Schott permanently closes Chicago location

[Seb Lucas]

I think you have to distinguish physical condition from mental condition. I definitely do not feel as physically fit as I was when I was 40, or 30, or 21. I am reminded of this physical decline every time I stand up from my desk chair and must slowly straighten my back. That said, I still feel remarkably young from a mental perspective -- not 21 years old, but also not nearly as "mature" as I perceived people my age when I was younger. I suspect I will "grow-up" some day, but I am not in a hurry to do so.

That does make some sense. Unfortunately I have no way of knowing how I compare mentally to when I was 21 or 30 or even 40. I'm pretty sure I am slower and more conservative.

 

[zebedee]

I am fairly sure that, due to spending my entire career in education in Asia, I am far less hardened and cynical than most of the (fellow) English people I meet now that I am back in the UK but I have no idea if that makes them more mature or just less content than I am- I am certain that people who've lived here all their lives are far better adjusted to it than me. Most people I know have become more financially conservative and fairly socially liberal (if they weren't already), but some people I know have become so conservative that I started to wonder if they were into some kind of live self-parody before I either started to avoid conversation or them. Some folks seem to stay at a student level of Left - or it gets intensified - I sympathise with the general sentiments but increasingly fail to gel with the discursive terms, which seem too vague to me. I wonder if anyone has done a study on the age at which people start to lose all interest in politics

I have seen huge variations in health in much older people - I was once told that your fitness in middle age will determine your health in your senior years, and that outlook and health tend to have a kind of positive feedback loop going on (exercise, feel happier, feel happier, do more exercise).

 

[Bfd70]

Back to the Schott at hand.

 

[zebedee]

View attachment 243047 Back to the Schott at hand.

Yeah- definitely needed more exercise in the middle years.

 

[Cornelius]

I really hope someone in the Schott marketing department has been following this entire thread

 

[navetsea]

I really hope someone in the Schott marketing department has been following this entire thread

no one lament over it, forgotten and derailed after the 3rd page not a good sign for a brand

 

[ton312]

Good ole’ Irvin Schott is the oldest guy in this thread and just look at the longevity...

 

[Seb Lucas]

I really hope someone in the Schott marketing department has been following this entire thread

Do you think this would have taught them anything? Got to remember that we are only potential and boutique customers - not the bread and butter of a mainstream manufacturer like Schott, which in market is closer to Wilsons than Aero. I think one of the main barriers to my getting jackets from them has been their lack of long sizes. At some time over the past 15 years, there were at least 5 jackets I did not buy because of this. I have to have their 641XX is one of my favorite designs of all time. I did happily own this for 6 months but it was a bit too short for my taste.

 

[Downunder G Man]

Schott Horsehide 641HH today, bought new. Stock off the rack in 44" , fits like bespoke ( dumb luck or "Mr Average" ?)
Windy day down the coast , dry between the squalls. Wild sea , no surfers today (rare that!)
Snap taken by the long suffering Mrs after a coastal "brekky" in our now open cafes ! (woohoo !)

 

[Cornelius]

Do you think this would have taught them anything?

oh I doubt it - that post was more a reflection of my amusement at the possible image of some minion at Schott being directed to follow this thread ("Hey, this board where everyone buys like five $1,000+ jackets a year is commenting on our Chicago branch closing - see what they have to say about it!"), and them being frustrated in trying to glean any useful corporate marketing intel from a honest, meandering stream of comments on who should wear black leather, who should wear brown, and just how old is too old anyway?

 

[Seb Lucas]

oh I doubt it - that post was more a reflection of my amusement at the possible image of some minion at Schott being directed to follow this thread ("Hey, this board where everyone buys like five $1,000+ jackets a year is commenting on our Chicago branch closing - see what they have to say about it!"), and them being frustrated in trying to glean any useful corporate marketing intel from a honest, meandering stream of comments on who should wear black leather, who should wear brown, and just how old is too old anyway?

