How many of you guys ordered from the Aero sale?

[Leather_nube]

Good to know, I've read that the maximum for clothing is 12% but not sure how much the actual percentage would be.

Here in Deutschland, for a leather jacket, it's 4% and 19%, as far as I can tell (https://www.bussgeldkatalog.org/zollgebuehren/). I get to €804. Add DHL and I'm up to 821. Not far from the 30% regardless.

 

[Hide'n'seek]

Thank you @Hide'n'seek for taking the time to give such a full explnantion.

I hope you did not think many of the comments above implied greed on your part - we are all conscious of significant cost pressures over recent times, including some that are industry specific, and you've obviously outlined some of those in far more detail than many of us could have.

I think the biggest reason this change caused so much comment was a combination of size and surprise.
I would personally urge you to consider that the next time you have a price restructure of this size, to try to let customers know beforehand (even if only to email subscribers). Change is always easier to accept with some forewarning, likewise no-one really wants to find out that CXL HH as an option now requires an additional surcharge (albeit for the good reasons you've outlined) at the moment they go to customise thier jacket, when they could have read before that the change was incoming.

Anyway, I will stop banging this drum now.

Many of us know the value of the Aero offering, and your longstanding price competitiveness vis a vis other benchmark competitors.
And I look forward to the next jacket...

There really wasn't any underhand tactics involved, it was a tough decision to make make, it is never easy.
We did deliberate whether to give prior warning, again a tough decision. I explained above the reasoning for needing the increase, had we given prior warning the risk was a huge amount of orders at a reduced price that were already "crippling" us, in turn creating an extremely long lead time to clear, then a period of highly reduced orders as everyone had jumped on the pre increase price. There really wasn't a "right way" to do it in our eyes.
With regards to the amount of increase there have been some wild figures thrown around , 50% / 33% etc..... on our "flagship" styles such as Highwayman, Premier Highwayman, Board Racer, 1930's Half Belt etc.....the increase has been approx 13% , on our more complex jackets with more labour intensive construction and finishing we have had to have a higher increase as explained in my reply above, these have taken an overall average to 24%

 

[LukeST]

There really wasn't any underhand tactics involved, it was a tough decision to make make, it is never easy.
We did deliberate whether to give prior warning, again a tough decision. I explained above the reasoning for needing the increase, had we given prior warning the risk was a huge amount of orders at a reduced price that were already "crippling" us, in turn creating an extremely long lead time to clear, then a period of highly reduced orders as everyone had jumped on the pre increase price. There really wasn't a "right way" to do it in our eyes.
With regards to the amount of increase there have been some wild figures thrown around , 50% / 33% etc..... on our "flagship" styles such as Highwayman, Premier Highwayman, Board Racer, 1930's Half Belt etc.....the increase has been approx 13% , on our more complex jackets with more labour intensive construction and finishing we have had to have a higher increase as explained in my reply above, these have taken an overall average to 24%

I just want to stress that i was not suggesting anything underhand!

Thank you for the explanation and I fully accept that however you did things there was an impact you had to consider.

 

[Marc mndt]

I couldn't find any receipt, however I checked the amounts in euros spent in my credit card: In june 2023 I spent 1324e for ordering a Barnstormer and a waistcoat; I received them in September when I paid DHL 339e. Subtracting the 17e fee, customs was 322e, or 24,3% of the original amount. I guess import duties are indeed 4% and the small differences are due to slightly changed exchange rates between June and September.

I have a DHL receipt from last month. Total value of the item + shipping was €298. I was charged €87,13 which is about 30%.

 

[Harris HTM]

I have a DHL receipt from last month. Total value of the item + shipping was €298. I was charged €87,13 which is about 30%.

View attachment 634918

did you subtract the 17e handling fee? If you do, then you get 70e over 300e, roughly 24%

 

[Faux59]

I bought 3 new Aeros this year. The last was an apprentice build the week before this sale (damned impatience!). This price increase wouldn't stop me from getting another.

