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The Rise of Style Forum-born Entrepreneurs and their Impact on Style

sellahi22

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Originally Posted by bigbucky
Not to be a downer but once you start getting paid to do it, it's a job; no matter how much you like the subject. There are many people who ruined a perfectly good hobby by trying to get it to pay for itself.

What I don't like is when entrepreneur posters trump up their wares while pretending to give earnest advice. Even if this isn't always the case, I will always take with a grain of salt advice/opinions about a product from a guy who is selling that product (or from people that are good personal friends of the seller). I read SF to read genuine insights and opinions about sartorial matters, not to watch an infomercial.
 

SpooPoker

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There is lots of really good, heady stuff in here. Its a great question, and one I would love to hear more answers from the vendors from.

My question to all of you guys is - would you have started making your product if this particular website, styleforum.net did not exist? (for those that started after joining SF).
 

The Thin Man

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Originally Posted by sellahi22
What I don't like is when entrepreneur posters trump up their wares while pretending to give earnest advice. Even if this isn't always the case, I will always take with a grain of salt advice/opinions about a product from a guy who is selling that product (or from people that are good personal friends of the seller). I read SF to read genuine insights and opinions about sartorial matters, not to watch an infomercial.

Eh, I've seen David Hober, Will and others compliment makers/brands/items they're not selling, so I wouldn't make a blanket statement along these lines.
 

LynahFaithful

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Originally Posted by tj100

Leathersoul is another business that is debatable as to whether it's an "SF" business or not, but one that I think hits the mark really well. Really good balance between classic style and worksmanship with some modern updates. They do a great job, and I find it hard to believe that they could thrive to the same degree as a b&m store in Honolulu that they do with the online business.


FYI, LeatherSoul's sales are predominantly in store. On-line sales are not his primary business.
 

sellahi22

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Originally Posted by The Thin Man
Eh, I've seen David Hober, Will and others compliment makers/brands/items they're not selling, so I wouldn't make a blanket statement along these lines.

I'm not making a blanket statement. Will, in particular, takes a more dignified approach by simply describing his products and then letting them sell themselves, rather than endlessly gushing about how life-changingly amazing they are. There are sellers like this that I have in mind.
 

Kent Wang

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Originally Posted by bigbucky
Not to be a downer but once you start getting paid to do it, it's a job; no matter how much you like the subject. There are many people who ruined a perfectly good hobby by trying to get it to pay for itself.
I've heard that before, and yet I still really like clothes. I hope it stays that way.
Originally Posted by SpooPoker
My question to all of you guys is - would you have started making your product if this particular website, styleforum.net did not exist? (for those that started after joining SF).
Absolutely not. I would not even be dressing half-decently without the forums. But Sam Hober and FIHTies have both been doing this longer than I have and I think were already in business even before the forums. I would hazard a guess that some of the newer vendors are more like me.
 

thinman

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Originally Posted by sellahi22
What I don't like is when entrepreneur posters trump up their wares while pretending to give earnest advice. Even if this isn't always the case, I will always take with a grain of salt advice/opinions about a product from a guy who is selling that product (or from people that are good personal friends of the seller). I read SF to read genuine insights and opinions about sartorial matters, not to watch an infomercial.

sellahi22, I think you've unfairly painted some fine sellers and members here with a very broad brush. IME, most of the entrepreneurs on this board are very good at separating advice from sales pitches. I've been on the forum a long time, I remain sensitive to such things, and I see very few sales pitches couched as advice here (essentially none among the long-time member-entrepreneurs such as Kent Wang, David Hober, Ron Rider, FIHties and others I'm forgetting to mention). On the contrary, I have found them very generous in sharing their expertise and I've gotten almost uniformly outstanding customer service from them. If this makes me a shill, so be it, but I will also say that I quit another forum when the owner started posting positive "reviews" of material he received for free.
 

Will

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Originally Posted by sellahi22
What I don't like is when entrepreneur posters trump up their wares while pretending to give earnest advice. Even if this isn't always the case, I will always take with a grain of salt advice/opinions about a product from a guy who is selling that product (or from people that are good personal friends of the seller). I read SF to read genuine insights and opinions about sartorial matters, not to watch an infomercial.

You've touched upon the most difficult part of it, in my opinion. I think David Hober does perhaps the best job of advice-giving without commercial taint. But it's not easy. I spend more time with the vendors whose things I sell, and I like those things to begin with or I wouldn't offer them. For that matter, its hard not to be inclined to write about the makers I buy from generally, even if I don't offer their product, because those are the clothes I know the most about. And in a similar vein I imagine that a lot of time spent with its advertisers is how Esquire got where it is today.

I got into being a shopkeeper the same way I got into writing about clothing. I like the stuff and I like the people who make it. I think I provide a service by promoting things from small companies that make high quality stuff to those men around the world that care enough to pay the often outrageous costs associated with that quality. It's proving to be a pleasant journey, so long as I can keep from being overwhelmed by all the administration required to keep the balls in the air anyway.
 

