Aero Leather Clothing trial update

[Fanch]

Sloan, that was a very nice summation of the prosecution and defense points of view in which obviously the prosecution's case prevailed. Thanks again for your efforts with all of this.

 

[Superfluous]

In order to survive the debilitating consequences of employee theft and offset the losses caused by the thieving employee(s), manufacturers and retailers have little choice but to increase prices. In other words, losses from employee theft become a cost of doing business that gets factoring into pricing. Therefore, the next time you experience sticker shock at the price of a new leather jacket, or any other retail product, consider that employee theft likely increased the cost of your purchase.

“ . . . employee theft will cost the retailer a great deal of lost profits and everyone pays for this crime. Retailers suffer lower profits and consumers ultimately pay higher prices."

http://www.evancarmichael.com/Retail/3869/Calculate-the-Cost-of-Shoplifting-and-Employee-Theft.html

"In the end, it is the consumers who will have to pay the price for shrinkage in the form of higher retail prices."

http://investors.tyco.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=112348&p=irol-newsArticle_print&ID=229725

 

[thor]

Final trial section up tonight! *keeps typing*

My post (#775, "So, about that Aeroleather Clothing trial update...") was aimed at someone attempting a serious thread hijacking and certainly not at you Sloan. Don't want you to think that I was being impatient for another installment (as interesting as they are!). I was just steering us back on course. Thanks Mate.

 

[wdw]

Yeah, thanks to Sloan for his sterling efforts here. If he hadn't been there we wouldn't have known 99% of this.

I'm curious why the "illegal deal with Iron Heart" wasn't pursued. Is that a statement of fact by the Procurator Fiscal, as I'm sure IH deny that on their forum?

In any event, will HMRC be knocking at both their doors now the trial is almost over, wanting any unpaid taxes from that any all the other goings on?

And did Mark Moye ever resurface and pay his dues?

 

[Superfluous]

From Sloan's most recent post:

Turning to the confrontation between Lauder and the Calders on the 24th September, 2012, she said that despite having been tipped off and having the whole weekend to prepare, WL never saaid "Hey, Ken, you said I could take this in lieu of overtime". Ms MacNeill continued: "At no point did [WL] say 'this was overtime'. He just said it was samples. Now two-and-a-half years later, we hear from him that this was in his contract, an agreement, to take stock for overtime."

Compelling point! If the stolen jackets and other products were a form of compensation, WL clearly would have said so when confronted by KC -- this is particularly true given that WL had 48 hours to prepare for the encounter. Yet, WL did not proffer this plainly disingenuous claim until years later, as a "Hail Mary" effort to explain his theft.

The jury only needed two hours to reach its decision and convict WL. The evidence was overwhelming and, for those who heard the evidence, the conclusion was apparently self-evident. In other words, it wasn't even a close call.

Thanks again Sloan for your detailed reports.

 

[Sloan1874]

It was the decision by the police not to pursue the Iron Heart line - DC Ian Johnston said as much in evidence - they preferred to focus on the eBay sales and seized property as the main part of their investigation. I should clarify, and I've done this on the thread, that it was illegal in company law in relation to WL swapping jeans for jackets - you have to be able to maintain a paper trail for goods, tax etc - it doesn't relate to IH at all in this context.
I have no idea what happened to MM in end. I seem to remember there were a few posts some years back about him, but I think the cost of pursuing him was prohibitive.

 

[wdw]

And with regards to price hikes due to employee theft, I recall that Aero (the Calders) announced an impending hike in September 2012, presumably due to the increasing losses. Then when they found out the reasons why they were haemorrhaging money, they cancelled the increase, which was a kind, and even unnecessary, gesture for the benefit of their customers.

But I also remember people complaining about the impending hike then complaining again after it was canceled, as if this was evidence of market manipulation or mismanagement by Aero. It strikes me that the Calders played all this with the straightest of bats, so well done them and good luck for the future.

 

[Superfluous]

And with regards to price hikes due to employee theft, I recall that Aero (the Calders) announced an impending hike in September 2012, presumably due to the increasing losses. Then when they found out the reasons why they were haemorrhaging money, they cancelled the increase, which was a kind, and even unnecessary, gesture for the benefit of their customers.

But I also remember people complaining about the impending hike then complaining again after it was canceled, as if this was evidence of market manipulation or mismanagement by Aero. It strikes me that the Calders played all this with the straightest of bats, so well done them and good luck for the future.

