Iron Heart Update - 2026
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…and also want to point out that Blue Button Shop is located in Toronto.
https://www.bluebuttonshop.com/shop/BRAND/M/Iron-Heart/ALL/0
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I wish I could try IH items on, I'm in Scotland and the closest would be driving to Rivet &. Hide in Manchester (England...)
as much as it sucks they've been upfront about production issues and the fact factories are being pushed to the limit
I think it's somewhat first world problems complaining you can't try on the items, when in my case I have to drive to another country to do this...
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@goosehd Yes, Blue Button Shop is outside of the Queen West retail strip where denim aficionados shop, and they are less well known in the denim community. They carry many Japanese clothing brands for women and men, but are more of an online than retail presence for Iron Heart products - and denim is not their core business. Visit them - or send a secret shopper- and see how easy it is to find IH products or get expert or even knowledgeable advice from their staff. I have, and it is not where I would choose to shop for IH.
Dutil is a denim powerhouse where denim is their core business, and where IH is displayed prominently, and where the staff have an unmatched depth of knowledge about IH and the denim market in general. They are a specialist denim shop, BBS is not.
As far as the Toronto denim scene is concerned you went with the pony and not the workhorse.I will provide you with some praise - your remaining Canadian dealers - Brooklyn Clothing in Calgary, and The Shop in Vancouver are both very solid choices. They are very professional, knowledgeable, and well connected to their local denim community as well as nationally in Canada.
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@MarkNo the IHUK team has its reasons and I’m sure they will gladly stand up and defend their position. It’s why Alex put out the statement he did.
They know they are hurting some retailers and consumers with their decisions. Owning and running a business is not easy.
I will say that IH has a retailer 35 miles from me in MN and I’ve never been there since they brought IH on. I use the great measurements that IH provides and the feedback from forum members to help make decisions.
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Most of us don’t have stores to go and try stuff on in person and we make it work
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Just stopped by there for the first time on an impromptu trip to Toronto area. The store was impressive and I could instantly tell it was a denim-head destination store. Sad to see them losing IH, as they had a healthy selection available and was very happy to be able to find Iron Heart products in my trip.
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Bought my first pair of 666 21oz from their shop on Queen St and have shopped there a bunch since. So many times IHUC doesn’t have my size but a local stockist here does. Not to mention all the times I end up buying something I wouldn’t have normally considered because I’m able to try it on. Shit happens I guess.
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You'll just have to order online or coordinate a visit to a shop on a vacation like the majority of us do. I would love having a local shop to try on things as much as everyone else, but I also understand that IH is trying to limit the channels of sales to be able to maximize their output of quantity per shop/market. I'm sure it's not personal to your local shop, there just isn't enough supply for every big city to have a shop.
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I live like 5 minutes by car from The Shop, 20 minute walk, I still buy stuff from IHUK because I know my measurements and we have 12% of sales tax here in BC but IHUK is tax free.
I get that it sucks a local retailer is losing access to IH but I think IH knows what they are doing with their business and we aren't entitled to having a retailer in our city or province just because it is more convenient to us, there is people in here who don't have one in their country at all.
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@MarkNo said in Iron Heart dropping Toronto dealer in Canada's largest city:
To put this into a UK context it would like dropping your London dealer while maintaining one dealer in Edinburgh and another one in Belfast - but none in London. You would never think to do that - would you?
Yes, 100% if they met the criteria we used for making the decision.
Reducing the number of retailers was one of the hardest, if not the hardest, thing we have had to do as a company. @Alex had the balls to do it, I probably would not have. But it was the right thing to do for the business overall.
It was awful for us, it was awful for the retailers affected., and I am sure we pissed off a lot of customers with affection for the stores that we have stopped supplying to.
But absolutely needed to do it, but we do not need to revisit it 7 months after it happened.
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@Giles when Alex made that announcement it wasn’t clear which stores were getting the axe so for some the wounds may be fresh. I found out Dutil was on that list in July. Scott mentioned there’re still getting stock from IH up until their orders are fulfilled. Dutil carries other brands but IH is my favourite among them.
I was just at Blue Button shop yesterday and while they stock IH, you have to find what you want on their webpage and they bring it up from downstairs. They do have some IH displayed but it’s a small store and there’s only so much real estate for all the brands they carry. My understanding is that they order in much less quantity than Dutil did so Perhaps that factored in with things. In any case I’m glad I can still go and try stuff on locally. A bit of a story about the IH shirt I picked up there yesterday.
All this to say - if you guys didn’t make such great shit, we wouldn’t be here bitching about supply chain and local retailers!
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The list of retailers were not published because it was between IH and each retailer. Hard discussions had to be made and quite frankly, only 2 parties would be involved.
I understand that many customers feelings would be hurt, but it doesn’t affect us the same way it would affect the businesses involved.
There are reasons why each retailer was kept/let go, but it’s not our business to why.
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A Alex locked this topic