F. Corbera

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Thank you for your reply, Will, and Merry Christmas.
 

F. Corbera

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Originally Posted by sellahi22
I'm not making a blanket statement. Will, in particular, takes a more dignified approach by simply describing his products and then letting them sell themselves, rather than endlessly gushing about how life-changingly amazing they are. There are sellers like this that I have in mind.

There's a lot of wisdom in adopting a real or faux veneer of passivity when posting comments as a reseller or maker of items that people buy here, specifically because it can lead to conclusions like you made earlier.

Nevertheless, I still think it is possible for such sellers to show enthusiasm for the products that they resell or make and their aesthetic approach without the whole thing veering into a simple sales song-and-dance.

Just to switch gears a bit: several of you responded in this thread that SF (and perhaps other online forums) has had impact in your own choices and has also provided a vehicle for buying things (through the types of sellers I mentioned in the OP and also through this sites B&S threads) consistent with these choices. How does this interrelated cycle affect the comments that you might make in threads about what others wear?

For example, there seems to be an orthodoxy growing about very soporific (a.k.a., "classic") neckties. At least to my eye, they are being worn increasingly here in ways that seem to show little insight into how a subdued tie might work best.
 

Kent Wang

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I don't keep an eye on WAYWN that much but I am a bit surprised and disappointed that my soporific ties (solids mostly) sell such much better than even my fairly conservative stripes or dots. What's annoying is that now that I'm trying to wear only my own ties, I can't justify ordering stripes and dots when not enough people buy them. It's the reverse of what you're theorizing, that my own style has converged towards the SF style.

But it's not a big deal, just something curious to think about. Honestly I don't need more clothes anyway.
 

bigbucky

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Originally Posted by F. Corbera
For example, there seems to be an orthodoxy growing about very soporific (a.k.a., "classic") neckties. At least to my eye, they are being worn increasingly here in ways that seem to show little insight into how a subdued tie might work best.
An interesting experiment would be for a few influential posters to collude on starting a new trend. The SF "rules" are in some ways a byproduct of the incestuous nature of a forum. An innocent choice of clothing at first is spread through this feedback loop until it becomes orthodoxy.
 

sellahi22

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Originally Posted by F. Corbera
There's a lot of wisdom in adopting a real or faux veneer of passivity when posting comments as a reseller or maker of items that people buy here, specifically because it can lead to conclusions like you made earlier.

Nevertheless, I still think it is possible for such sellers to show enthusiasm for the products that they resell or make and their aesthetic approach without the whole thing veering into a simple sales song-and-dance.

Just to switch gears a bit: several of you responded in this thread that SF (and perhaps other online forums) has had impact in your own choices and has also provided a vehicle for buying things (through the types of sellers I mentioned in the OP and also through this sites B&S threads) consistent with these choices. How does this interrelated cycle affect the comments that you might make in threads about what others wear?

For example, there seems to be an orthodoxy growing about very soporific (a.k.a., "classic") neckties. At least to my eye, they are being worn increasingly here in ways that seem to show little insight into how a subdued tie might work best.


I think SF is best as a source for info about specific products, not as a source for advice about style or how to dress generally. Just look at WAYWT - most of the guys look like clowns or hopeless noobs, and the good ones have very idiosyncratic/inimitable style. There are a few counterexamples of forum posters who have coherent and instructive style philosophies (iammatt and Michael Alden of the London Lounge come to mind), but for the most part one has to develop a style by just living in the real world and figuring out what works best in his environment/society. But if I want to learn about the best sources for neckwear or shirtings or all the options for bespoke shoulder construction, SF is great for that.
 

radicaldog

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I see what the OP means, and I've been thinking along the same lines myself. For instance, it is striking that none of the SF entrepreneurs really caters to the military-inspired British aesthetic. By happenstance SF taste has converged around soft-tailored garments (Italian and English) and an overall 'relaxed' classic aesthetic (soft over structured, mottled over solid, unilined over lined, brown over black, etc. -- all far too simplistic, but you get the drift). This predominance is likely to influence newcomers to the Forum. If we had a few Kilgour-wearing Vox/Foo/Iammatt/Manton-like members things may well have turned out differently. But now it will be much harder for that style to take root here, which may well be a shame, as we would benefit from some fresh perspective.
 

aportnoy

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What is amazing is that bespoke gets so much airtime on this board when probably less than 5% of the members are actually using bespoke services, or even care to, for that matter.

Why the "big time" bespoke posters wield so much influence around here is beyond me. People are buying into some faux wannabee lifestyle that is dubiously portrayed instead of aspiring to find their own comfort zone. You can accomplish this without going to Naples and living the dream or being invited to your tailor's fete, trust me, it is possible.

This place just gets dumber by the day.
 

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