not sure if it’s temporary, but the website of unionmadegoods seems to have no products left. Only some sales items are displayed, but under most brands/categories, there’s nothing showing up.
The deep sale they have been running for the past few months gave me the impression they are closing up. One particular is 50% off Alden. If you want Alden to blacklist you as a stockist, this is surely how you would do it. Given that I can't remember a single season Unionmade didn't carry a good number of Alden models, it looks like bad news are coming.
Self edge seems quite profitable. They started as the exclusive retailer of Iron Heart at the beginning and started introducing a small number of other Japanese workwear brands later on. To me SE has an identity: it's the few places in the US that carries stocks Iron Heart, Flat Head, Strike Gold, Steven Overall for every season. Other stores beside from Self Edge carries items from those brands from time to time, but none as consistent as SE.
Hindsight is 20/20 but if you check Unionmade's online store the last 3,4 years, their inventory seems bloated. Too many items from too many brands that get replaced every season. Last season they stocked like 30 pieces from Alex Mill so essentially they were competing with countless other US stores who also stocks Alex Mill. There is no exclusivity when it comes to the brands that Unionmade carried. Whereas if I want to try on and buy a Flat Head cafe racer, Self Edge is the only US store that allows me to.
I work in a 40 year old distribution company. I can see the key to a sustainable distribution business is indeed some kind of exclusivity, &, watch out for inflated portfolio
The Shor Mart in Norwalk CT is another successful Self Edge type biz. They are known to be the oldest east coast Alden distributor & do store brand customs, not that its much more attractive but adds a bit feeling of uniqueness
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