>>2841100I definitely like making my own stuff. Like Ron Swanson said "people who buy stuff are suckers"
But I'm practical, so if it's more affordable to buy, I will.
I made a 100L backpack 90% ripstop and the rest leather where it would wear (bottom and straps). Not because it was cheaper but also custom. I can pull some Paracord strings and make it a 40L with two 20L "compartments" on top and bottom. That lets me separate shoes from clothes and from water.
I was also able to add a frame so when it's 100L, I don't need to walk like an upright turtle.
The frame I made from 5mm x 600mm titanium poles, that I can also use to prop up my tarptent.
So I use a tarptent only because I haven't come up with a better design for a tarp/hammock tent. But that's on my to-do.
I chose to make my own tarp with silpoly fabric. Allowing me to sew 78"x150" together for ~150"x150" at about $50 vs $100+ to buy premade and smaller.
These days we can pretty much live how our ancestors did, using available products to make what we need.
I've also tried making my own jeans. I dislike trying on clothes and my gap jeans fit perfectly but the material doesn't last more than 5 years. Lucky denim lasts a lot longer and feels more comfortable but no lucky jeans fit like my gap. So I took a spent pair of gap jeans and made a stencil, spent $30 on lucky denim to make 2 for me and enough to make another for my nephew. Custom pockets and fabric make it ideal comfort and slightly cheaper than buying gap.
Businesses make products but even the designers admit they make a design and compromise for markets and usually end up only a pittance of what they started with.
