Unpopular opinions
-
In other news I am totally abandoning short sleeved button up shirts this year in favour of tees. SS shirts are just a little too "Mormon" for my taste.
They always make me think of the guys who repaired the copiers in our office.
And Mormon missionaries. In fairness, I've known many Mormons, and they are invariably genuinely thoughtful, kind people, and the guys seemed to hate the SS white dress shirts passionately. Probably from being forced to wear them every day for two years straight.
-
Hey, no attack on Mormons at all man. I have 2 living at the bottom of my street and they are the nicest most polite guys you could wish to meet, I just wouldn't want to dress like them.
-
I love Sid Waddell
"Taylor’s maths could improve Fermat’s last theorem."
But loads here:
-
Now that Red Wing prices are so close to certain higher quality boots I fail to see why they are still the number one boot of choice for the denim aficionado. To me they are a stock/ safe choice which is losing its relevance due to better and more individual boots being available for not much more money.
I have worn a variety of Red Wing boots (Gentleman Travellers, Moc Toe, suede work boot etc…) and really enjoyed them all, but when I compare them now to boots that can be bought for a little less than $100 more I just cannot see the appeal.
I think if I voiced this opinion on certain "social media" that I would lose a third of my friends list over night :o
-
Someone is or they wouldn't be in business.
-
Ok, I'll modify my statement to ….
Someone is or retailers wouldn't stock them and they wouldn't have so many Red Wing stores.
-
Red Wings are a bad choice if you pay more than 100 $ for them… I genuinely think they're worth 50-75 $...
It's all about patience... If you're poor that is... Just peruse the second hand fora and be patient...
Remember: I got Vibergs for the price of a pair of (retail priced) Red Wings...
-
…and that's what I would pay for Viberg too
-
I get that a price/ cost argument could be made for just about everything we're into, and that most of the time it's all down to individual tastes and circumstance etc..,
Where Red Wing piss me off if that they are now wanting the high end mark up of other brands without upping their game. Basically, pay me more for producing the same thing, well errrrr….no.
-
It's my opinion that Red Wing abuses it's position with their pricing. As the defacto #1 boot company I think their prices reflect what they can get away with charging, not quality, man hours, or number produced. The whole business model has been franchised and gimmicked to maximize that ability. Thorogood and Chippewa both achieve a similar boot, usually for less.
As far as cutting cost by searching for better deals, shouldn't everyone be doing so with everything? While there are certainly cases where one wants to support a company to the fullest extent. When one is purchasing a mass produced piece, 9 of 10 times a company like Red Wing has already made their money and the vendor slaps MSRP on them. It all eventually becomes about profit margin when the game is rigged top to bottom like this.
-
Case in point:
Whites Bounty Hunters made with a choice of Chromexcel, dress or oiled leather with a huge variety of sole and hardware configurations - £220 plus £50 shipping.
Red Wing Beckmans - £285
Why?
-
I don't see how these market economies are in any way "rigged." This is pure Adam Smith…
-
Because they can…
-
^^^Viberg also increased in price and I don't think they increased in quality (in all honesty, maybe it wasn't possible at all to increase in that point).
But when you also consider that they don't offer the custom option anymore, they decreased in the service (for some).Re: Red Wing…when did they increase they price by that much? I bought my first Engineers probably 4 years ago in the UK and the price after conversion was 170 €.
My second pair was from eBay which I scored for 160 €, retail price was 320 € as it was a Japanese special Ed.
So I think they should/could run in the 200-250 € range which I could justify...My pair of Grenson I got @50% (which was still 150 €) are still overpriced at that price point when you just take a look at the "leather" they use...
PS: sorry for using €-currency. It's easier to deal with it for me
