Epaulet shop - Official Affiliate thread

[Epaulet]

Oh and just a little note... with our Doyle's cutting today, I'm going to have a special offer for you guys.

I got a beautiful mid-weight olive tweed from Magee, enough to make about 15 units. We're cutting sizes 38 to 44.

We should have the jackets finished in about three weeks. The cloth was pricey, so I think retail is going to be $325. But I could do a special offer for SF at a $265 final sale price with your choice of buttons... including the new horn, white MOP, and smoke MOP buttons. I bet that I could source leather wrapped ones too. Could be a really dope project!

 

[Van504]

Ah glad that you're getting the trousers after all, and sorry that happened. Justin's a good guy and we've been friends for years. He means well, but his current business situation would be difficult for anyone out there. I really do hope that they get things stabilized in the future sometime. We're still waiting on about 16 units (some for customers, most are inventory items for us), and I'm not going to offer any future items until things are reliably working there.



Haha awesome. I don't think that I'll offer Mink again, but we'll definitely do a darker chocolate brown. Our fabric is literally being cut today, and I'm getting 70 units of Sashiko Doyles. I'll put up this project when the cut pieces are safely at the factory and on the actual machines for assembly. At that point, we KNOW that things are going to come through.

I struck a deal with my factory owner that requires him to pay for this external cutting. It's not a huge amount of money, but it's significant. That way, he's incentivized to finish things quickly, as he's taking on the up-front cost, and only getting paid when he has everything ready for pickup. I think that this will make a huge difference in speed and reliability for our stock pre-order projects.



Haha absolutely... I know that you have a fantastic collection. Thank you so much!!!



Thank you Beav!! We absolutely appreciate your support, and barring some other new global crisis, I feel really confident that we can be back up to business as usual in 2022.

In many ways, this forces people like me to innovate and improve our overall model. Prior to the 2008 financial crash, I was running a small boutique that sold mostly good womens items and had debatably good menswear brands like Modern Amusement and Cheap Monday. When the market tanked, women entirely stopped shopping in our store. That forced me to go into the NYC garment district and make our collection of in-house slim shirts. I never would have made it this far simply running a boutique storefront, so forcing us to adapt was ultimately a good thing. I'm confident that this never-ending COVID slog can yield a positive result ultimately.

It already has in some ways. We received about 100 finished garments from RTC in the Spring, and really --- they're the best custom pieces that we've ever made. Their production on the Nuovo jacket and the Nico pant is absolutely world class. And very fairly priced. I've hesitated to hype them up too much while we're still so backlogged, but really: the combo of our designs and their production is seriously good. We'll be going hard with it very soon.



Thank you so much @suuteebird ... it's always an absolute pleasure to work with you! Your taste level is incredible, and it's so cool that you often opt for the unexpected fabrics out there. We are so grateful for all of your support!



Awesome... thank you so much! I remember shipping that out! I always love shipping our locally made products abroad, there's something that's so validating about that. We had big plans for the Sashiko blankets this holiday which won't happen... but they'll be back and better than ever in the Springtime. Already looking at some new options for personalization with holiday gifts too.



Awesome... would love to see those pics!!

Yeah the Kamigata is always a tease. The guys who love it... really LOVE it. I regularly see pics on IG of Kamigata's that are approaching 8 or 9 years of wear, and they look amazing. It's just finding enough new customers for a production run. Preorders are often kind of tepid against them, and the stock has a hard time moving until it's being significantly marked down. I think our core is still bizcaz, so garments which can be dressed fully up or down tend to perform better.

THAT SAID... I spoke with Bob Kidder from New England shirt last week. We're planning to do some lightweight shirt jackets with him next year. Given that the Kamigata is largely a shawl collar shirt, it might be something that he could realistically make. It's more work to execute the shawl, but other things are easier and less expensive.. particularly the lack of a collar. We'd probably have to change the inside welt pockets to exterior patch pockets, but I think the overall vibe could be maintained.

