Got blocked by Simmons Bilt Instagram because my comment

[Sloan1874]

It is interesting that the likes of Goodwear, Aero and even Bill Kelso have avoided going down this particular rabbit hole. It's a very quick way to alienate a large chunk of your potential customers.

 

[Peacoat]

Yes the big beards and fades are ruling the day over there. Let's not forget the obligatory pipe as well. Although I have to say, I've never seen a pic of Debs before...she's good looking...for some reason not at all what I would've pictured.

I went looking for a picture of Debs, said to be good looking and found this: "Introducing The Simmons Bilt Clothing Company, a brand born out of the solid foundations laid down by the Alexander Leather brand . . . ." And exactly where did this "solid foundation laid down by the Alexander Leather brand" come from? I am really having a difficult time understanding that they actually said this on their homepage. And I never got to see a picture of Debs.Can someone point me to her picture?

 

[AllanP]

I went looking for a picture of Debs, said to be good looking and found this: "Introducing The Simmons Bilt Clothing Company, a brand born out of the solid foundations laid down by the Alexander Leather brand . . . ." And exactly where did this "solid foundation laid down by the Alexander Leather brand" come from? I am really having a difficult time understanding that they actually said this on their homepage. And I never got to see a picture of Debs.Can someone point me to her picture?

Go to their instagram, I think the woman that appears in all their recent photos is Debs

 

[ButteMT61]

Go to their instagram, I think the woman that appears in all their recent photos is Debs

Not. She works at Aero.
Well, she did. Then she appeared there. Like magic overnight.

 

[BobJ]

Debs is a very nice person, and has been there for years.

 

[zebedee]

In terms of customer service, Debs is absolutely brilliant. Simmons Bilt may not get much love around here, but I found dealing with them to be the best experience I've had with a company, largely because of Debs.

 

[Plumbline]

The clue might be in the name ... Debs is Deborah Toohey ..... as in the managing director of Simmons Bilt ...... Steve Toohey

https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.ne...=858f2c49e3948ac38c84d6479851fa67&oe=5A385795

Oh and the close up of the Modena Horse Pic ..... I have a sample, it's really nice and a bit smoother than the pic suggests

https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.ne...=0ae5ba5a4f102ee0b4dad7c7c720747f&oe=5A2D78AA

 

[jacketjunkie]

I find it a tad disrespectful to put up a man's wife up for ratings here; this is the fedoralounge and not the stylecheck pages of the InTouch. What does it even matter what she looks like; what does matter is that she's a very friendly and helpful person to deal with from all I can tell from experience.

Edit; the close up of the leather is indeed very comparable to my JL naked cowhide M-200, not saying it isn't horse though, my Aero Teamster has panels who's grain look very close, too.

 

[ton312]

^ this is it. I certainly meant no disrespect to Debs. She's a wonderful woman and was quite helpful and friendly every time I worked with her. I apologize for my comment and wish I hadn't made it.
I guess the point is you may have a preconceived notion about someone and then when you see the reality it's a bit of a surprise. Debs is lovely in every way. That's all I meant.

 

[TREEMAN]

Too grainy for my taste...I like smooth leather not pebble or stamped looking.

 

[Edward]

I think it's pretty clear what happened here for anyone who has been around a few years. Back around 2012, the Caulders discovered that Will Lauder, then MD of Aero, had been up to mischief, including passing off steerhide as FQHH. A perfectly good hide in its own right, but ultimately cheaper to produce, and not what the customer had ordered and paid for. This became known as the 'sTorse' scandal. I'm sure hte old threads are all still here. Lauder left Aero under a cloud; it also came out that he had helped himself to GBP200K's worth of stock, and he did prison time for that. After leaving Aero, Will had been involved in setting up Alexander Leathers; after his conviction, Will left their employment and AL rebranded itself as Simmonds Bilt. SB continue to be controversial for one reason and another, though clearly they attract enough custom to stay in business. I imagine they don't relish the association with Lauder now, and would rather shut down a comment which they obviously read as a reference to the Storse controversy than have it all flare up again. It seems that's what simply happened here: OP has made perhaps an innocent comment but it has been interpreted as trolling and blocked. In the context, I don't think this is entirely surprising.

Haha! Yeah, this seems to be Iron Heart country. The horror, the horror.

Iron Heart have long seemed to attract a certain customer profile. I guess that's the nature of niche businesses! Looked at some of their stuff a long time ago myself, but was put off dealing with them for one reason or another. Not looked for a long time - did they stick with SB after the rebrand? I remember tem starting out with Aero then moving to AL with Will. The leather jackets that were made for them at Aero looked nicely done early on, though I couldn't have lived with the comically over-sized zips they specified.

