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New Carlo Franco Shirts ETA?

demeis

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I was wondering if anyone knew when the new shirts will be available? I've been waiting forever to get my hands on one. I thought he mentioned a presale on June 10th but never got any email about it.
 

bachbeet

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demeis: I think it's ridiculous how long it's taking. I think they want to sell all the 2004 shirts before posting the new ones. It's a real turn off. They also stopped responding to e-mails. Not a very good business operation, if you ask me.
 

retronotmetro

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Chuck responded to an email I sent him last week within four hours. He's busy training new staff and putting together the Fall collection.
 

AlanC

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I think they want to sell all the 2004 shirts before posting the new ones....Not a very good business operation, if you ask me.
I don't think that's the case. Pretty much all the last line of shirts were gone back in the spring anyway. Chuck is completely revamping his shirts, and with a one man and one woman operation dealing with cottage workshops in Italy turning out a handmade product you're not going to get the regularity of the latest Claiborne factory shirts.

Chuck's business model--as he's said--is get it right, not quick. It's his own business using his own money, paying as he goes. His goal is to produce the best product possible while still underselling anything comparable. From the pretty much unanimous views of a lot of people around here he's succeeding.

Obviously, Chuck and Jill are dealing with some growing pains right now, but I'm sure everyone will be very happy with the new line when they come out.
 

bachbeet

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retro: I e-mailed him last week too. To ask about the pre-ordering he stated. STILL haven't heard from him. Well, maybe it's all for the best. My charge card could use a rest.
smile.gif
 

Carlo

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Sorry for the blackout on posting.  There are a few incorrect assumptions here and if I missed your email bachbeat I apologize.

We are currently awaiting final confirmation from two mills on whether certain fabrics will be possible.

Let me explain what we are doing a little biut because it might help you understand better why there is a long delay - a delay that costs me a lot of money so I am not happy about it.

After our initial shirt I quite honestly thought it was excellent but not 'Special' to the degree I wanted it to be.  We went through 4-5 iterations of redesign on the construction which took a long time.

Next, we wanted to do fabrics that you don't see every day.  In Neiman's last week I saw 3 shirts from three different 'big names' in the exact same fabric, two of which had identical construction.  I did not want that.

Of the 15-20 fabrics we're doing in this collection I don't think you will see more than one or two in any other ready to wear line.

So why the delay once they are picked?  From the 'special collection' fabrics offered by the best mills, not EVERY fabric in the collection is actually produced.  They need a certain number of meters in that pattern/color before they will do it.  You don't produce 1000 meters of silk/cotton blend voiles or 2x2 200's or cashmere cotton blends and then hope someone buys it - unless you have unlimited wealth.  Unfortunately, that's the business.

This week was Pitti Uomo in Italy - the biggest menswear show and some of the fabrics we wanted but which were not confirmed yet were added to the 'go' list as a result of that show.

I can order from the various mills 'Pronti' or in-stock programs and make the same thing everyone else is doing or I can go for something else.  For us, it has been a bit of a learning process and while it is costing us money to delay I would rather do it right.

We're also putting together fabric books which means waiting on the mills to get around to getting me the feeler sized swatches ready.

At any rate, we decided to do something much better than before and if you go back to the drawing board, totally redesign a shirt and then go after very rare fabrics that are typically not seen outside of a bespoke shirtmaker's closet then it does take time.

I apologize for the delay and the new shirt, IMHO, will speak for itself.  It's easy to say 'well, just do it.' but we are interested in the long term and doing the best work we can.

Putting yourself in my shoes for a moment - if you were to invest in large quantities of fabric that have a per-meter cost 5-10X that of the 'ordinary' stuff you'd probably want to be dead certain you had it RIGHT.

I've been off the forums training three new employees and getting the collections together, and travelling to get everything ready for our fall collection.  Sometimes we have to pause to catch up - we've been growing fast and getting more help in was a pre-requisite to further expansion.

Bear with us, I continually ask customers whether we should focus on more, faster or better as our priority and 90% of the response is for more selection and keep pushing the quality.  Remember - delays in new collections are a frustration for the consumer but a major financial pain in the rear when I know that I could sell a lot of shirts RIGHT NOW if I backed off the plan we made and went for 'good'.  That is not what I am shooting for.  We want the next shirt collection to be top-5 in the market where differences come down to personal preference.

Hope that makes sense.  I thought I had gotten to every email but if I missed you bachbeat I apologize, I don't know who you are though so if you could drop me a note letting me know I'd be grateful.
 

bachbeet

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Carlo: Thanks for the explanation. I appreciate better your efforts on our behalf. We consumers get impatient sometimes. And, like I said, my charge card needs a rest anyway.
 

demeis

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Thanks for the indepth explaination carlo, i'm just getting anxious to get my hands onsome of these shirts. Never saw your old shirts but heard they were awesome so i can't wait to see your new ones. What are the prices going to be? $150 for all? I remeber you posted this but i can't find the post.
 

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