And then with that... we open the door to complete MTO ordering with custom lengths and a huge range of available fabrics, including rad linens. Plus I can do small stock runs rather than the much larger commitments I have to make here. Definitely something that we're looking into it. Plu



Awesome, that's great to hear, and come by for an in-person fit anytime! Just drop Ming an email at custom[at]epauletbrand.com and we'd love to schedule it.



So great to hear!

Speaking to the kamigata hype, I’ve got 8 of them, 4 denim ones from the OG run maybe like 6-7 years ago? and 4 from the sashiko run 3 of which are now huge on me since I’ve shed my covid weight, need to get them tailored. They’re literally the perfect jacket for me and I get compliments every time I wear them. Eva, based on how they’re cut do you think they can be easily taken in to slim them down? I’m swimming in my size 42 sashikos, luckily I snagged the 38 that was on sale.

 

[nd1nd2nd3]

Another Kamigata fan here. I have 3, although I don’t wear my red chambray one as much as the others. I have an original crosshatch denim one that needs patched in and around the pockets now - I think I purchased it in the Brooklyn store. And I have a black sashiko one I’m wearing right now. I’ve always thought it’d be cool to do one in a heavy tartan flannel, but probably very expensive.

 

[losrockets]

A black or charcoal sahsiko Kamigata would be awesome. I will keep an eye out for one!

 

[L.I.T.]

Another Kamigata fan here. I have 3, although I don’t wear my red chambray one as much as the others. I have an original crosshatch denim one that needs patched in and around the pockets now - I think I purchased it in the Brooklyn store. And I have a black sashiko one I’m wearing right now. I’ve always thought it’d be cool to do one in a heavy tartan flannel, but probably very expensive.

I have the OG cross hatch and red chambray one as well. Last time I was in the stock room I saw one black kamigata left forgot what size

 

[Epaulet]

A black or charcoal sahsiko Kamigata would be awesome. I will keep an eye out for one!

Are you size 38? Got a single unit left in dark grey Sashiko. Could be your jam!

 

[ericgereghty]

@Epaulet can you tease any details plans about the blanket plans that are forthcoming?

 

[losrockets]

Are you size 38? Got a single unit left in dark grey Sashiko. Could be your jam!

Sadly no, I could probably have swung a 40 but not a 38. Thanks for looking out Eva and Ming

 

[Van504]

Are you size 38? Got a single unit left in dark grey Sashiko. Could be your jam!

Ill take it if he doesn’t! Dm’d

 

[ericgereghty]

Since we need more love around here, the gnarly crystal dyed hoodie doing gym duty. Really dig it. Full on ninja vibes with the ski mask.
Also, if don’t know if Epaulet does duffels, but I’ll just throw it out there that I’d be very interested in one if they did.
The Fanny Pac can obviously not be topped…

 

[Texasmade]

Since we need more love around here, the gnarly crystal dyed hoodie doing gym duty. Really dig it. Full on ninja vibes with the ski mask.
Also, if don’t know if Epaulet does duffels, but I’ll just throw it out there that I’d be very interested in one if they did.
The Fanny Pac can obviously not be topped…
View attachment 1686107

Good to see you're not skipping leg day bro.

 

[Epaulet]

@Epaulet can you tease any details plans about the blanket plans that are forthcoming?

Yup, absolutely...

1) The blankets that we have in stock now are - by and large - all the blankets that we'll have until February

2) We're going to offer an embroidered monogram option for them. Kind of like a LL Bean Bag. You can pick from a few colors and font treatments. Ming is finding the best partner for this, but I think we can offer that for about $25. Will really make them a great gift!

3) I have 16 bleached out white blankets now that will be dyed Gunmetal Shibori Stripe... at the same time as the Chainstitch shirts.

4) After we cut the Sashiko Doyles and Rivets, I expect there to be a bit more fabric remaining for maybe another 10 or 12 blankets. We'll probably run Aubergine again as those absolutely blew out.