Agreed. By not raising prices to offset the considerable losses caused by WL's theft, the Calders are the exception -- they acted contrary to what most businesses would do under the circumstances. Kudos to the Calders for proceeding in this manner, even though it would have been entirely reasonable and appropriate for them to have raised prices.

 

[ProteinNerd]

The jury only needed two hours to reach its decision and convict WL.

Having very minimal knowledge of court procedure, but guessing by the prefix "only", I take it 2 hours is a rather short time for a jury to reach a conclusion?

 

[Superfluous]

Having very minimal knowledge of court procedure, but guessing by the prefix "only", I take it 2 hours is a rather short time for a jury to reach a conclusion?

Yes, particularly after three weeks of evidence. The jury required very little deliberation in order to reach their verdict.

 

[Bunyip]

There's an interesting statement that has been released by Alexander Leathers on the IH forum in the AL thread, which had been locked earlier in the week.

 

[Superfluous]

There's an interesting statement that has been released by Alexander Leathers on the IH forum in the AL thread, which had been locked earlier in the week.

In recent weeks there has been a judgement in the court case involving Aero Leather Company and the charges made against William Lauder. The trial verdict was that William Lauder was found guilty of theft from Aero Leather.

The judgement has been used by some people to promulgate persistent mistruths on various social media and this has involved malicious and slanderous remarks directed at Alexander Leathers and its employees. In view of these malicious and vexatious acts we felt the need to point out some facts to both our customers and associates and issue the following statement.

The actions of certain people have, since the foundation of Alexander Leathers in 2012, been both tedious and frustrating. However, we have “turned the other cheek” in the knowledge that these distasteful and vile attacks on both our employees and our product offering were patently false and untrue. We had assumed the basis for these attempts to tarnish our name was in respect of the accusations of embezzlement against one of our employees by his former employer, Aero Leathers. We had also presumed once this had been through the courts and a verdict was concluded we could all go about our business in the spirit of fair competition.

However, it has been brought to our attention there are those who are taking the outcome of the trial as an opportunity to try and further tarnish the reputation of Alexander Leathers and ultimately close down our business. They have used a distortion of the key facts to impugn the integrity of Alexander Leathers and its employees and shareholders.

The key facts are:

William Lauder was an employee of Aero Leathers until 2012
The embezzlement charges of which William Lauder was accused ALL relate to his time as an employee of Aero Leathers
Alexander Leathers has NOT been involved in any way in the recent court case and attempts to link the criminal accusations against William Lauder are simply a distortion of the truth.

We have also had contact from our customers informing us that Aero Leathers had sent direct emails to them in regard to the trial outcome and either explicitly or by implication stating that Alexander Leathers was somehow involved in the alleged criminality.

William Lauder was engaged as an employee of Alexander Leather Company Ltd after his employment with Aero terminated in 2012. His employment with Alexander relates to operational and machine duties and he was never employed in any management capacity or given any directorship or shareholding in Alexander Leathers.

We were aware of the assertions and accusations made against William Lauder by his former employer. We did not deem this as an issue for our company as it appeared to be a dispute between former directors, shareholders and colleagues at Aero Leather. It was not our concern as to how William Lauder and his fellow directors ran their company and any internal agreements they may or may not have had between them. Our concern was and is that all our employees always behave in an honest and truthful manner whilst in our employment.

William Lauder is currently on garden leave and will remain on garden leave pending the outcome of the sentencing on 29 May at which point a review will take place.

We give all our customers, suppliers, agents and our friends in the clothing community a copper-bottomed assurance that we are a company of integrity, honesty and transparency.

We hope there can be an end to all this hostility generated by some of our competitors and their fellow-travelers. The encouraging thing for us is that our presence in the market place and the products we produce pose such a threat to some that fair competition and leaving the customer to choose where they buy is an option that certain parties wish to undermine and destroy.

However, we neither have the time or inclination to engage in any public forum nor dimly lit basement slanging match with these vindictive parties as we know that the truth will come out eventually and their actions will ultimately rebound on them.

Our legal team have been made aware of the situation. They have been instructed to act if any further slanderous or blatant anti-competitive accusations or actions are made against this company.

Other than that, we’ll let our jackets do the talking and you can rest assured that this company will build on its strong foundations to deliver even better products and the levels of service which you have come to expect from us.