 

[l0fielectronic]

Know what you mean. Funnily enough, I tried on a pair of IH 23oz jeans at the Aero sale last year and they were pretty unspectacular in cut and doing the buttons up was a nightmare. I was not standing in the changing room thinking, 'these are worth all the £££ that IH want.

I did buy a pair of these two/three years back and they are my absolute favourite jeans at least for the spring/autumn/winter.

What made me laugh was I did pick up a second new/unworn pair in black from eBay last year and experiencing exactly what you said - once again trying to get the damn things done up for the first dozen times had me both questioning my sanity and laughing at myself at the ridiculousness of it. But again, a week or two in and they softened up...

The only thing I'm sad about is since Iron Heart UK blocked sellers abroad selling/posting to the UK is that I'll have to pay their full price for a pair when these wear out. That said I will most likely do that.

 

[bluesforchallah]

Yep. I still have Gustin 18, 21 and 23oz, and they just fit me great. Only beef is the leg openings, which are too wide on the standard cut. But...they work perfectly with western boots so I'm still hunting for some denim that fits, with a narrower lower leg...

I'm curious about Levis' 501ct (Custom Taper).

 

[Edward]

The only thing I'm sad about is since Iron Heart UK blocked sellers abroad selling/posting to the UK is that I'll have to pay their full price for a pair when these wear out. That said I will most likely do that.

I've always found that sort of protectionism frustrating when you can buy them in other states at a fraction of the UK price (very common, especially back when the pound was still worth something against the US dollar), but to be fair to Iron Heart it is standard practice across most consumer goods industries where there's a UK distributor. Why would the local distributor take the business on, after all, if they had to compete with much cheaper personal imports? It's more of an issue, of course, since the web made it practical for individuals to order internationally.

 

[willyto]

I've always found that sort of protectionism frustrating when you can buy them in other states at a fraction of the UK price (very common, especially back when the pound was still worth something against the US dollar), but to be fair to Iron Heart it is standard practice across most consumer goods industries where there's a UK distributor. Why would the local distributor take the business on, after all, if they had to compete with much cheaper personal imports? It's more of an issue, of course, since the web made it practical for individuals to order internationally.

If you can't mantain a business you don't open it. As simple as that, why do customers have to pay more just because they live in another country? If buying from another country which ironically is the one where the product is made is cheaper, why would a client find useful to have to buy from his own country at the expense of paying a premium price? We live in a globally connected world and trying to put barriers to it it's dumb.

Happens with a lot of products and I'm not falling for it. I've bought stuff from Japan directly and I've payed for the items including shipping almost half the price and it came faster than from the UK! From Japan in 2 days at half the price including shipping. Why would I buy from the UK with a worse price and a worse and slower shipping? You don't punish the customer if you can't do it better, you try to offer a better customer service instead and if you can't then you shouldn't blame the customers for doing what it's best for them.

 

[Seb Lucas]

Thanks to this I just looked at Instagram for the first time.

 

[ton312]

Thanks to this I just looked at Instagram for the first time.

Once is about enough isn't it?

 

[Graemsay]

I've got a pair of the Iron Heart 1955 21/23 oz jeans too @l0fielectronic. I've had them for four years, and they're starting to show signs of blowing out in the crotch. Admittedly, they don't get as much wear these days as Melbourne is often too warm.

As for distribution, I believe that the deal is that Haraki has Japan, whereas Giles and Iron Heart UK runs the distribution for the rest of the world.

Giles tends to keep prices pretty similar in his territory. There'll be some fluctuations due to currency movements, but these are what a pair of IH-634S costs from various retailers around the world.

• Iron Heart (Japan): ¥25,920 ($234 / £177 / €198)
• Iron Heart (UK): $325 / £250 / €280
• Rivet and Hide (UK): £255
• Self Edge (US): $325
• Vater und Sohn (DE): €319
• Burg und Schild (DE): €309

The ex-tax price for the 634s is ¥24,000, which is £164. Add on UK VAT and that rises to £197, then there's import duties (5%) and postage (both included in what Iron Heart UK charges), and it's probably not a big difference.

I agree that some of the other Japanese brands can be sourced much cheaper via Rakuten.

 

[l0fielectronic]

I will say their customer service is always second to none and they've done all the work to market and expand the brand into the Europe/US market in the first place so I can see its kind of a unique case but it has priced the brand pretty much out of my general range, I would still replace the jeans as I've not come across anything I like more but thats as far as I'd go.

I haven't done that much research into priceing as yourself but before this deal came to be I bought a slighlty lighter pair from Japan for under £200 door to door, I think about £180 from memory. At the time the same pair would've cost me £320 from the UK so it was a fair difference. Obviously currency fluctuations and such will affect things though as you say though.

 

[Fanch]

Thanks to this I just looked at Instagram for the first time.

I had never heard of Instagram until I saw it awhile back on the Lounge for the first time and had to google "Instagram" to find out what it was.