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    Iron Heart Fall/Winter 2025 Collection Preview - Now Live

    Ask Giles and/or Alex Anything

    The Resource Centre
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    • GilesG
      Giles
      IHUK Crew
      Joined:

      Other companies can do what they want and it really does not bother me that much.  We make what we make and have a customer base who will buy it.  I'm guessing the other companies do what they do and they also have a customer base.  If they do what they want to do and there is no demand, then natural selection will take over. There's stuff out there that I think is absolutely awful, but that is a purely personal view and who am I to pass judgement?

      And if individuals want to sleep in their jeans, never wash them, jump into the sea with them, use abrasives to accelerate the ageing process, that's 100% up to them, and nothing to do with me.  All that matters is that an individual feels comfortable in his or own skin and comfortable within his or her peer group.

      In reality, the only market research I do is into other online stores, I'm always wanting to improve ours, so seeing how other people sell to an online audience is what fascinates me.  How is stuff presented, how does the check out work etc etc etc?  I'm always intrigued by how I differ from my bricks and mortar retailers when we are in Japan, they love going into physical stores and seeing how other shops display and sell, it has no interest to me.

      From other brands perspective, Alex and the crew look at other brands to see who we should stock for Sonder, so I guess the lazy answer is that I like and admire the brands we stock on Sonder.

      "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

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      • Z
        zeuloa
        Raw and Unwashed
        Joined:

        And you’ve done an excellent job with your online store! Simple, easy to use, everything is where it needs to be and no gimmicky videos or stuff that slow the website down. Love the comparison feature and it works flawlessly!

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        • GilesG
          Giles
          IHUK Crew
          Joined:

          Thank you.  A new version is going live in the New Year….

          "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

          last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • NikN
            Nik
            Raw and Unwashed
            Joined:

            @Giles:

            Thank you.  A new version is going live in the New Year….

            That's cool, can we hear more about it?

            last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • AlexA
              Alex
              IHUK Crew
              Joined:

              @Nkwkfld:

              @Giles:

              Thank you.  A new version is going live in the New Year….

              That's cool, can we hear more about it?

              This is why it all started:
              https://www.ironheart.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=231.msg658637#msg658637

              Once we decided that we needed to start again, we really started to analyse things we could do better. We are reshooting all imagery on a 5% grey background, adding new flat lay images to pants, changing the order of images taken and how they are presented to add more consistency to the images and how they are displayed on site (this is a work in progress, and we may launch without this being finalised). We want to add more depth of content - improved CMS pages explaining our cuts, refining our glossary into a sort of denim encyclopedia, and much more.

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              • NikN
                Nik
                Raw and Unwashed
                Joined:

                Thanks @Alex that sounds great. Looking forward to seeing it.
                I live in Southsea so am lucky to be able to visit the Gosport HQ, but it looks like not for awhile now…

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                • Z
                  zeuloa
                  Raw and Unwashed
                  Joined:

                  Not sure if you missed the second part about the jacket in the pictures… if the one gifted to you by Haraki 10 years ago in the Instagram picture and the one you’re wearing in the second picture sitting with Haraki is the same one... just curious [emoji3166]. Thanks!

                  Awesome changes on the new website @alex… Looking forward to it!

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                  • AlexA
                    Alex
                    IHUK Crew
                    Joined:

                    The jacket is the same, yes

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                    • GilesG
                      Giles
                      IHUK Crew
                      Joined:

                      Sorry I missed that….

                      The jacket is one that was in the first-ever shipment I got from Iron Heart in July or August 2005.

                      It has been worn a lot.  I must have left it in the office once and Chess stole it for a photo opp  🙂 🙂

                      Here it is tonight - safely at home and un-borrowable.....

                      "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

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                      • Z
                        zeuloa
                        Raw and Unwashed
                        Joined:

                        Awesome jacket @Giles!!! Gives me a peek into the future of what mine will eventually look like [emoji2]. Looks very relaxed and manageable… Was a bit afraid that the 21oz would always keep that heaviness and rigidness to some point but yours looks very soft with flow, drape and plenty of character.