The Sashiko Blanket makes for an amazing holiday gift! If anyone wants one and doesn't care about embroidery, then I'd definitely encourage you to order it now. I imagine that we'll have the monogram option live in about two weeks.

Good to see you're not skipping leg day bro.

Haha yeah for real! This fanny pack is next level too. I seem to spend half of my waking hours in gyms these days and this fit is flying far above all the stuff that I usually see guys wearing.

 

[Epaulet]

I've got some recent pics as well to post!

1) It's shameful how much this menswear-adjacent meme has been making us laugh

2) This guy (@fashionthefurious on Instagram) bought an Olive Sashiko Doyle back in 2019 and has been absolutely killing it with fit photos since then:

3) This dude (Raji Ashan) is an actor who used to live in Brooklyn. He bought an garment dyed oxford shirt from our storefront in 2014. He messaged me to tell me that he still wears it a few times a week, and it's still presentable enough to wear for his current headshot. I love seeing customers get so much use out of our products!

4) Here's me and Ming at the LA Textile show... officially the first trade show that I've gone to since February 2020. We made some great connections there - particularly with prepare-for-dye fabric. Found some rad hemp fabrics too!

I'm sadly not wearing any Epaulet, but Ming was channeling the Baz Luhrmann Romeo + Juliet movie with black Wilhelm jeans and his SILK PIMP SHIRT

 

[Epaulet]

GARMENT DYED JEAN CONCEPT

Hey guys! Got an idea to run by you.

So... like a moth to a flame.. I'm once again thinking of doing jeans. We found a great new facility that can handle them in quantities and offer really competitive pricing. They're making really excellent denim for all sorts of niche American and Japanese brands, and their quality is amazing.

The question is always: how can we make an Epaulet 5-pocket jean with mass appeal. Something that we can scale up and effectively advertise on social media. Here's my thinking:

Align Fit with the Rivet Chino
We've sold over 20,000 Rivet Chinos since its early days. The fit is proven to work, and we have many customers who constantly return for new pairs every season. I'm thinking to use the existing proportions of our Rivet shape, but with a traditional 5-pocket jean layout and construction.

Stay Away From Selvedge
I have amazing access to Japanese Selvedge denim here, but I don't see a path for us to use it. The cloth is expensive, and I feel that we need to have the branding to pull it off. A lot of our customers love selvedge denim, but they'd prefer to get their jeans from a brand that only does jeans. Moreover, consistency is a huge priority, and it's pretty impossible to guarantee that with a diverse selvedge program. The fabrics all shrink and wash at their own rates, and there's no realistically way to test that ahead of time. When I've tried to run these fabrics, we kind of end up in the "value" section of the denim community and our return rates are absolutely nuts.

Keep the Wilhelm Jean Back Pockets
Although we usually stay away from branding, I thought that these looked cool. Definitely open to feedback on it...

Use Quality "Prepare For Dye" Denim
We have great resources for PFD Denim and Twill. It's affordable and easy to use. The factory loves making it because they get a large quantity in a simple, single color.

The product has a cool and distinct look. We can do any color that we want, and even do different dye effects and bleach washes. We'll stick to one or two fabrics, so we'll know the exact shrinkage up front. The final product can be delivered broken in and entirely pre-shrunk. Pricing would be very reasonable, and I could see us delivering these in the $125 to $145 zone. Overall the vibe would look like this:

Anyway, that's the idea in broad terms. Would love to hear what you guys think!

 

[Mister GeeGollyGosh]

Align Fit with the Rivet Chino
We've sold over 20,000 Rivet Chinos since its early days. The fit is proven to work, and we have many customers who constantly return for new pairs every season. I'm thinking to use the existing proportions of our Rivet shape, but with a traditional 5-pocket jean layout and construction.

The rivets did not work for me when I tried them in the past. It has been a long time since I have seen you do anything with the Sandow fit; have you abandoned that one? At least offer a Wilhelm. Otherwise, I like the idea of a pair or two of garment-dyed denim. I have gotten similar products before from cheaper brands but always wanted something that felt a little higher quality.