We stumbled onto Cotopaxi about a month ago as we were taking a nice stroll along 23rd Avenue in downtown Portland. We were not familiar with the brand, but with a big trip (at the time) coming up to a small island in Nicaragua and a large SALE sign out front, well, we had to go in. Right?
Cotopaxi, I learned, focused on making durable travel and clothing gear as ethically and sustainable as possible. They also donate 1% of revenue to non-profits that help communities experiencing poverty.
The store, while having a lot of items, did a nice job displaying their merchandise throughout the space. The bright and multi-color products are eye catching. The quality of the products are high end and I am in agreement with their statement; durable.
The staff asked if we knew much about their product, which we did not, and they were more than happy to take the time to talk to us about who Cotopaxi is, their focus and answer and recommend products we were interested in or looking for. In addition of course we asked where the SALE items were. We were lead to the nice back porch and found backpacks, fanny packs, duffle bags and both men and woman's clothing racks. We decided to check out the large back packs and purchase two (2) for our trip. We very quickly discovered their products do not go on sale frequently, so we lucked out with a great discount on the day we decided to make our first visit.
The bags were perfect for what we needed on our trip. I was pleasantly surprised with how much each bag actually held. They have great capacity! Additionally the areas are distributed with different zipped contained sections which allows for easy packing and organization. These bags traveled so well, especially considering we carried them onto 2 major airline flights, one small puddle jumper flight and then a low boat ride for 90 minutes through the mangroves of Nicaragua and then served us well on the small 12 acre island on the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua.
Fast forward, 5 weeks later and as we walked through the Portland Saturday market we spotted a couple with the husband wearing the same Cotopaxi backpack. We stopped and chatted for a bit. They found the store yesterday and he purchased the bag. While pricy, he was already enjoying the product greatly and happy he purchased it.
All in all, high priced product, but for the quality, organization and capacity I would absolutely buy the item again. Now that said, I also would prefer to wait for another sale!! SCORE. read more