Iron Heart Update - 2026
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@Ability-520 Love this, thank you
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As we’ve shared recently, demand for Iron Heart continues to grow, while producing our clothing to the standards we insist on remains challenging. With many core items selling out quickly and taking longer than usual to return, we need to be increasingly careful about how Iron Heart is sold globally, which is why we recently made some changes to where Iron Heart will be sold.
For this reason, we will be stopping site-wide flash sales Iron Heart and will no longer offer any discounts on ironheart.co.uk outside of our usual end-of-line outlet reductions.
This is not about maximising profit margins — it is about reducing pressure on our production partners in Japan and creating a more stable, sustainable supply of product, so Iron Heart clothing can be made and stocked in adequate quantities for the long term.
For the same reason, we are pausing customer loyalty discount schemes for the time being. We appreciate that these programmes are valued, but discount-driven demand only adds to the strain we are working to reduce. What we will do, however, is continue to keep track of our customer loyalty, and work on some non-discount driven ways to repay that loyalty. Please follow on the Iron Heart Forum for updates in due course.
Our outlet section will continue exactly as before, offering end-of-season and discontinued items.
We understand that some of these changes may be disappointing, and we genuinely appreciate your understanding. Every decision we make is focused on protecting the quality, integrity, and future of Iron Heart.
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For more discussion on the customer loyalty, please read here:
https://forum.ironheart.co.uk/topic/18793/iron-heart-loyalty-vouchers-2026-and-beyond -
I was sad to learn that my favourite denim store in Toronto - Dutil Denim - which is beloved in the Canadian denim community and a long time IH dealer, is being dropped by IH. Where are we going to see and try on the latest IH releases and get enthusiastic and expert advice from the outstanding team of Scott and Brad at Dutil? Thanks to them I - and countless others - have spent many thousands on IH products.
Apparently the only IH dealers in Canada will be in Calgary and Vancouver. Now you fellows in Portsmouth need to look at a map of Canada and rethink your Canadian strategy both geographically and economically.
Toronto is by far the largest and most prosperous city in Canada, and it is the financial and economic centre of the country. It is the 4th largest city in North America. It makes no sense to drop your Toronto dealer and have dealers 3,000 and 4,000 km away from Toronto in Calgary and Vancouver. Canada is a vast land...
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?
We Canadians are very fond of IH - but we are also fond of Studio D'Artisan, Samurai Jeans, Pure Blue Japan, Oni Denim, UES, Momotaro, TCB, OrSlow, and so on...
So please, don't leave Toronto out in the cold.
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@MarkNo here is a link to what and why IH is changing it’s distribution: https://forum.ironheart.co.uk/topic/18623/iron-heart-update-2026?_=1787269982896
You may have received an email at the time as well.
Yes, it is sad that some dealers are being let go, but it is necessary at this point in time as described by @Alex in this thread.
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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