Alexander Leather Company Ltd

http://www.alexanderleathers.com/alexander-leathers-statement

 

[Superfluous]

"Garden leave or gardening leave describes the practice where an employee leaving a job – having resigned or otherwise had their employment terminated – is instructed to stay away from work during the notice period, while still remaining on the payroll. This practice is often used to prevent employees from taking with them up-to-date (and perhaps sensitive) information when they leave their current employer, especially when they are leaving to join a competitor.

The term originated in the British Civil Service where employees had the right to request special leave for exceptional purposes. "Gardening leave" became a euphemism for "suspended" as an employee who was formally suspended pending an investigation into their conduct would often request to be out of the office on special leave instead. The term came to widespread public attention in 1986 when it was used in the BBC sitcom Yes, Prime Minister episode "One Of Us".

Employees continue to receive their normal pay during garden leave and must adhere to their conditions of employment, such as confidentiality, at least until their notice period expires.

The term can also refer to the case of an employee sent home pending disciplinary proceedings, when they are between projects, or when, as a result of publicity, their presence at work is considered counter-productive."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_leave

 

[Big J]

Thank you Superfluous!
Very strange attitude they seem to be taking.

 

[Superfluous]

According to AL's statement:

"The key facts are: . . . William Lauder was engaged as an employee of Alexander Leather Company Ltd after his employment with Aero terminated in 2012. His employment with Alexander relates to operational and machine duties and he was never employed in any management capacity or given any directorship or shareholding in Alexander Leathers."

http://www.alexanderleathers.com/alexander-leathers-statement (Emphasis added).

BUT:

Alexander Leather's YouTube account states as follows:

"Alexander Leathers was formed after a chance meeting between Sandy Alexander, creator of the original Schuh fashion footwear business and vintage connoisseur, Will Lauder, former director and pattern cutter of Aero leathers. They shared a passion for all things vintage and in particular leather jackets, which led them to embark on a unique and uncompromising quest. Their aim is to recreate the timeless design classics of bygone eras with an updated modern fit and interpretation, to bring these vintage classics into the 21st century, while preserving all the heritage and style of the originals. They brought together a team of artisan specialists in Selkirk, with over 242 years experience in the art of vintage leather jacket construction between them, and in 2012 Alexander Leathers was born. http://www.alexanderleathers.com"

https://www.youtube.com/user/alexanderleathers/about (Emphasis added) (I suspect this link will be disabled, or the information changed, very shortly).

The foregoing description makes it sound like SA and WL jointly created AL ("Alexander Leathers was formed after a chance meeting between Sandy Alexander . . . . and Will Lauder . . . They shared . . . which led them to embark . . . Their aim . . . . They brought together a team . . . and in 2012 Alexander Leather was born").

Several other websites use the the same description of how Alexander Leather was founded, including:

http://www.unionville.se/sv/varumarken/alexander-leathers.html

http://www.stoeroosterbeek.nl/brand/alexander-leathers

http://www.sivletto.nu/sv/varumarken/alexander-leathers.html

One has to ask: Where did these various websites get their description of how AL was founded? I suspect they received the description from AL (the same description used by Alexander Leathers for its YouTube account).

Stuarts of London has a slightly different statement regarding AL's founding:

"Alexander leathers is the creation of Sandy Alexander, founder of the Schuh fashion footwear business, and Will Lauder, a leather industry 'veteran' with over 30 years experience of design and pattern cutting in the high-quality leather jacket business with Aero leather."

http://www.stuartslondon.com/blog/2013/05/13/alexander-leathers-hand-made-in-scotland/ (Emphasis added).

According to this description, AL "is the creation of Sandy Alexander . . . and Will Lauder."

To be clear, I have no personal knowledge regarding who founded AL and what role Will Lauder played in the creation of AL. That said, the above quoted descriptions are an interesting contrast to AL's statement in response to WL's criminal conviction.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Aw oh....

 

[Big J]

Superfluous, good comment, good fact check there.
Now they're threatening to take people to court? Gee, that *really* makes me wanna be thier customer.

 

[tropicalbob]

It seems ill-advised for them to be making such a statement prior to sentencing. Anyway, I rather liked being called a "fellow-traveler," as I haven't been called that since the early '70's.

 

[Big J]

It seems ill-advised for them to be making such a statement prior to sentencing. Anyway, I rather liked being called a "fellow-traveler," as I haven't been called that since the early '70's.

*****.
I think I got some Hawkwind on my iPod...no, wait, I got Jefferson Airplane!

 

[AdeeC]

Pretty quick to shoot themselves in the foot.