Ask Giles and/or Alex Anything
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1. When you buy Iron Heart from a retailer, how does it differ from buying direct from Iron Heart? Say both places have the exact item in the same price and size, does your team benefit more when we buy direct? I’m assuming SE works different than others since they have some of the same products, and some proprietary as well, correct?
2. How does the Stockist relationship work? I noticed that Canoe Club in Boulder, Co no longer listed you as a stockist. Do they sign a contract with you? What can you share about the way the system works with stockists?
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Firstly, you need to understand that the margins in this business are not large. We make tiny margins from our retailer (or wholesale) business, and they make much smaller margins than is normal in retail clothing. So when we work out costing and pricing, we have to juggle these 3 dynamics 1) Does the wholesale price make it worthwhile for us to sell? 2) Will the retail price be acceptable to the customer? and 3) Will the retailer make enough money at those wholesale and retail prices to make it worth his or her while stocking the product. Sometimes, it is simply impossible to get a yes to all 3 of those questions, if that happens, we either do not stock the product period, or we do not offer to retailers.
Retailers are a vital part of our business because they spread the love and expand Iron Hearts physical presence. But as a stand-alone business, it would not be viable, the margins are too small. None of our retailers carries more than 20 or 30% of our SKU's (Lot numbers or unique products), so we see the retailers in some way as fuelling demand for the products we sell online, which is where we make a more acceptable margin. Look at it this way, someone goes into a retailer, buys some IH, falls in love with it, Googles Iron Heart and finds IHUK. The weekend that Mildblend launched Iron Heart, we got 7 direct orders from the Chicago area, the same weekend. I'm certain that was not a coincidence.
All business outside of Japan comes through IHUK, many retailers have unique products or collaborations, they all come through us. The majority of retailers like IHUK to sell their collaborations because typically we have a greater reach than them, so they see us selling their product as a way of reaching an audience they could not or would not touch, that is why for instance we carry most of the Pronto collabs.
All retailers are treated the same, we do not have contracts with any of them and they all pay the same price for product nevermind what their volumes are. I want them to stock and sell Iron Heart because they want to, a signed piece of paper makes no difference. However if they do things that they should not, like dump stock or have frequent sales which undermine other retailers, they just don't get supplied again. We're a family and I won't have some black sheep wreck things for everyone.
Finally, I have no contract with Haraki. It's simply not needed.
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Thanks for all the info, it’s a very interesting read. You talked about Mildblend, and before you had I was thinking of a follow up question to ask. I’m assuming they wholly own the products? I ask because on their website, they have some very old Iron Heart skus from past collections, and a coaches jacket that I have never even seen before. Do you ever reach out and discuss moving product to get new items in?
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Not really. They buy the stuff from us, they own it. We don't make large enough margins from our retailers to bail them out of their buying mistakes. And frankly, if we did have a "you-fucked-up-we'll-buy-it-back-off-you-policy", then what would stop them taking purchasing risks (with our money), that they would not otherwise take? Retailers make much higher margins on selling product than the wholesaler (us in this instance), they have to own their own issues. However, if we see that a retailer has some good stuff that they can't shift, but we know we can, we'll take it back from them, but it has to work for us as well as them for us to do that. When Iron Heart Vienna had to stop trading, although we had no financial interest in the shop, we bought everything back off them, some of it was golden, some of it we really did not want, but by doing so, it helped them out, and it also stopped Iron Heart product being dumped onto the market, therefore pissing off all our other retailers. And keeping a retailer community that is happy, does not worry about being undercut and knowing exactly where they stand, is one of our key goals. We have had retailers buy from us, who think they can do what the fuck they want and not give a shit about other retailers. When that happens they get asked politely to play by the rules once, we never ask a second time, we just stop supplying them.
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@Giles I woke up to a problem this morning.
Last night I wore my new white 1600 T-shirt tucked into my 666-21s as it was pretty chilly here in Berlin.
This morning I see there is basically a ring around the lower part of the T that were tucked into the pants.
Any chance of that indigo coming out in a wash or am I looking at dying the shirt in another color?
yikes. -
It should come out with a wash.
Thanks for the quick reply Giles.
Last time I tuck the t shirt in. ive soaked the 666s twice now and didn't think they would shed that much blue indigo still.
Live and learn -
It should come out with a wash.
Thanks for the quick reply Giles.
Last time I tuck the t shirt in. ive soaked the 666s twice now and didn't think they would shed that much blue indigo still.
Live and learnU soaked twice and thought they wouldn’t bleed anymore? [emoji2357]
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
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It should come out with a wash.
Thanks for the quick reply Giles.
Last time I tuck the t shirt in. ive soaked the 666s twice now and didn't think they would shed that much blue indigo still.
Live and learnA treatment with this will ensure it comes up clean:
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Yea, I don't know what I was thinking. I will probably give them their first wash next weekend.
Thanks for the tip @neph93
I will pick some of that up this week as well.Love the 1600 so much for its warmth and comfort now that its cooling down.
its perfect under my UHF.
Ive heard of " ring around the collar" but this was my first case of “ ring around the waist". - topic:timeago-later,18 days
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I have a curiosity…
Just received a 526PJ, and can’t seem to find anywhere the proud “Made in Japan” label...
From what I understand all IH products are manufactured in Japan, is this the case?
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Everything Iron Heart except the Simmons Bilt collabs and the IHC-18 (which is made in America) is made in Japan.
Thanks Giles! You just re-confirmed my suspicions!
Additionally as I just remembered heheh… I see that some jackets have the jacket and sleeves bottom hems chainstiched, even some department store ones and IH doesn’t... Any reasoning behind this if it make me any difference at all?
Thanks!!!
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I think my response may disappoint and, if it does I'm sorry.
The simple answer is nothing. And I do not say that out of any sense of arrogance, because boy have I made a lot of mistakes and there are plenty of things that I could have done better. But one of my fundamental beliefs is that everything you do, every choice you make leads you to be the person you are and the place you are.
I'm happy where I am, I have a lovely loving family, I have great friends all over the world, I have a successful business and I enjoy what I do and who I am.
In reality, everything I have done in life has led me to where I am. Had I done almost anything differently, then I would most likely now be in a different place. It may have been a better place, it may have been a worse place, but it would certainly be a different place. But, I don't waste my time on what-ifs.
A friend of mine went fishing on his own recently, he caught a fish of a lifetime. He phoned me up to tell me and say how much he wished I hade been with him. I told him I was glad that I had not been, because had we gone together there is zero chance that his lure would have been in the right place at the right time and he would not have caught that fish.
I don't believe in fate, but I do believe that whatever you do, wrong or right dictates the rest of your life.
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An exceptional statement. ^^
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I too love the history of the brand and it’s evolution over time.
Also, I love the collaboration and camaraderie between IH and other brands/retailers.
I’m very curious (as I already know the story of how you and H connected), how did you you connect with Josh over at GA and Kiya at SE?
Also, since you said you were open to transparency, what happened with Viberg? My ultimate grail is the 310 Viberg/IH collab, when I asked a few years back another forum member said there would be no more collaborations with Viberg and all boot footwear collaborations have been with Wesco (which of course is another amazing brand).