I hear you. I wonder about those things too. I also wonder how many jackets Schott would sell if Fedora Lounge Outerwear guys privileged this brand and bought 2 each. It probably would barely count in the overall sales figures even if it was 1000 jackets, which would be unlikely.

This is a time where customers genuflect towards all notions of authenticity - hence hand crafted or artisan items being so popular and costly, from beer to jackets. And Schott keeps making appeals to this idea with all its heritage talk and yet they market their gear like a big, bland department store, with ill fitting clothing on gormless looking models. I'm not sure that helps.

 

[Edward]

I hear you. I wonder about those things too. I also wonder how many jackets Schott would sell if Fedora Lounge Outerwear guys privileged this brand and bought 2 each. It probably would barely count in the overall sales figures even if it was 1000 jackets, which would be unlikely.

This is a time where customers genuflect towards all notions of authenticity - hence hand crafted or artisan items being so popular and costly, from beer to jackets. And Schott keeps making appeals to this idea with all its heritage talk and yet they market their gear like a big, bland department store, with ill fitting clothing on gormless looking models. I'm not sure that helps.

That's exactly it. Schott are playing to the Alpha market in the same way as the leathers we buy round here are aiming for the Buzz Rickson buyer. Different markets entirely. Like trying to sell a Lexus to the guy who wants a three-wheeler Morgan.

 

[Bfd70]

Peripheral tie in to the Chicago leather jacket retail scene. Locals, can I get an Amen?

 

[Cornelius]

^ Then go hang out at the Punk'n Donuts afterward, checking your pager by the bank of payphones.

 

[Bushman]

^ Then go hang out at the Punk'n Donuts afterward, checking your pager by the bank of payphones.

For some reason, "Punk'n Donuts" sounds like a seasonal pop up donut shop in some Main Street, USA town that gets surrounded by bearded, beanie wearing hipsters aching for their pumpkin spiced products every Autumn.

 

[ton312]

Haven’t been down that stretch of Belmont in years. There used to be a very good cigar bar/shop right around the corner from DD. Wonder if it’s still there...

 

[Bfd70]

@Bushman No. Well, not exactly. Well tbh I don’t know anymore, but @Cornelius has it pegged for a time and place anyhow.

 

[Cornelius]

For some reason, "Punk'n Donuts" sounds like a seasonal pop up donut shop in some Main Street, USA town that gets surrounded by bearded, beanie wearing hipsters aching for their pumpkin spiced products every Autumn.

True enough, though back in the day {rocks in rocking chair} there was a Dunkin' Donuts at the northwest corner of Belmont & Clark, adjacent to 'The Alley,' a music/T-shirt/leather-jacket/headshop entered via... the alley off of Belmont Avenue. That doughnut shop may have been open 24/7, or at least crazy late, and had a large bank of payphones in the back, commonly used by local drug dealers as they could also receive calls. As a ridiculously cheap place to hang out for hours on end, near an L stop, a pawn shop beneath that L stop which always had cheap instruments for sale, an army surplus store with cheap jackets & boots, and both The Metro & The Vic music venues, it was quite popular with underage punks & Industrial (Wax Trax) fans in the pre-cellphone era. If you told anyone in the city back then to meet you at the Punkin Donuts they knew exactly what corner you meant.

Apart from the music venues, which have naturally evolved with the times, the only business which really remains of that scene is the L & L Tavern on Clark. An old co-worker of mine once ran into Joan Jett drinking there before her show down the street and had to mention that anecdote every single time we drove past the address. A reasonably accurate portrait of that intersection back in its punk prime is painted in Don De Grazia's book American Skin.

Punkin Donuts & The Alley were both razed a few years ago and that enormous Target department store built in their place.

 

[Bfd70]

Liked the book. Didnt know you were from around here. I would have been in the parking lot circa 91. Don’t leave out medusas

 

[Cornelius]

Yeah Medusa's was thinly veiled as "Gorgon's" in the novel. Here's another Reader piece on the doughnut shop itself - I hope that Schott marketing intern is enjoying themselves here