[Flanderian]

Got an e-mail from Pediwear, it reads in part -

"Pediwear are sorry to announce to our Loake customers that from 31st December, along with other leading online Loake retailers, we will no longer be able to obtain any further Loake stock. This is because Loake have changed their terms and conditions."

Looks like Loake is looking to extend their price control.

Edit: Of course I should have added that has no effect upon American customers as Pediwear and other on-line retailers have been prohibited by Loake from selling to them for some time.

 

[never behind]

Got an e-mail from Pediwear, it reads in part -

"Pediwear are sorry to announce to our Loake customers that from 31st December, along with other leading online Loake retailers, we will no longer be able to obtain any further Loake stock. This is because Loake have changed their terms and conditions."

Looks like Loake is looking to extend their price control.

Edit: Of course I should have added that has no effect upon American customers as Pediwear and other on-line retailers have been prohibited by Loake from selling to them for some time.

I wonder how this might impact Herring branded shoes made by Loake? I've only
Bought one Loake made shoe but it was nice. I had a mind to try a particular last.

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[derum]

My Loake Royal longwings, ordered on Sunday from the UK will be here soon - I will post pics.
Theres always a work around.

 

[Flanderian]

I wonder how this might impact Herring branded shoes made by Loake? I've only
Bought one Loake made shoe but it was nice. I had a mind to try a particular last.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I suspect since they're private label made by Loake that there'd be no effect.

 

[TheDlABlO]

The sad thing is, given Loake 1880's relative value - good pricing, good quality controls and materials, I would be happy to buy Loake 1880 as my staple.

But for the life of me and since East Dane does not carry them anymore, I have no idea where to buy Loake. Seems like a really stupid business decision.. "let's sell our shoes to nobody"

Crockett and Jones have gotten thousands from me because of this stupidity.

 

[winghus]

The sad thing is, given Loake 1880's relative value - good pricing, good quality controls and materials, I would be happy to buy Loake 1880 as my staple.

But for the life of me and since East Dane does not carry them anymore, I have no idea where to buy Loake. Seems like a really stupid business decision.. "let's sell our shoes to nobody"

Crockett and Jones have gotten thousands from me because of this stupidity.

They sell them to people, it's just to dealers who charge full retail for them. The same retailers who have probably been crying about discounters like Pediwear undercutting their artificially high margins. This happened with Carmina a couple of years ago which ticked off all of the budget buyers who were buying from EU shops. Then after helping out the retailers that way, Carmina screwed them all over by opening their own US webstore.

 

[Flanderian]

They sell them to people, it's just to dealers who charge full retail for them. The same retailers who have probably been crying about discounters like Pediwear undercutting their artificially high margins. This happened with Carmina a couple of years ago which ticked off all of the budget buyers who were buying from EU shops. Then after helping out the retailers that way, Carmina screwed them all over by opening their own US webstore.

Hmm . . . ? :icon_scratch:

That would make sense. Perhaps it's in Loake's plans.

 

[derum]

I wrote to Loake to question their policy towards US sales, and their customer service department replied with a detailed explanation. Not wishing to copy the full response without the authors permission, or knowledge, I will quote one paragraph:
"In the short term I am unable to recommend any (US) suppliers, however we are working towards shipping to the US in the future".
This, together with other comments made in their response, suggests that they will be establishing their own website for the US market and/or restrict sales to a network of retailers who have made some form of investment in the brand.
They do accept that it will be difficult to source their shoes in the short term, but it is their stated long term goal to make high quality shoes affordable and available to as many people as they can.

 

[SG_67]

For a very brief time, Bloomingdale’s carries them. I’m not sure if it was some sort of trial balloon for either.

 

[Flanderian]

it is their stated long term goal to make high quality shoes affordable and available to as many people as they can.

At the highest possible price!

Reminds me of the Yorkshireman who attempted to corner the Harris Tweed market to restrict supply and enforce artificially high pricing perhaps 10 years ago. *

But thanks for the information, it will be entertaining to watch how this plays out. Fortunately, I'm not dependent upon Loake footwear.

* Edit: This is the thread recalling "The Horrible Haggas Debacle."

https://askandyaboutclothes.com/community/threads/is-harris-tweed-doomed.83876/

 

[winghus]

Funny how manufacturers are all for a world market when it's to their advantage, but God forbid the customers use it to get a discount.

 

[Doctor Damage]

Funny how manufacturers are all for a world market when it's to their advantage, but God forbid the customers use it to get a discount.

With all due respect, do you discount your services to your employer?

 

[Doctor Damage]

They sell them to people, it's just to dealers who charge full retail for them. The same retailers who have probably been crying about discounters like Pediwear undercutting their artificially high margins.

