Most of us have experienced a mishap or two when enjoying our favorite outdoor activity. Instead of getting down on yourself, Demerit Wear has created Scout-like merit badges that celebrate your less than stellar performance outdoors, since after all, at least you are out there trying.
Modeled after the Scout Merit Badge system, Demerit Wear has created a long list of embroidered patches that celebrate common mishaps and mistakes made in the outdoors. A wide variety of outdoor activities are covered such as unintentional knots in your climbing rope, pitching your tent on sloping ground, or suffering a sprained wrist from that snowboarding wipeout.
Demerit Wear is the brainchild of Michigan resident Steve Kosinski. Tired of not living up to his brother’s stellar outdoor performance as an Eagle Scout, Steve decided he would create a set of merit badges he could actually earn and that would celebrate his own outdoor experiences, even if they were less than perfect.
Along with the funny merit badges, Demerit Wear has created some more serious embroidered patches to commemorate events such as running a marathon, hiking the Appalachian Trail, summiting a Colorado 14er, or climbing peaks across the Cascades. For the foodies, there is the Bacon Addict, Caffeine Addict, and even a PBR inspired Beer Can merit badge.
As playing outside in a Scout sash is not exactly cool, Demerit Wear sells caps for sewing your patches onto, or you can choose to decorate your favorite messenger bag, gear bag, or just about anything. All Demerit Wear embroidered patches retail for $3.95 and can be ordered from the company website.
What are some of your ideas for an outdoor merit or demerit badge? Perhaps Steve will be open to suggestions. I personally need a mountain bike fail patch to commemorate all my crashes the past couple of weeks.