My thoughts :

1. I agree with others on the elitist aspect. it's fundamentally wrong to provide either early access or exclusive items that the "inner circle" or those that can afford will be the only beneficiaries of.
   Many may and probably will disagree.

2. Anything that requires designing, sourcing, manufacturing, and delivering yet MORE product when that is part of the fundamental problem in the first place is just a bad idea and totally defeats the purpose. Be it a mug, a calendar, a pin badge, a bag of crips or whatever. It doesn't matter if it's made in Japan or Woking, it all takes time and effort and is a distraction.
   If the crew want to drop stuff like this in as one offs whenever they choose to whoever they choose that is their prerogative, but anything beyond that becoming some kind of "right' or "expectation" or “scheme” is only gonna end in tears. As sadly, some of the comments on this thread show. It's like when people start dishing out employee of the month, more hassle than it is worth. There are many ways of rewarding/acknowledging people and their contributions for many reasons. Mostly kept private. At the general workplace or towards a customer. All at the crews discretion as should be the way.

3. If anything I'd revert to Alex's original idea of some kind of "allowance" to whatever gathering may or may not take place. A voucher for a hot dog, a free beer, a tenner towards your train ticket. the financial aspect of it is secondary. It's the gesture, doesn't matter if you are loaded or skint, if someone gives you a tenner or a fiver or a pair of socks or a shake of the hand I'd appreciate it.
   Yes many people will never ever be able to attend a gathering, so what. Let's hope those that do have a great time. It's like a football team wanting to sack their mgr cos their team didn't win the league, if that was your only criteria for success or enjoyment then every year 95% of fans would be constantly raging. You have to find some other measure of success and happiness.
   If you can attend a gathering, fantastic, if you can't, then you've presumably been able to buy and wear some of the best clothes around and you ABSOLUTELY FU**ING LOVE THEM so really, you are a winner already.

4. The point here seems to be to reduce the strain on the entire operation from sourcing to delivery. which must be critical or all the changes wouldn't be very bravely getting made. I've spent a lifetime knee deep in supply chain related stuff so I get it. Anything that takes the focus of the team away from keeping the very considerable amount of plates spinning all year round because someone is griping about not getting the right sticker or chocolate bar or staff member 'X' forgot to put extra kisses on the big spenders Christmas card is just a distraction no one needs. It will only add to the hassle, increase the likelihood of moaning and people feeling left out and take folks eye off the ball.
   As this thread has shown, the whole loyalty thing in the first place was low key, most people wouldn't be aware of it, so to bring it out of the shadows and come up with a new version in my opinion will just become a millstone.

5. The biggest loyalty reward any customer can get is for the brand to simply be able to keep doing what they do and delivering the goods to the level they do and continue to foster the community and the whole 'story'. Most people have zero idea of the complexities : commercial, personal, logistical that go into bringing anything to market. You may think you do but you'd still probably be nowhere near it. To do it so successfully day in day out at this level is no mean feat.
   We need to respect that and let the team actually focus on delivering the goods. In fact if I make it to any kind of gathering then really it should be us buying THEM a beer. I am relatively new to this but have picked up quite a few things in a short space of time and I totally love it.
   It's like when you find a new favourite band, you'd be gutted if they split up.
   So I don't want the wheels to come off because the "Men of Iron Heart" calendar has had a delay at the printers and the big spenders are raging.

I've already gone on too long but you get the gist.

Strolling around town. Edinburgh that is.

Mike D of Beastie Boys at 26 Leake Street, London, Saturday 6th June. For anyone unfamiliar, it's a disused road tunnel underneath Waterloo Train Station.
Mind bendingly good performance. crazy venue, packed beyond belief. hotter than hell itself.

@Giles This might have been mentioned elsewhere, and I don't wanna be "that guy" but should we not just impose a blanket ban on AI/ChatGPT pics unless it is with a huge "AI" watermark through it. or just ban it altogether.