                        Love the leather patch label btw... Perhaps even a bit more than the current one.

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                        • neph93N
                          neph93
                          見習いボス
                          Joined:

                          @zeuloa:

                          Love the leather patch label btw… Perhaps even a bit more than the current one.

                          Won’t see those ever again I’m afraid. If that was done today you’d end up on the end of some pointy litigation from Levi’s, which is more or less why it had to change.

                          «Stevie Heighway on the wing!
                          We had dreams, and songs to sing…»

                          • Dame Vera Lynn
                          last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • GilesG
                            Giles
                            IHUK Crew
                            Joined:

                            Thanks Nephh - my contribution…..

                            But Levi's told us we had to stop using it, and the red tab and the OG arcs.....

                            As I have said elsewhere before, Levi's flexing their legal muscle and frightening the crap out of the relatively insignificant Japanese brands, and making us run for the hills, was the best thing they could have done for our fledgeling industry.

                            You have my eternal gratitude, you unimaginative corporate wankers....

                            Don't ever knock Levis, they made us -  not once, but twice.....

                            "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

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                            • GilesG
                              Giles
                              IHUK Crew
                              Joined:

                              Oh, and Haraki was so pleased that it all happened.  It allowed him to shed the Levi's look-alike shit which he had unwittingly been a slave too.

                              It liberated him and his mind….

                              "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

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                              • Z
                                zeuloa
                                Raw and Unwashed
                                Joined:

                                I thought it was only the red tab (love the red stitched W btw, much better than the red tab!), good to know, and awesome that Haraki took the high road into freeing his designs!

                                Additionally was this iron flower thingy part of the original design or did you add it @giles? Looks great!

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                                • GilesG
                                  Giles
                                  IHUK Crew
                                  Joined:

                                  It's a GOOD ART HLYWD staple.  We took a load to sell, then realised that that the fabric has to be cut to attach, and thought that maybe people would not be as cavalier with their clothing as I am….So we sent them back.....

                                  "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

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                                  • KasiK
                                    Kasi
                                    見習いボス
                                    Joined:

                                    @Giles:

                                    Alex and the crew look at other brands to see who we should stock for Sonder, so I guess the lazy answer is that I like and admire the brands we stock on Sonder.

                                    I went ahead brought a couple of trophy t-shirt… and wool hat
                                    A brand new brand looks very inspiring..

                                    I think I will be spending a lot time there buying a few things...

                                    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

                                    The world's insane
                                    While you drink champagne
                                    And I'm livin' in black rain 4Q 🖕

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                                    • J
                                      Jett129
                                      見習いボス
                                      Joined:

                                      Here’s a,just curious,question for you. When you wrote to Haraki to inquire about repping the brand,had you ever seen any Iron Heart products in person?

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                                      • neph93N
                                        neph93
                                        見習いボス
                                        Joined:

                                        ^ good question

                                        «Stevie Heighway on the wing!
                                        We had dreams, and songs to sing…»

                                        • Dame Vera Lynn
                                        last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • J
                                          Jett129
                                          見習いボス
                                          Joined:

                                          The reason for that question being a good percentage of us take a while of lurking,agonizing, speculating about buying your fist ever $300 pair of jeans. I thought I was out of my fucking mind to do that. And then they showed up in 24hrs and my mind was totally blown. Just wanted to know if/when Giles ever experienced that. At this point almost 10 years in it hasn’t changed for me ever time I get something.

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                                          • neph93N
                                            neph93
                                            見習いボス
                                            Joined:

                                            @Jett129:

                                            At this point almost 10 years in it hasn’t changed for me ever time I get something.

                                            I know exactly what you mean. My current awaited order was a utilitarian four tee shirts. It cost over $300 but that is irrelevant. It is four mundane items, totally worth the money and I’ll be overjoyed to recieve them.

                                            «Stevie Heighway on the wing!
                                            We had dreams, and songs to sing…»

                                            • Dame Vera Lynn
                                            last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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