Revisiting Old Classics - Should We/Shouldn't We?
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i base my interest on the pattern and product and if it appeals to me (i already know that the IH product is good and a cut that works for me). then on the availability of an item. i am not ashamed to admit that i like items that are harder to get (i.e. smaller production runs) and feel there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. i work hard for my $.
its not an interest on whether an item item will sell out or not. there have been many patterns i have purchased that went into the sale section and were not popular at all.
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No, it is actually like putting the 20 next to the 109 or 127. I saw it that way at least. And since you have the opportunity to get gear directly from Japan, that makes it even easier to acquire rare items. You are much more diligent in tracking those grails down than me. (Rephrased for proper tone)
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and yes. i will admit i have loved the chase of old items. very rewarding finding some old gem. have made some super cool contacts over the years in NA and Japan because of this. But this is all subjective. A lot of my old gems have stories associated with them in the hunt and part of what makes certain items special to me.
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I get your sentiment @bushmonkey as I would love to have a literary first edition or an original by a fine art artist, I just need to be "in love" with their work first and not with their elusive unattainability..
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I'm rather glad this gets so many of us worked up. It speaks to the significance of the brand and the quality of the goods.
I don't mind either way. Many awesome fabrics have had less than ideal measurements or unnecessary logos, patches, or embroidery. Several others have fallen under the radar and vanished. I only have a handful of IH goods, and I can only afford a few purchases a year, so I am happy to have what I have. As it stands, I have only purchased one item, an ihsh-100, from Japan, and the rest have been bought from IH, Self-edge, or Rivet & Hide. If they can make enough money selling the popular items to commission new fabrics then I'm all for it. Most of my favorite items were collaborations or Giles' commissions anyway. Keep the good stuff coming.
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There will always be those with the "super"-collector mentality. However, they do not, I feel, represent the norm.
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good analogy BO. its rather funny my first IH shirt was a 49 and remember thinking, holy sh.t I'm spending this much $ on a shirt. I got it and was "wow". I guess that was worth it. I had yet to purchase a flannel as i still thought, "what, that much $ for a shirt, its just a flannel". i was fortunate to grab a used one from one of the original members and once again upon receiving was blown away. (it was a black 32) After that i was hooked. The fit was perfect and the overbuilt ruggedness works with my lifestyle. So really, i fell in love the brand, and slowly started to grab pieces that really appealed to me. I will admit as adam said I have been very fortunate in my hunts, but also in connecting with several people that helped me in my searches. So while i do have many pieces that are elusive, i have still parted with many pieces (just as elusive) because they do not "call" out to me. So its not just about the elusiveness of an item or having extinct items.
As I originally said, this is a great topic of discussion and one I am finding hard to articulate.
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nice thread idea @Finn666
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In the end, I'd prefer to see H and crew foster new creations as opposed to re-running the classics. Most buyers are fickle creatures and want what they can't have which is a huge part of the draw of the classics. If new versions of classics are reproduced and readily available, I believe you'd see a lot of buyers sit on the fence.
Edit: The best example I can think of is the Swedish Serge vest. A few guys were able to get their hands on them years ago and the forum was going apeshit. G got a shipment in stock and a good spread of sizes ended up on special.
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@bushmonkey's first 49 (he was a genius and got two) is one of my all time favorite evo's. Thank you BM! And your 705 pics convinced me to get my pair, so I am super grateful. Thanks for participating in this conversation as you probably have one of the most stacked wardrobes around. This is a challenging topic to properly articulate, no doubt.
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I appreciate this thread. From my side, having put a good deal of time and energy into hunting down certain pieces, I can certainly understand some of the points from both sides. My purple 12 is literally my favorite piece of clothing. Period. It is not my favorite because it is rare. It is my favorite because of the quality, cut and pattern. Tracking it down was fun and rewarding. However, I'm also happy more people will get a chance to wear one.
Still, I do think it would have been nice to leave a few things with somewhat mythical status. The Cookie Monster 20 leaps to mind. I also agree with @bushmonley that doing something like a Cookie Monster Viyella would have been cooler than an outright rerun, but I certainly understand people wanting to own the classics. I think it's a tough balance to strike for G and H, and I feel many of the posts above oversimplify the issue on both sides.
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I think, as we've seen in the past few years, we can have a balance between remakes and new H classics.
Backed.
I guess reruns are only going to be worthwhile if there is sufficient perceived demand. Even then it might not be as fun for H to be rerunning rather that dreaming up and getting new items through the production process?
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What about just doing a similiar run but with updated and tweaked pattern, cut, colour and design. So there is always something new to look forward to and the old masterpieces stay unique.
I personally like both ideas of an item staying extinct or being rerun whereas I would slightly go for letting items rest in peace. Why? Then there's room for creativity and something new. I found it a bit boring to see the heavily limited runs of UHFs in Buffalo patterns only btw…
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I'm all for a line of IronHeart staples like the hickory stripes, denim shirts, etc. but I want future legends. I want fresh fabrics in the traditional cuts that complement the best damn heavy denim out there. Recycling old shirts reminds me of the American auto industry…Challenger...Charger...Dart...Camaro...let em rest and keep working hard to strike up new concepts.
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My grandpa has had this early 1990's Porsche Carerra 4 ever since I was a little kid. It's super special to him, fun to drive, and now, it is essentially irreplaceable - to the point that people will pay 10x what he originally paid for it. They Live in Indiana and sadly from about November to March, there is no way he could think about driving it.. nor does he want to for that matter.
For driving around town and for year round driving, he leases Acura sedans - nothing crazy special, but he likes what they offer. He gets a new model every 3 years and drives the hell out of them while he has them. Luckily for him, Acura keeps making the same cars year after year and they keep getting better. Better electronics, better handling, better leather for the seats, etc…
The same can be said about IH. We all need those staple items - the IHSH-13, the 21s, the 07 and the 62 to wear every week and when we want a new one, we can grab one without waiting very long every once and a while H will find a new gauge of thread, a new way to make the color better, or perhaps the factory will make a change we get to experience something special because of i, even with the continually produced items.
Porsche will never bring back the old air cooled engines, simply because technology has improved so much that they know how to make things more efficiently now. Luckily for the younger generation, those of us that are nostalgic about things such as driving around in your grandpas convertible, or seeing old photos of Peterrock in a badass IH Flannel - We can relive that nostalgia with the recent renditions of these classics - both Carerras and UHFs.
Just my 2 cents.
Back to scheduled programming.
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I came late to the party, so of course i'd like to see some re runs of the sought after pieces, they must be good if people are still talking about them, so why wouldn't I want one? and besides, surely there are only so many good colour/pattern combinations you can design before you re visit the classics.
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It's clothing, not Fabrege eggs. The value is in the quality, not the rarity. If remaking an old item will make customers happy, then remake it. I don't care if it's a deadstock IHSH-35 or one fresh off the factory floor, I just want one.
The customer base even five years ago was different and smaller than it is now. Hell, for that matter, Giles was running IHUK by himself out of his basement, and now it's expanded and relocated a couple of times and has four full time workers (and yes, I know I'm being generous to count Giles as a "worker"). So the analysis of which things to make extant then was different than it is now, and an item like the IHSH-20 that everyone gets all wobbly kneed about might never have stopped production if it were introduced in 2015 instead of 2010.
Bottom line, I don't think there's any reason for any item to ever stay extinct, other than it being physically impossible to remake.
I agree
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