As Mr. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow famously wrote, "Into each life some rain must fall, and unto each jacket a tear must appear." OK, so maybe the second part he didn't say – but he should have! We've all been there. Our favorite jacket, torn by the careless claws of a pet who shall remain unnamed, but if they were to be named their name would be Tonks, and she is every bit as unintentionally destructive as the her namesake.
What to do? Shuffle on down to REI and pick up a roll of Gear Aid Tenacious Tape. Available in a few colors just cut a piece to fit, round the corners to resist peeling and smooth over the tear. We fixed three tears we'd been ignoring until the loose down started to pile up around the closet.
Tenacious Tape is a nylon fabric tape with uber-sticky adhesive that works on all our nylon and vinyl gear: jackets, sleeping bags, tents, packs, you name it. It has a waterproof coating and goes through the wash just fine. The 3 inch by 20 inch roll will patch a lot of small tears and a few big ones, so add it to your repair kit and laugh, laugh at the rain. A few bucks to save a much more expensive piece of gear is just a good investment.