The problem is people end up copying and pasting and/or sending pics to others and before you know it the original context (already shaky) is lost and people are making decisions based on nonsense or people saying "that looks sh*t" because it's a rather shoddily produced mockup of what something might or might not look like.
Or people just quickly scrolling through threads and see pics and think its sh1t and keep scrolling.

IMO product pics should be real, with no exceptions. No doubts, no queries, no caveats.

In the last week or so I've seen fake aging pics, fake snap pics, who knows what else.

No offence to any of the original posters, but its a slippery slope to not knowing what is and isn't real/mockup/meant to be funny etc etc.

I could be miles off it here, in which case no offence intended and carry on lol.

Red Wing 8203, think they were a Europe exclusive.

me : 6 foot. (183cm)
177lb. (12st 9lb). 80kg.

Shirt is a Large.

Absolutely love it.

Playing one of my favourite albums today....

Kraftwerk, Edinburgh Playhouse Tue 9th June. As always, incredible. I managed to get great seats in 2nd Row and the sound nearly fractured every bone in my body. As it should be.

@steve4861 I have a spreadsheet where I have pics of all the items along the top columns.
Below each pic I have the model number.
Below that I have the sizes of that item as per the IH site at time of purchase, not the actual sizes. I never measure them.
I also have where from. IH, Rivet/hide, wherever. and the date of release.

That's just all in order or purchase. Newest item to right.

On two other tabs I have 1: the same details/pics but sorted by chest size, and 2: same details/pics but sorted by shoulder size.

That way whenever a new sizing chart comes out for a potential new purchase I can rapidly see where it would sit amongst everything I have against the only two measurements I really look at.

works well for me. here's a section of an older version, something along these lines.

Screenshot 2026-06-14 at 03.21.56

Manchester Marathon 2026 completed, so happy with my run. Training paid off but I got totally seized up with calf cramps way out at 38km, lucky it happened so deep into it. Managed to shake it off and trot through to the finish. Beat my PB by a country mile. Which does to be fair indicate the previous two marathons I had actual injury probs on the day (hence was slow but completed) but this time I felt good all the way. Over an hour quicker than previous.
No injury issues, cramps are cramps, it happens. Delighted and really enjoyed my run, amazing crowd support, great weather and a brilliantly organised event.
Signed up for next year already.

@will6er Just got mine too. Similar thoughts, can't believe how soft it is. Not what I was expecting at all. Love it.

Alela Diane : Who’s Keeping Time? : Rough Trade Exclusive Transparent Duck Egg Blue Vinyl. 300 Only.

Gia Margaret : Singing : Rough Trade Exclusive Clear Blue Vishuddha Vinyl. 300 Only.

@cyclops cheers. before buying anything I copy and paste in the sizing chart below it and whittle away the sizes til I find the one that most closely matches the sizes I am happy with. Based on the numbers on the sheet and how I know it actually feels wearing them.

That way, when something goes Live, I just can go ahead and try and buy what I have already decided. No messing about.

I know the 'compare' tool can kinda do this but this way I can see everything I have at a glance in my own time and in whatever order I need. The key is just keeping it updated as you go and it's an always live database of where I'm at.

@steve4861 I have a spreadsheet where I have pics of all the items along the top columns.
Below each pic I have the model number.
Below that I have the sizes of that item as per the IH site at time of purchase, not the actual sizes. I never measure them.
I also have where from. IH, Rivet/hide, wherever. and the date of release.

That's just all in order or purchase. Newest item to right.

On two other tabs I have 1: the same details/pics but sorted by chest size, and 2: same details/pics but sorted by shoulder size.

That way whenever a new sizing chart comes out for a potential new purchase I can rapidly see where it would sit amongst everything I have against the only two measurements I really look at.

works well for me. here's a section of an older version, something along these lines.

Screenshot 2026-06-14 at 03.21.56

@louisbosco said in AI Chat/GPT Pictures and Usage:

@Stringthing75 said in AI Chat/GPT Pictures and Usage:

I'll buy you 50 pints if Scotland win the World Cup. and that's a promise lol.

you can't AI generate that cause that ain't happening.

touche!

