Back in 1989, there were these two brothers in Duluth – wild and woolly, hippie tradesmen kinda guys, working in the construction business. One thing led to another and pretty soon they came out with a little catalog called Portable Products. Under the heading "Job Tough, Job Smart," it offered 8 pages of products dedicated to improving and expanding on existing methods of tool storage, organization and transport. Eventually the company changed hands, but the innovative spirit of the two brothers lived on. The original grizzly bunch of product testers became the Duluth Trades Panel, but they still do the same thing: use, abuse and improve products by testing them in real-world conditions. Even as you read this, some of them may be testing out an upcoming Duluth item as they frame a new home, demolish a dysfunctional kitchen or bend down to see what's up with a drip-drip-drippy sink. If anything doesn't measure up, they let us know about it in no uncertain terms.

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