July 2018 Price Rises….
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We were in Japan recently. Whilst we were there we had some serious discussions about the future of Iron Heart.
The background is that our industry is in turmoil:
- Japanese domestic demand has plummeted
- Material costs have been steadily rising
- Recent employment law changes (which we believe are for the good, but have been applied suddenly with severe impact) have increased labour costs by 20%
Every Japanese brand in our space is suffering, and very sadly we expect to see some brands cease trading in the near future.
Because Iron Heart has a healthy and growing customer base outside of Japan, we are probably the best able of the Japanese brands in our space to weather this storm.
We do have to raise our prices though. This is something we have been trying to avoid at all costs for years, but we simply must do it now. In fact, a couple of times in the past when the Japanese Yen was very weak, we reduced prices.
Whilst doing this exercise we noticed some historical pricing anomalies which we have taken the opportunity to fix.
In the main, recent seasonal collections and FW18 pricing will not be affected, as the increases in cost base will have been factored into pricing, so these changes affect older, extant products the most.
Because of the hassle our retailers will have in implementing these changes in their physical stores, we have set a date 22nd July for these changes to take effect.
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Shame, but that's business…have to take the rough with the smooth sometimes.
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- Japanese domestic demand has plummeted
Does anybody in the international fashion industry have more info regarding this? Have Japanese tastes shifted away from workwear and high quality goods?
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I don't know what fast fashion is, but I do think the Pacific rim at large has gone nuts for techwear.
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Fast fashion - cheap and on trend, I get to wear it now and
throw(I mean give) it away when I am done. -
They've gone fast fashion crazy…....
Are people really switching from IH to fast fashion? I would have expected them to have completely different customer bases. Also, stores like Uniqlo have been around for quite a while.
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Thanks for letting us know @Giles. Are we talking a 20% increase then because of the increase in labor costs?
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Completely understandable and greatly appreciate the info and transparency. IH will pull through, let's do this! Sad to see some other brands potentially falter though.
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Thanks for the info. The internet age is a double edged sword. Enabling both hyper fast trends, and yet also a strong community of people who value quality. Happy to be part of the latter.
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I just appreciate the fact IH is upfront with the change. A vast majority of brands would not let their customers know a change was coming and would simply let them find out for themselves when they go to buy something.
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I just appreciate the fact IH is upfront with the change. A vast majority of brands would not let their customers know a change was coming and would simply let them find out for themselves when they go to buy something.
Same. I noticed several other denim brands had increased their prices in the last year but I didn't notice the increases until I saw their stuff up for sale via online stores. Didn't notice them advertising the increases either
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Yeah thanks for being upfront about it G. Would rather we have to pay a bit more than you guys go under and I lose the best clothing brand
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^^^ totally agree !
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^me too. I can’t even bear to think about a world with no IH.
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This transparency is one of the things that makes you guys so special. #respect
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