in my gym, who is now my girlfriend, who happened to be a pro track and field athlete, she trains all year round so we got on the topic of whats comfortable and warm at the same time, she had an ISC track suit that her sponser ordered for her club. She then told me if I wanted to get something similar I can contact the manufacturing plant, Areal, who sometimes make small quantities for locals, like sell of their extra materials. I contacted them and asked if I could have one similar to my girlfriend, they had a model of their own which was similar on hand so they just shipped it to me. Ofcourse I live close to the plant so I had one of their staff just sent to my through a bus driver I don't know how they would ship to oversees though. I do know they used to ship to Canada I just don't know how expensive that would be... I bought the training suit for 83 EUR including the bottom and top jacket

I forgot to add, Trimtex left ISC because ISC didn't agree.

For John.... what part of the Baltics are you in?

ISC have at least a couple of retail shops... one in Viru Centre in Tallinn & another in the new centre in Tartu.

Can vouch for non 'household name' manufacueres... there's a company in Lithuania that manufactures for the big athletics companies... Adidas, ASICS etc... but thier own kit is much better & cheaper:)

Hey Gross,

I'm in Narva, Estonia... but I travel back and forth to Tartu at least once a week, I've only been in the ISC store in Tartu recently. I know of the stores in Tallinn, but I never got a chance to visit them. I tried some of the ISC skiing coats, my first impression was that movement in them is so comfortable. But I'm not sure how warm they are on the slopes. Sorry, a bit off-topic...

hi orienteering friends.
I'm from Hong Kong and my club has made a new ol-suit months ago.
The supplier is Champion System, which mainly produce cycling wears. They custom made an orienteering jersey and a running tight for our APOC team as a sponsor. The original price told is as following:
Jersey: ~USD45
Tight: ~USD55
Photo: http://bp2.blogger.com/_yUMX4c_BC3c/SImKcEcXwSI/AA...

I do think this company has the potential to be Trimtex's competitor. But maybe they think that orienteering market is just too small, comparing to the cycling market.

I have sold some ISC tops and the quality seems very good.
I am told that ISC makes the uniforms for "Noname" so expect Noname to charge more.

you might wanna check out Siven. Its a bulgarian company that's getting popular. The quality is really good and the prices are reasonable. Siven is doing the Russian Youth Team clothing for summer 2010. I couldn't find the website but I found the contacts of the company if anyone's interested.

Champion System made Craft's custom clothing for the past couple of years, although apparently are no longer doing that. So, I can vouch that its decent stuff. But, I did just wear my new ISC Wind jersey for the first time (and was very sad when found a clump of brambles to mangle it a little..... *cry*), and it was really really nice. I'm a fan.

The ISC doesnt have a place for online purchasing?