The sleeve lengths are as follows:
SML 33 1/2
MED 33 1/2
LGE 34 1/2
XLG 36 1/2
XXL 36 1/2
All sleeve lengths have 1/2" shrinkage built in.
Last edited by aucociscokid2 (2015-11-13 13:42:34)
To quote Vampire Weekend, those paragons of hipster prep, “No excuse to be so callous/ Dress yourself in bleeding madras."
Link to an excellent article on madras by an American Columbia U. grad now based in Mumbai.
http://www.caravanmagazine.in/reportage/check-republic-madras.
See esp.
There is little to prevent retailers from selling fabrics produced on power looms as handloom madras.
See our Loominous looms in the previously posted pic.
Whether fabric will be sold to Mercer is at this point problematical, as we don't want to be placed in the position of competing against ourselves. My advice would, therefore, be: If you're interested in the shirts, as we hope you are, buy them on Styleforum. Thanks.
Yeah.... i think we have all got the message, i dont think there is any need to give us almost hourly updates.
Talk about hard sell, what are you trying to do ? Bore us into submission.
/\ thanks AC, it's about bleedin' time
Thanks Stan..., much more of this hand looming bombardment and we will have to treat it as spam I'm afraid.
To be brutally frank this whole bleedin' madras business has almost been an exact guide on how NOT to succeed in marketing your product.
Just sell the fabric to actual shirt makers FFS and let them do the heavy lifting. I really don't understand why the fabric wholesaler is out there hawking the (unfinished) wares?
Im confused? Are you selling your cloth to New England Shirt Co? Or are they just making the shirts for you? Because if you are having them made technically you will always have a less costs than a third party using your cloth because obviously you haven't sold yourself the cloth.. so unless you do a bit of profiteering and charge as much as a third party you're always going to price out your opposition who you should actually be appeasing to get the cloth sales up to multiple manufacturers..or have I got that wrong?
Are you just trying to improve your return on the cloth by manufacturering the shirts too...? If so why don't you just do that? At the moment I feel like you covering all bases..are you here as a cloth wholesaler, or a seller of shirts? Or both?
Regards,
Confused
London
P.S Although Vampire Weeked have some rather nice little ditties I'd suggest name checking them, whilst using the the term 'hipster prep' is really not going to turn anyone on to your products on here, daddio.
Last edited by Bop (2015-11-14 23:57:16)
It's a niche market at best so I'm not sure that the normal marketing rules apply. Very few people even know or care what bleeding madras cloth is. Even fewer are prepared to pay $175 for a shirt that's just a casual item for knocking about in. I'm in this latter category.
I kind of have to cover all bases. It's a slog. First of all, I have to dye/weave the fabric because no one else does. "Bleeding" madras has been absent from the marketplace for 45+ years. + There are other manufacturers/retailers which have sullied the marketplace since. I'm like a rat in a maze: When I hit an obstacle, I try to take another path. Manufacturers and retailer are among the greatest.
Since there obviously is consumer demand for them, I've had to find ways to get them in the hands of consumers, which I'm trying my best to do. I hope you can appreciate that.
At the manufacturing and retail levels there has little interest because of the pricing and minimums.They sold out in 4 days when first offered by David Hodgkins/David Wood Clothiers/Portland, Maine in August. David just ordered more based the demand he's seeing for them. By way of imprimatur: Charlie Davidson/Andover Shop is also selling them (he's had a swatch hanging in the shop since April). But, David and Charlie would never buy enough to make this a business.
Japan is starting to come on board. But, there again, I've had to develop the market and have to manufacture the shirts for that market, otherwise the retail prices skyrocket.
There are NO US shirt manufacturers currently in a position to buy our fabric. Part of the reason is that they would have to buy a minimum of 100 yards per pattern. + Each wants proprietary patterns.