Again, with all due respect, try to think about this from your own employment/business situation. It's easy to assert that everybody else is overcharging for their products without actually knowing the insides of their businesses.

 

[Doctor Damage]

At the highest possible price!

It's worth noting that Alden has been jerking around smaller retailers for years now, such that some have dropped Alden, but I don't see endless griping about Alden's business practices in these pages. As for the highest possible price, do you work at a discount? I bet you're a real shark when it comes to your own salary and you make sure you don't leave a dime on the table.

 

[never behind]

I don’t think it’s as much a discount as a premium charge simply based on where I live. I’ve been looking at Barbours - the same coat is half price if I buy it from a UK retailer vs US retailer. I don’t know Barbours business but I’m pretty sure it’s not twice as expensive to sell their jacket in the US.

That said Loake wants to make money and I want to save money. I don’t fault them or anyone by trying to maximize their profits, and they shouldn’t fault me for not buying their shoes. And I might gripe about it.


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[SG_67]

An iPhone will cost about $300 more in Germany than here in the states.

There are many factors that go into the cost and pricing from region to region. Each market is unique with a certain supply and demand curve and not every model fits every market.

Applying consistent pricing across all markets ignores and wouldn’t make sense.

 

[Flanderian]

It's worth noting that Alden has been jerking around smaller retailers for years now, such that some have dropped Alden, but I don't see endless griping about Alden's business practices in these pages. As for the highest possible price, do you work at a discount? I bet you're a real shark when it comes to your own salary and you make sure you don't leave a dime on the table.

You're most certainly correct about Alden, but their trade practices aren't new. And any complaints concerning them are likely to be quickly drowned out by the True Believers anyway!

As to myself, I haven't seen a salary in 30+ years though I owned and ran a business for most of those, though I fear in a rather un-shark like fashion.

But that's neither here nor there; the issue is yet another firm attempting to bully the marketplace through a restraint of trade when past attempts have produced results both hilarious, and catastrophic for the practitioner!

An iPhone will cost about $300 more in Germany than here in the states.

There are many factors that go into the cost and pricing from region to region. Each market is unique with a certain supply and demand curve and not every model fits every market.

Applying consistent pricing across all markets ignores and wouldn't make sense.

Loake is banking upon being a big enough fish in the pond with sufficient market share to pull this off. We'll see. The only thing they have going for them is that the prices retailers have asked are subjectively below the curve for similar products. But there may well already be too many value-priced makes of equivalent or superior quality in, or entering, the market to allow that to work.

Alfred Sargent went through a restructuring, what, six or so years ago? At that time they reduced output and instead focused on higher end product. And they seem to have succeeded. I.e., fewer units at higher margins. If that's what Loake plans, it may succeed. But with their current lines, I just see too many competitors waiting to gobble up market share resulting from them attempting to restrict supply.

 

[winghus]

Again, with all due respect, try to think about this from your own employment/business situation. It's easy to assert that everybody else is overcharging for their products without actually knowing the insides of their businesses.

I never said they were overcharging, what I said was that they were eliminating the discounters in order to foster full retail pricing to customers. Loake more than likely got paid the same amount per pair by Pediwear as they did by US retailers. Pediwear may have gotten a little bit off due to volume, maybe not. The US retailers are probably screaming to Loake how Pediwear is hurting their business hence the protectionism. IMO what Loake is doing though is planning to sell themselves directly just like Carmina did a few years ago. If they come in reasonably priced I'll certainly give them a try, I have a Loake-made pair from Charles Tyrwhitt I rather like. If they are simply closing off discounters so the only way to get Loake in the US is full priced retailers, then I won't as I think there are better value/dollar shoes out there at the same or higher quality.

Apple gets to charge what they want because they put out an arguably much better product in 2008 than anything existing, kept raising the bar, took total control over their own supply lines, spend a fortune marketing and have convinced a lot of the first world that an iPhone is a must-have. Loake isn't in that position. Isn't their top line in the Sanders range of quality, not Crocket and Jones? I don't mind paying for quality but I'm not going to pay for increased profits without increased value. Apple has almost priced themselves out of the market with this current generation as the value add over the iPhone 8 is minimal and a lot of the faithful have decided their 8s are good enough, especially after the battery life throttling debacle.

As I stated above, manufacturers love the global market when they can use it to lower their costs. They hate it when we use it to lower our costs. Let's not forget the Costco vs Omega case where they mis-used copyright to stop grey market sales of Seamasters at Costco.

In this case Loake is removing the grey market dealer(Pediwear) by not selling to them under terms they are willing to follow.

 

[winghus]

With all due respect, do you discount your services to your employer?

I don't charge two different prices for my services based on circumstance. The price is the price.
Are you an actual doctor? We can talk about how pricing for a procedure costs different prices based on which insurance or even lack of insurance your customer has.