 

[Edward]

Wow - those are some quite hefty price increases - the jacket I had had my eye on in particular has gone up from £600 to £900! I'm sure they are worth that amount, but I wasnt expecting that big a leap.

It's a rise alright, but alas unavoidable - way of the world.

600 to 900 is an increase of 50%. 300 is 50% of 600. I wonder what's going on over there that has driven costs up by that much. I've heard inflation has been worse around the world than it was in the US, so maybe that's it? It's very steep, especially after the 15% off sale. I'm more glad I decided to pull the trigger now, that sticker shock is something right now.

There's been a significant cost of living crisis for the last year or two. The currency has also remained historically weak since 2016, which will undoubtedly have hit hard for imported materials - not least horween leathers. When I bought my first Aero, the rate was close to two US dollars to the pound. While we're not at the 2016 low of USD1.21 to the pound currently, we're still at a low of USD 1.31 to the pound. Becoming a third country to the EU has inevitably impacted on businesses (the UK-based European distributor of Prison Blues denims closed down entirely because the changes made their business unviable). It's all adding up.

Aero is one of the few niche manufacturers of high quality outwear, that offers comprehensive customization services and is nice to deal with. They deserve to continue existing and be supported.

However in this unstable economic context, inflation, stagnating wages I find harder to afford spending well above 1000 GBP for a jacket. I wish I could.

I hear you. Working in the university sector in England, I have in real terms significantly less disposable income than I did in 2010. I've seen figures worked out that show the average university lecturer is, in real terms, earning 20% less than they did in 2009; I can well believe it. Still, that's the game. I'm hoping over time as I get older my outgoings drop. I have no plans to retire (I am unlikely to be able to afford any real quality of life on my combined academic and statepensions), so hopefully the trade off will be that in due course I'll have a bit more disposable income to hand.

Aero are far from the only ones to raise their prices, of course: Lewis now have nothing I can see under a grand UK (A lightning is about £1300), among others. My local Schott retailer is now charging GBP999 for a 618, though I have no idea how many they're selling at that price.

 

[MrProper]

As far as I know, there is a free trade agreement between the EU and the UK (EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement).
And if I have understood correctly, there can also be a duty rate of 0% if a valid "Certificate of Origin" is sent along.
Otherwise, 4% duty will be charged on the value of the goods + shipping costs = customs value (https://trade.ec.europa.eu/access-to-markets/de/results?product=420310&origin=GB&destination=DE)

 

[onstar]

Has Holly or Chole reached out anyone yet for order confirmation? Its been a week and still no contact from Aero yet.

 

[Leather_nube]

Has Holly or Chole reached out anyone yet for order confirmation? Its been a week and still no contact from Aero yet.

I’ve been mailing with Holly every other day. She’s waiting until the production manager returns next week to check sizing and alterations on mine. Presumably then we’ll confirm the order and I’ll send cash.

 

[MrProper]

Has Holly or Chole reached out anyone yet for order confirmation? Its been a week and still no contact from Aero yet.

They usually get in touch when it's your jacket's turn. This can take a few weeks.

 

[Hide'n'seek]

Has Holly or Chole reached out anyone yet for order confirmation? Its been a week and still no contact from Aero yet.

With the influx of orders please bear with us as feedback regarding your order may take slightly longer than normal. You will have recieved an automated confirmation of your order being placed along with order number, that should reassure you that we have your order and its on our system. Holly and Chloe will be working their way through the initial checks as quickly as possible. I have also been on leave this week so there may be a backlog of things they need to run past myself.

 

[onstar]

With the influx of orders please bear with us as feedback regarding your order may take slightly longer than normal. You will have recieved an automated confirmation of your order being placed along with order number, that should reassure you that we have your order and its on our system. Holly and Chloe will be working their way through the initial checks as quickly as possible. I have also been on leave this week so there may be a backlog of things they need to run past myself.

Will my order be placed on que from the inital order or after confirmation with Holly/Chole? Im just hoping to get it around end of November.

 

[Hide'n'seek]

Will my order be placed on que from the inital order or after confirmation with Holly/Chole? Im just hoping to get it around end of November.