@Jord haha yeah all good fun to be able to contribute. I'll buy you 50 pints if Scotland win the World Cup. and that's a promise lol.

As I said, no offence to anyone that posted stuff. remember, all this kind of thing is usually done with good intentions. and to be fair, IH crew themselves might already be finding a use for the amount of times they are asked "hey what would this look like with snaps made of platinum from mars" etc.

I don't want to sound like a luddite, but even if the IH crew were to start knocking out 'official' AI generated pics at the request of users, it still leaves the absolute guarantee of them spreading very very easily far and wide. especially as with AI tools you can easily 'strip' digital watermarks off of pics. It completely dilutes the original intention.
Then you're back to square one. One shirt, and about 25 different images that very quickly people lose sight of what is the actual piece.
I can guarantee this will only ever result in a headache for the IH crew. Or to put it another way, nothing good will ever come of it.

So really, the only solution is complete integrity of the image. after all, it's the brands absolute gold standard. you control how your stuff is presented. To a point. We know that, but that's all you can do. If you do less than that then you have to accept the grief that will follow. and no one wants that. there's enough going on to be dealing with a disappointed punter from the depths of Scotland (me) who is wondering why his "grail" didn't come with a chain stitch run off even though it was never meant to. etc etc.

if people want to see what a mockup might look like, then if it isn't physically possible, then feel free to crack on and do it outwith the forum and make your decision based on that.

As has been said before, a lot of time, effort and money goes into producing high quality photography, measurements, service etc and I'd hate to see that be compromised .
It can be subtle stuff. slightly changing the shade of indigo on a pair of jeans, it then wouldn't be easily noticed by the next person.

Also, the very fresh 'feedback' around some items have shown that if a user - with good intentions - used AI (or any tool) to show what it 'could' have looked like in their opinion and then someone sees it and orders it and then it doesn't look quite like that then you're just giving yourself a huge headache.
What happens on the wilds of the internet is beyond control. but this forum is essentially an integral part of the brand.

my point basically is if we all adhere - to the best of our knowledge - to keep this completely AI/Photoshop free then it retains the integrity of the item, the photography, the vision and importantly, the expectations of everyone involved. It retains everyone's full confidence. Because you don't need to ask that question. You already know.

No tools required, just a policy that people on here adhere to. no caveats.

re-reading that it sounds like I have unilaterally decided and written the policy but hey, you know what I mean.

I am not always this boring by the way.

Over and out!

EDIT : A fair chunk of this is really for benefit of users who maybe think 'who cares'. it's not trying to tell IH how to run their business, lol. Obviously they do that very well!

@Giles This might have been mentioned elsewhere, and I don't wanna be "that guy" but should we not just impose a blanket ban on AI/ChatGPT pics unless it is with a huge "AI" watermark through it. or just ban it altogether.

The problem is people end up copying and pasting and/or sending pics to others and before you know it the original context (already shaky) is lost and people are making decisions based on nonsense or people saying "that looks sh*t" because it's a rather shoddily produced mockup of what something might or might not look like.
Or people just quickly scrolling through threads and see pics and think its sh1t and keep scrolling.

IMO product pics should be real, with no exceptions. No doubts, no queries, no caveats.

In the last week or so I've seen fake aging pics, fake snap pics, who knows what else.

No offence to any of the original posters, but its a slippery slope to not knowing what is and isn't real/mockup/meant to be funny etc etc.

I could be miles off it here, in which case no offence intended and carry on lol.

Just bagged some tickets for this before it sold out in about 10seconds....DJ Shadow and the BBC Symphony Orchestra at The Barbican Centre, London.
Honestly shaping up to be an amazing gig. 30th anniversary of an absolutely classic and genuinely groundbreaking album that without doubt changed the course of where I was heading not only musically but culturally and well everything really. So 30 years later to be able to have a chance to experience this, I feel privileged. Bring it on!