The Iron Heart Gallery - Is it a useful resource
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The way I understood @Giles' question is that not the photos and videos are in the center point of his question but the gallery site itself as he mentioned the demanding maintenance of it.
I can see that the replies after mine refer to the usefulness of the photos and videos, not however to the usefulness of the gallery site itself. Therefore one could assume that the previous replies imply that if the photos and videos that were originally uploaded to the gallery were uploaded to the forum instead, and then linked accordingly on the product site as @motojobobo mentioned in his reply, the gallery site would indeed be useless.
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I never use it since I rely on the forum for pics. One thing I appreciate though is IH's attention to detail. I don't see many other companies, if at all, that post such detailed product pics. From a consumer standpoint, it might be useful having a gallery so that new customers have a frame of reference and can get a better idea of what they're buying. As an example, if you go to Filson's website and look at their shirts they only have 3 product shots per listing. It's basically a generic cookie cutter template that doesn't give you much detail. I understand that they are operating on a bigger scale but if you're a Filson customer and are dropping $135 on one of their shirts it should at least have more details than front/back/folded. This is what separates IH from every other brand out there imo. When you show the gallery pics you're showing customers why your product is worth the money.
With that said, the gallery may be useful for potential new customers but I don't know if it has much utility for seasoned IH customers. Plus, you already have detailed images on the product page, so a gallery might be redundant.
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The photos of faded garments are the assets. Keep those. They take years to create. I've always wanted a Hall of Fade for only IH. At least for me, this was never about looking at another dude and gauging the fit of his clothing…GROSS. The IH gallery was for the epic fades on epic gear, nothing else. Want to see a six year old pair of unsanforized denim? Gallery. Want to see what an overdyed 634s looks like with wear? Gallery. How do the UHF look after a bunch of washes? Gallery. etc....
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The Hall of Fade should be invitation-only type epicness…
Y'all should make the "Hall" a part of the forum instead of a separate site.
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I'm not suggesting that we get rid of the gallery in its entirety, more that we possibly look at a different way of publishing some of the content.
I guess the questions is, do you look at the extra detail shots, if so then we will look to put them somewhere else.
I think that vids and fades etc will stay where they are unless we think of a better place to store them too.
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I definitely believe that y'all are sitting on a gold mine of that stuff…I mean, where else is there so many examples of heavily worn luxury clothing?!? Y'all could post daily fades for years...
I love the detail shots. On everything. More please. But maybe instead of "see more images in gallery", it could be "see more images in forum"
I get the dilemma, people click on "more images" and then are taken off site and that might or might not have the desired experience. I agree, I don't like the off-site link for more photos, but you also can't just fill up the product page with tons of pics either....
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Never use it. If it's burdensome as far as I am concerned ditch it. If anything just enrich the product pages with additional photos, it's easier for consumers to see evo and detail shots that way anyway.
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Maybe instead of "see discussed" and "see pics" on the product page, it can be condensed into "See pics and discussion on the Forum" and make the product page on the forum the go-to hub for all related info
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Now that we got that sorted
I'd still love an Iron Heart Hall of Fame. I'd be happy to curate and dig through all the pics ever posted for the best ones 
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I don’t use it that much. If I want to see additional Images of a product I go to the product thread in the forum. I have used it but I prefer the threads. If it’s an anchor, I’d suggest dropping it.
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Is it a useful resource?
Very useful
Does it add any value?
Absolutely. It's cliche but a picture is worth a thousand words and personally the more pictures of a particular item there are the easier it makes it for me on making a decision and will definitely have an influence on whether I purchase the item or not.
Do you actually ever use it?
I use the "see more images in the Iron Heart Gallery" link quite often off of the product page
Would you miss it?
I would. Forum photos of products "in the wild" are great but IMO they can't hold a candle to the quality of the photos Sam put's out in the Iron Heart Gallery.
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I look at the gallery all the time so I can look at the finer details of stuff when I buy it. But I could just as easily look at the OP in the forum to see those same pictures if they were posted there. I looked at the smugmug gallery today when I bought the new 634-25-xhsib jeans. But this was after I had already bought them just to further add to my anticipation.
I look at the fades part from time to time. But this has only been maybe a couple times since the gallery was started.
I can see if you don't want to maintain it any longer, so I can't hold it against you if it needs to go.
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I like the gallery but use the product page more often.
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Like these?
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Giles original post is literally the first time I have ever gone to the gallery.
I would imagine it is definitely useful for some folks when they are on the fence about an item but in general I feel like the quality and number of pictures on the product pages and in the forums is more than sufficient.
The whole crew as well as forum members always are happy to oblige when someone asks for fit or detail pics as well.
Like others have said, maybe take the well worn garment photos and create a new 'Hall of Fade' thread or sub-forum (separating out tops, bottoms, jackets, boots, etc. into their own threads).
As a whole, if it's a hassle to maintain I would cut bait and run.
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When I first found my way to IH I would look at the gallery, but I never found it that useful or compelling and haven’t looked at it in quite some time. The product pages and forum I’m looking at all the time.
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It sounds like, for the most part, for customers which are strong forum users and longer time IH followers, the gallery may be of marginal utility. But this sampling of opinion misses out completely on those customers who are not forum members, or are recent IH customers. If a significant portion of IHUK sales goes to non-forum customers (which sounds likely to me), this conclusion could well be way off.