They will be working through orders in the order they have come in, once they do start correspondence with you then the quicker they can lock down final spec , checking sizing etc....(have you supplied all your measurements as per the guide?)then production usually goes by final confirmation date. You would be surprised the number of orders we get that take weeks and weeks to lock down confirmation on.

 

[onstar]

They will be working through orders in the order they have come in, once they do start correspondence with you then the quicker they can lock down final spec , checking sizing etc....(have you supplied all your measurements as per the guide?)then production usually goes by final confirmation date. You would be surprised the number of orders we get that take weeks and weeks to lock down confirmation on.

By " in the order they have come in" , you mean right after purchase?

I listed all my measurements and a few alterations when I placed the order. Hopefully the alterations are not too confusing. Also, they were pretty quick in reaching out to confirm my sizing on my previous orders.

 

[Daniel Veit]

Has Holly or Chole reached out anyone yet for order confirmation? Its been a week and still no contact from Aero yet.

Mailed with Chloe the last couple of days. The measurements should be confirmed by now and I hope to get the "go" by today or Monday.

 

[cloudylemonade]

I'm working overtime as much as possible to try and work through initial checks, unfortunately Chloe is also on holiday for a few days, and combined with how insanely busy enquiries have been during the sale its taking some time to get through the backlog. I am working tirelessly to get through them as quickly as possible but it may take a week or two, currently working on orders placed around 9 days ago.

Orders are put through production from their 'customer confirmed' date, this is only done when all order details are fully confirmed, and as Denny has said it can take a lot of work to get from initial order to order being fully confirmed, which is why it takes quite some time to work through a backlog of orders like this. The intake of sales orders was far bigger than anticipated, so please do bear with us a little, we'll be in touch as soon as we can!

Thanks

 

[Edward]

As far as I know, there is a free trade agreement between the EU and the UK (EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement).
And if I have understood correctly, there can also be a duty rate of 0% if a valid "Certificate of Origin" is sent along.
Otherwise, 4% duty will be charged on the value of the goods + shipping costs = customs value (https://trade.ec.europa.eu/access-to-markets/de/results?product=420310&origin=GB&destination=DE)

The Free trade arrangement does allow for companies to set something up whereby you pay all relevant taxes at point of purchase - not all companies do it, but it is an option. I'm not honestly sure, though, whether that means you pay any less, or just have the convenience of paying it out all in one go. It's all a lot more complicated than it used to be, for the obvious reasons we all expected.

 

[Manolito]

I am not a big Aero Leather buyer, i have "only" bought four of them in five years (including an a2 in jerky horsehide this year). The price rise was predictable, but it is true that it hits hard.

Yet I'd like to underline that Aero offers many money saving solutions with their in stock offers, especialy the apprentice jackets offers, the quartermaster section for the a2s. When a temporary sale happened, like it does from time to time, it allowed me to get excellent bargains, jackets for about 500 or 600 € tax included ! And let's remember that crazy prebrexit covid sale, when we europeans could skip the vat. Board racer or college suede jacket for about 300 or 400 € !

Let's not forget that Aero has been very generous to us these last few years.

And I should add that when I sold one of these jackets on the second hand market, they retain most of their value if you are patient. I have never lost a dime buying and selling one of them (and never earned much, but that was not my goal anyway).

Like mentionned earlier in this thread, the 1000 € tax included has been passed by many of our favourite brands since Covid, like Schott, Lewis Leather, Eastman, but also italian brands like Stewart or Valstar. Among the big guys, only Vanson resists for now. Aero offered excellent value and I enjoyed it while it lasted. And i am sure that they will offer options that will allow from time to time to get a nice jacket for a fair price.

 

[MrProper]

By " in the order they have come in" , you mean right after purchase?

I listed all my measurements and a few alterations when I placed the order. Hopefully the alterations are not too confusing. Also, they were pretty quick in reaching out to confirm my sizing on my previous orders.

Your first Aero? I think you can rest assured. When the time comes, Aero will get in touch with you and all your details will be checked/finalised before it goes into production. Just wait and enjoy the anticipation.