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New A2 from ELC
- Thread starter John Lever
- Start date
Officer Dibley
Well-Known Member
I think ELC have moved from the afficianado market to the high-end luxury consumer one.
Regardless of the markets, the rich stay rich. They are recession proofed.
And what better way to wear your wealth than driving expensive cars, living in massive houses with every state of the art controls, audio , kitchen etc. Now add watches and expensive clothing.
Jimmy Chu's shoes don't cost what they sell for, nor do Eastmans. But to the people who can afford them, the price is a badge of honour. It puts them above us mere mortals.
I say that with no malice or envy, i am a contented man. Merely as an observation. If i won the lottery and money was no problem, i'd have many Eastmans (and others) and more motorbikes than Steve McQueen
Regardless of the markets, the rich stay rich. They are recession proofed.
And what better way to wear your wealth than driving expensive cars, living in massive houses with every state of the art controls, audio , kitchen etc. Now add watches and expensive clothing.
Jimmy Chu's shoes don't cost what they sell for, nor do Eastmans. But to the people who can afford them, the price is a badge of honour. It puts them above us mere mortals.
I say that with no malice or envy, i am a contented man. Merely as an observation. If i won the lottery and money was no problem, i'd have many Eastmans (and others) and more motorbikes than Steve McQueen
B-Man2
Well-Known Member
Just a quick observation, for the most part ELC jackets are now outpricing Good Wear jackets for those of us living in the US. considering the shipping , import duties , and cost . If J C could produce jackets at a more rapid pace rather than a 2 year wait he would be poised to take over ELC s share of the market here in the US.
Officer Dibley
Well-Known Member
JC needs workers.
He also needs a production plan.
I get the impression that every time he makes something that isn't a specific order jacket, he just pushes the waiting list out further.
His growing variety / reportoire is great but if none of it was in his plan to do, it's a diversion. Great for the guy who decides he wants it but not good for the dude waiting two years.
Factor in holidays, sickness, unplanned family stuff and additional R&D for the new models and he just cannot compete with ELC for numbers. So whilst £ for $ he has become cheaper for US buyers Burt, some folk will still pay more not to wait for an indeterminate and ever increasing duration for their jacket. Though some will of course.
With the gap in quality closing, it's not as obvious a choice as it once was.
I'm just glad i'm happy with what i've got and no longer looking for a jacket.
He also needs a production plan.
I get the impression that every time he makes something that isn't a specific order jacket, he just pushes the waiting list out further.
His growing variety / reportoire is great but if none of it was in his plan to do, it's a diversion. Great for the guy who decides he wants it but not good for the dude waiting two years.
Factor in holidays, sickness, unplanned family stuff and additional R&D for the new models and he just cannot compete with ELC for numbers. So whilst £ for $ he has become cheaper for US buyers Burt, some folk will still pay more not to wait for an indeterminate and ever increasing duration for their jacket. Though some will of course.
With the gap in quality closing, it's not as obvious a choice as it once was.
I'm just glad i'm happy with what i've got and no longer looking for a jacket.
Juanito
Well-Known Member
^^^^^^That is an astute observation and one I have wondered about for a couple of years; from a business standpoint, if demand is so hihlgh for the standard product line, what is the true motivation to do R&D on new jackets (civilian and cloth)? It seems that this would just compound the production issues.
silvio76
Well-Known Member
Agree with you.I think ELC have moved from the afficianado market to the high-end luxury consumer one.
Regardless of the markets, the rich stay rich. They are recession proofed.
And what better way to wear your wealth than driving expensive cars, living in massive houses with every state of the art controls, audio , kitchen etc. Now add watches and expensive clothing.
Jimmy Chu's shoes don't cost what they sell for, nor do Eastmans. But to the people who can afford them, the price is a badge of honour. It puts them above us mere mortals.
I say that with no malice or envy, i am a contented man. Merely as an observation. If i won the lottery and money was no problem, i'd have many Eastmans (and others) and more motorbikes than Steve McQueen
colekwok
Active Member
I think ELC have moved from the afficianado market to the high-end luxury consumer one.
Regardless of the markets, the rich stay rich. They are recession proofed.
And what better way to wear your wealth than driving expensive cars, living in massive houses with every state of the art controls, audio , kitchen etc. Now add watches and expensive clothing.
Jimmy Chu's shoes don't cost what they sell for, nor do Eastmans. But to the people who can afford them, the price is a badge of honour. It puts them above us mere mortals.