New England Shirt Co. is producing the shirts for Loominous on a CMT (cut, measure, trim) basis. If I sold the fabric to them, it would put the retail price at $250+. We believe as far as price is concerned, we are competitive. Most of the Hill-side's shirts are priced between $175 and $225, for instance. True, the Hill-side has the overhead of a retail location, but our fabric costs are 5x theirs for openers.
http://shop.thehill-side.com/collections/shirts
The shirts are made from 2/80s cotton, and would be suitable for dressier occasions. In the 1960s, entire families were known to wear "bleeding" madras to church. On Access Hollywood Live, Bryan Safi wears madras check shirts all the time. For spring-summer 2016, many of the best designers showed madras check everything at the various fashion weeks for both men and women.
http://www.missoni.com/experience/en/collection/mens-summer-2016/
Last edited by aucociscokid2 (2015-11-15 13:35:11)
Ive just looked..so as it stands a third party would be looking to have a cost of roughly $52.50 on the cloth for a shirt?
Would you mind just explaining how they make the cloth again?
First the master dyer mixes the dyes with water, until he judges the color of the mixture to be right. Then he dips a pure white hank of yarn into it until it "takes" the dyes. Then, he judges whether it makes perfectly the other hanks he previously dyed.
Then a warp is made by the master weaver. Warps are always made in the early morning, and usually in the shade, because hot sunlight will fade the warp yarns. The warpers first set up a bamboo warp frame, then attach dyed "80s" yarn, a strand at a time, to the beam at the foot of the frame, then "walk" it 60 feet to the head of the frame, and sley it in one of two reeds there. For our fabric, 5,000 yarns have to be "walked" from one end of the warp frame to the other, before the sun grows hot.
Then it is inspected, and frayed yarns are replaced, and broken yarns are tied with weaver's knots. Next, starch sizing is slung on the warp yarns with bristly brushes, and burnished with bamboo sticks, to give them a smooth, even finish for weaving. And finally, the warpers tie off the yarns by colors, roll then up on the beam, and carry it to the master weaver. Warping is arduous, painstaking handwork.
Pushing foot pedals attached to the harness, the master weaver raises and lowers the warp yarns, while he sends the shuttle flying and weaving through then, with his hands.
Once the weaving is finished, it is washed in spring water in a "washing hole" which gives it a special softness and texture.
It's spread in 25-foot lengths of cloth in the water and then soaked. Washers work the cloth back and forth with their hands and bare feet, cleaning and finishing it.
After the cloth is washed, it is spread out to dry. And at day's end, the ground would be totally, colorfully covered with hundreds of lengths of Madras cloth, drying in the hot sun. Beautiful!
Last edited by aucociscokid2 (2015-11-15 16:04:42)
Do you mind going over the prices again ?
How many yards do you need for a shirting ?
Careful you tossers, I'm approaching critical intoxication. Don't make me ban all of you for derailing this thread!!!
Just try me!
The price for the Loominous "Bleeding" Madras shirts has been reduced on Styleforum from $175 to $125.
http://www.styleforum.net/t/512359/loominous-bleeding-madras-gmto-price-reduction
http://www.styleforum.net/t/511917/loominous-bleeding-madras-gmto-a-classic
Post #21 on the second thread has pictures which demonstrate how dramatically (and beautifully in our estimation) the colors meld with laundering.
Last edited by aucociscokid2 (2015-11-17 19:45:22)
They do indeed look very good...but please for the love of god stop quoting vampire weekend...it's like someone drawing their fingers down a blackboard
In my view the prep thing is dead...2012/13 probably this stuff wouldve been at its height. Now youve only got the die hard trads and ivyists left..and without producing the right shirt..ie a Mercer you're not going to attract the purist crowd..who are probably the only people now interested..in my view that is.
Last edited by Bop (2015-11-18 02:49:07)
This is a serious question without any sarcasm: is anyone on Talk Ivy thinking about buying one of these shirts via Styleforum?
Well, if I knew how the cloth was manufactured, and could be sure it came from hand looms using traditional vegetable dyes, I might.
But without that information, I'm in two minds.