Defining Emotional Durability
When we talk about durability, it’s usually regarding how our products fare against physical abuse in the world over time.
However, we want to explore a different, less direct aspect of durability that’s intrigued the LIVSN team lately. Emotional durability is essentially the concept of a product forming a connection with its wearer, so much so that it goes from “just another thing” to something that has personal significance and will then be kept, repaired, and cared for far longer.
Think of your favorite sweater that might have a few holes in it, but you wouldn’t dare throw away. A faded hat from high school, your first pair of Flex Canvas Pants that’s been on so many adventures it deserves a spot in your apparel’s personal Hall of Fame for all the flights, hikes, and bus rides it’s endured.
Emotional durability isn’t something you can simply double-stitch into existence, though.
Everyone has different tastes regarding fabric, features, and overall feel that will determine what resonates with them. However, we design products with this concept in mind, making the products we ourselves would like to wear outdoors, inside, and everywhere else, in the hopes that others enjoy them enough that they wear, repair, and keep them as long as possible.
This helps justify the ecological cost, spreading out the resources spent on its production across years rather than just one season of viable utility. Personally, I also think it’s kinda sweet and so lovably human to imbue an inanimate object with emotion and personality, so much so that the item becomes a story in itself.
LIVSN Staff Examples of Items with Emotionally Durability
Part of my job as LIVSN Community Manager is to pester the staff as much as possible with questions that derail their duties and help me with mine. It's a fun gig, and when I gave everyone a homework assignment last Friday morning to think over the weekend about items they have with a strong sense of emotional durability, this is how they responded:
A thrifted anorak jacket that I bought in high school that's been my camping shirt since then. It has one cavernous pocket in the front that keeps anything I might need after dark within arms reach. It's loose and easy to throw on over a puffy jacket, and it's 100% cotton, so it doesn't melt if a stray ember hits it. It's seen my interest in the outdoors as it shifted from a place to safely drink beer in high school to a place to find peace and serenity in nature.
The first synthetic shirt I remember buying is just this basic grey TNF base layer. It's pretty unremarkable in all ways, but I have a lot of memories with it. It's been on a ton of kayaking trips, road trips, & hikes, has holes from MTB crashes and paint stains from when I worked raft repair. The fabric is also starting to just basically give up & is pilled, but it's still comfortable. I wore it climbing the other day. I still enjoy it a lot.
My first pair of tarantulas (climbing shoes). i was a depop brand ambassador in college and used my stipend of depop bucks to buy my very first pair of climbing shoes - la sportiva tarantulas. the girl i bought them from had them in storage and i had to wait several months for her to get them out and ship them to me. when i finally got them they fit perfectly and were already nicely broken in. they unlocked a new confidence that I hadn’t had wearing my friends’ ill-fiting shoes. we faced the gym bros together. we learned to lead together. we made best friends together. i climbed through the toes before I knew not to (most repair shops won’t repair after a certain point). after my toes started bleeding i broke and bought a new pair of the same shoes but my first ones will always have a special place in my heart and my trunk.
For me, it's probably the Crosstrek I just sold. I bought it used off a couple back in 2017 who were expanding their family and needed something bigger. My first Crosstrek had just gotten totaled by a drunk driver, and I wasn't ready to part with the car (even today). That car took me across the country several times. I slept in it countless times, got new jobs, new partners, new homes, & everything in between with that trusty car by my side. When I finally decided to pass it along to its next home, we parted ways lovingly and with a whole lot of gratitude!
Mine would be my bow. It's been in my hand for most of my hunting adventures since 2005. It was the first big purchase I made for myself after a couple of years of using hand-me-downs from friends/dad. I've had some of my highest highs and lowest lows chasing deer and elk with it. I get to spend a lot of reflection time when I hunt, so it's just a big emotional connection to have that in my hand and have the time to reminisce on adventures and friendships over those years of adventures.
After living out of my Osprey Farpoint 55 liter bag for several years, we are emotionally bonded well past the point most psychologists would call healthy. Similarly, I believe several of my scarves have been imbued with magical properties and that to be parted from them would be painful. I have a red tote bag that has been repaired several times and is my longest running meaningful relationship.
What Makes an Object Emotionally Significant?
Figuring out what makes one object emotionally significantally and the other entirely disposable isn't an exact science, but certainly a fascinating one to explore. There's a relationship between everything we own and use on a day-to-day basis, and we believe it's worth taking the time to think and form a positive association whenever possible.
Let us know what apparel and gear you use has a high level of emotional durability. Also, any features or designs increase the likelihood of you forming such a wonderfully strange connection to your clothing.