I say that with no malice or envy, i am a contented man. Merely as an observation. If i won the lottery and money was no problem, i'd have many Eastmans (and others) and more motorbikes than Steve McQueen
I don't quite know how they can position themselves in the high-end luxury market, and I presume, the designer brand market, I guess they do it simply because of the high demand from the Asian market.
To be honest, I think it would be difficult for them to go head to head with top designer brands, even if you put a huge Eastman or ELMC logo on the back of your jacket, nobody would notice. It shows when you put Eastman in Google search, the first thing that comes up is Eastman Chemical (Kodak), they only come third (which is not bad), but 9/9 of my colleagues do not remotely connect Eastman as a jacket manufacturer. And as a person who have spent a long time in Asia, if I am looking for an A2 or similar type of flight jacket, I would certainly go for the Japanese manufacturer within the price bracket. Wait until the next recession comes in in Asia..... I still think it is a huge mistake for them to pump the price up so quickly, just because they can.
The good thing for us ELC owners, we can probably sell our 2nd hand ones without a even lost.
taikonaut
Active Member
There is a picture of Hollywood star Chris Pine with a Eastman jacket recently that is causing some fuss in the media that it is even better than his you know what. I wonder who else in the glitterati world is wearing an ELC. I'm surprise the likes of Johnny Depp and Tom Hardy has not been seen with one yet.
Smithy
Well-Known Member
Well said.
The problem is that flight jackets are quite a niche thing. Once that cycle of fashion (which pops up every few years) where they are popular with the in crowd has moved along they go back to being a niche product again. I might very well be wrong but that could be a problem for ELC down the line. Once you've priced out a substantial part of your original key customer base (those with an interest in flying jackets which for 90% of them grows out of an interest in WWII and specifically aviation history) then you're relying on a different kind of customer - the high end luxury clothing crowd. But the problem is ELC aren't Hermès, Prada or any of those other ones, they don't have the big name with all the cachet that it carries for those designer mobs, and just as importantly they also don't have the wriggle room to follow the fashions. All those big designer houses can just bring out whatever is the next trend or the next big thing. ELC are stuck where they are, when flying jackets aren't de rigueur, they're still stuck with them.
As I said I could very well be wrong but I do wonder if in the long run they might have shot themselves in the foot with their hyper aggressive price increases and it might come back to bite them in the arse. If you're going to lose customers (and especially those who aren't just single purchase ones) with price increases you better make sure that you have other customers to take their place.
Time will tell like it always does whether this was a good idea or a poor one for ELC.
taikonaut
Active Member
I work at a uni that has thousands of overseas Chinese students and the clothes they wear are expensive brand names such as Canada Goose, etc. The other day a student had a modern patched up flying tiger cloth jacket that got me wondering. What if I wore my patched up Eastman to work will they be making me an offer I cant refuse or one of my originals?
Maybe Eastman should hire me to be their PR salesman and setup a pop up store at the uni
Maybe Eastman should hire me to be their PR salesman and setup a pop up store at the uni
Bombing IP
Well-Known Member
I think Gary Eastman is going to retire soon and sell the business ,he is at that age and with pushing the prices up the books will look great for the would be purchasers in terms of value . He is riding the crest of the wave with regards to profit reaping .He is not thinking long term and he does not give a shit about his faithful following . Its all about the money ,its always about the money .
BIP
BIP
taikonaut
Active Member
When the price of a repro became comparable or even 50% to an original it no longer makes sense, unless it became a brand name that set it apart from just catering for customers who are after an authentic looking jacket. I think this is were Eastman is positioning itself. Its the hipsters with the cash. I think Ralph Lauren should buy the company when Gary retires
https://www.ralphlauren.co.uk/en/le...MI7ovYntCK4AIVD0TTCh2hoQg6EAQYCCABEgLVVPD_BwE
BTW who made Hank Marlow's jacket on Skull Island?
https://www.ralphlauren.co.uk/en/le...MI7ovYntCK4AIVD0TTCh2hoQg6EAQYCCABEgLVVPD_BwE
BTW who made Hank Marlow's jacket on Skull Island?
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Smithy
Well-Known Member
You might be onto something there Jeff.
If it was sold to a big conglomerate you could do a lot worse than Ralph. He's done more to champion clothing and styles from the 30s and 40s than anyone else on the planet. Plus he does seem to have a soft spot for flying jackets.
Stranger things have happened.
ausreenactor
Well-Known Member
Just throw it on the card. 'A-2 today, pay dude tomorrow'.
