Why are you doing the styleforum offer and doing price reductions if theyve sold out elsewhere? Im a bit confused, why cant I just buy a shirt when the people that have bought your fabric restock?

Last edited by Bop (2015-11-18 11:23:17)

Hey, Bop! Are you actually going to buy a shirt? You want to spend $175, buy them from David Hodgkins/David Wood. You want to spend $125? Buy them on Styleforum.

100 yards - for the 100 time - need to be dyed/woven of a particular pattern. The financing for the dyeing/weaving is provided by the pre-sales on Styleforum. It's how Taylor Stitch, for instance, conducts their pre-sales. One price for the pre-sales. Another - higher one - afterwards. It's a low-risk way of financing.

If I sell 40 shirts on Styleforum, then there is none left to sell to other manufacturers/retailers. If I don't sell 20 shirts, then no fabric is produced.

Selling on the Internet differs from "brick-and-mortar" in that buying on the Internet is mostly an impulse buy. $125 is a price at which I believe I can sell on it.

Last edited by aucociscokid2 (2015-11-18 12:11:17)

Like it Jeff - look forward to the review.

Thanks, Jeff Reed.

This is David Hodgkins'/David Woods' review which is an easy to understand summary. He's old enough to be able to remember what they were and has 40+ years in the business.

1. They're the first bleeding madras shirts for sale in over 40 years.
2. They're comfortable with a "silky" hand.
3. They're the "Real McCoy."

We received the initial shipment of yardage in July. By August we were offering the first bleeding madras shirt for sale in over four decades. I am old enough to remember the character and comfort of this shirt (a silky hand), and I felt we had the “Real McCoy”.

Last edited by aucociscokid2 (2015-11-18 13:02:55)

With the current offering no, if the shirts are anything to go by on the New England website, I don't like the contemporary fit or button placement, but thats just personal preference. I think I would spend a bit more and wait to see what Mercer have to offer.

Ok, but I still dont understand why you're doing a price reduction if your so adamant Dave has demand for them? Aren't you selling yourself short? Id also be slightly concerned that Mr Mercer can't pattern match your fabric. Is there a chance that the repeat means there is greater waste than normal?

Last edited by Bop (2015-11-18 13:48:43)

Dave Hodgkins can't "front" the money to produce 100 yards. No manufacturer/retailer can. He can't sell what he can't get. I sell 20 shirts. That gets the 100 yards dyed/woven. That's 50 yards. Then, Dave takes the remainder, i.e. 50 yards. If I sell 40 shirts, then Dave doesn't get any. Nobody was buying on Styleforum at $175. $125 provides the financing. If you have a better way of financing it: I'm all ears.

This is exactly the way Taylor Stitch finances their products. They offer a 20%+ discount below retail for pre-orders. We're offering a 30% discount for pre-sales. (Typically, what happens is a manufacturer/retailer will add the cost of financing to the retail price, which generally constitutes 20%-30% of the wholesale retail price.)

https://www.taylorstitch.com/pages/crowdfunding-workshop

Madras also is strictly not an Ivy League item, either. It's popularity transcends all clothing styles. It been produced for over 300 years and, therefore, pre-dates even the Ivy League itself let alone that style of dressing.  In the day, entire families wore "bleeding" madras everything to on Sunday. "Bleeding" madras dinner jackets were popular in Palm Beach, NY, and Newport, RI. Women of all ages wore "bleeding" madras shirtwaists, shifts, sundresses, skirts, shorts, slacks, shoes, bathing suits, belts, scarves and carried "bleeding" madras purses.

Judging from what was shown at the various the fashion weeks worldwide in the spring, it's going to be very big for Spring-Summer, 2016, too. For both men and women.

It's popular and always in good taste and popular.

Last edited by aucociscokid2 (2015-11-18 14:28:12)

I would like to see this come to fruition on a shirt Id like to buy but it seems I will have to wait in order to see if you can secure a different maker to guarantee your costs or you have some left over and it goes to Mercer...youve got the right fabric on the wrong shirt IMO

Bop: My costs are guaranteed no matter who the maker is. And mostly the same no matter which. What I can't do is get one to buy 100 yards of fabric, because they don't have the money. The economy at least here in the US has recovered as far as Wall St. is concerned. But, not as far as Main St. As mentioned, you guys can suggest as many details as you wish, including patterns. New England Shirt can produce them. Look at their reviews. The downside of Mercer is that he has difficulty matching the patterns. We get slammed with orders, he may not be able to produce them either because he has a much smaller production capacity than NE Shirt. It requires 50 days for us to dye/weave the fabric. (45 days for the dyeing/weaving + 5 days to set up the looms.) So, just on weaving we're talking is into 1Q 2016. NE Shirt can give me 3 weeks turn around on the  shirts, so that's almost March. Mercer may not be able to have them ready for delivery until into the summer. At this point, he can't promise that. As I said, nothing is written in stone as far as details are concerned. You tell me what you want. I'll tell you what I need to do to make this a business, which is how you - after all - get the shirts. Let's see what we can do working together. OK?

Last edited by aucociscokid2 (2015-11-18 16:41:33)

First of all thanks for your order. Big mistake going into the whys and wherefores, etc. Here's the 3 simple options:

1. Buy an alpha-sized shirt New England Shirt Co. shirt on the Styleforum GMTO for $125. If FNB members want to suggest collars, etc., I'll produce them in accordance with the consensus.
2. Buy the madras as piece goods on while they last on Etsy. There's enough for about 20 shirts of all the patterns, except the Styleforum GMTO one. Have them made up any way you like, by whomever you like. When they go, they'll be retired.
3. Buy new patterns as piece goods on Styleforum as a GMTO, with a 50 yard minimum for any given one.

There. That's it. That's the paradigm. Any need for further comment?

Last edited by aucociscokid2 (2015-11-18 21:20:55)

Last edited by Bop (2015-11-18 22:58:42)