Loving your gear is the best thing you can do—for you, your wallet, and the planet. After all, it’s more convenient, less expensive, and less wasteful to repair your outdoor clothing and gear compared to throwing it away and buying all new stuff.
That’s why we hold our Love the One You Have campaign every year. Each piece of gear or clothing saved with an attractive NoSo patch is another item saved from the landfill.
It’s also nice to keep the stuff you already love in good condition. Wear and tear happens. But that doesn’t mean it’s the end of the line for your favorite jacket, backpack, or sleeping bag.
When you repair your gear, you keep it in use for generations—and do good by the planet too. So let’s hop right into the 2024 winners from this year’s Love the One You Have campaign!
…………………………
Janel Favero
My NoSo patch story started in 1992 when I was a lucky little kid whose mom bought her a horse.
Britches turned out not to be just ANY horse but was a babysitter, a magician, a confidence builder, a teacher, and most of all, a best friend. Britches touched many people; she taught us patience, happiness, and the love for black licorice snaps.
Britches also gave me another gift, another dunalino-colored mare named Ally. Alz was very special in many different ways than Britches, including her insane love for candy canes.
If you put your hands in your pockets, she was right on you, thinking you would pull one out and give it to her. Well, when you did, and she got done scarfing it down, she would search for a surface to lick. Invariably, it was your hand, cheek, or side of the trailer, but it happened to be this vest often. In fact, you can see the lick marks all over it in the picture.
Coincidentally, the lick marks never washed out, no matter how often I washed this vest. I lost Ally this year, and I’ve been taking it pretty hard, so it was imperative for me to patch up my heated vest.
On the surface, it’s nothing special. A heated vest I can use to keep me warm. But it holds very important pieces of my heart. I held a birthday party for Britches three years ago, not knowing that 29 would be her last.
#LoveTheOneIHave means keeping my girls and their memories with me every day through the long winters. Thank you for helping me preserve these memories and letting me tell you our story.
Cameron Shoppach
I work at an animal shelter and spend the majority of my time outside and with dogs. Because I wear puffer jackets to work, I have a nail or a tooth poke a hole in my jacket usually once a week.
Thankfully with your Dazzits pages and full-sized patches, I’ve been able to patch up 10+ holes in two different jackets I wear.
Dawn Case
Last year, I hit a tree snowboarding. It turns out they don’t like hugs, and don’t hug back. I ended up with 15 stitches, but even more heart wrenching was the big hole in my snowboard pants.
I wanted to use a tree patch to mend the damage, since a tree did the damage in the first place. I was super excited to find the perfect patch in the perfect size from NoSo!
Olivia Bakke
I was backpacking and stopped to shove my brand new rain jacket into my pack…right over the sharp point of my trekking pole which put a hole right in the front of the hood.
Luckily I was able to find a perfect patch for my jacket and now I have a custom jacket that everyone admires.
Kristen Hanson
Last March, we adopted this adorable pup, Tilly, as an 8-week-old bundle of joy with beautiful eyes, razor-like claws, and pin-like puppy teeth. Needless to say, in our MN winter/early spring, my down coat suffered regular damage from this cutie!
Noso patches to the rescue! Tilly will now sit for pics, but I still keep our visited National Park patches at the ready when needed. Luckily for us, I get lots of compliments on my coat…way more than before the patches even!
…………………………
Congrats to All the Winners This Year
A huge thank you to everyone who submitted their amazing stories. We all have a story of that super special gear we just couldn’t let go of. And we are happy that you didn’t have to. We hope you keep on getting out there and patching the planet.