The CM Graveyard: First Sartoria Partenopea... next J. Crew?

[comrade]

"Brands rebuild themselves all the time. Apple is probably the best example I can think of. Left for dead by the 1990’s, it was able to turn around but it did so based on the vision of its founder"

Yep. That about sums them up for me.

I don't believe that Steve Jobs' vision when he returned to Apple was
to rebuild the" brand" per se, but to introduce NEW products based
on superior technology. At it's nadir Apple was respected in the industry
and much of the public for it's technology. At the time I was with a start-up
that was developing software for the Mac and later the PC. BB has long
ago lost it's image of quality and a certain style. In an older generation, me,
there is a memory or nostalgia for a BB, that hasn't really existed for 20 years.

 

[K. Nights]

News - Alfred Sargent in liquidation - Shoegazing.com

The famous British shoemaking firm Alfred Sargent has gone bust. After not being able to pay its debts and becoming insolvent, the company was put in

shoegazing.com

 

[comrade]

News - Alfred Sargent in liquidation - Shoegazing.com

The famous British shoemaking firm Alfred Sargent has gone bust. After not being able to pay its debts and becoming insolvent, the company was put in

shoegazing.com

Ten plus years ago I attended their trunk show in San Francisco to which the local Style Form
members were invited. If I recall correctly, the firm was being revived under new management.
AS's rep had an unusual first name. I lost interest when I learned that they didn't offer 4E in
the MTM program. Otherwise, very nice shoes.

 

[StockwellDay]

Woah. Super sad. RIP. I presume the pandemic was the death blow. I haven't bought leather-soled shoes since it started.

 

[imatlas]

And despite @emptym’s best efforts to boost the brand. That’s really sad.

 

[smittycl]

I think Sid Mashburn's English shoes are Sargent.

 

[vida]

I think Sid Mashburn's English shoes are Sargent.

Yes, you are correct.

 

[IJReilly]

Sad about AS. I always liked some of their models, but I could never find them. Maybe there was simply to little to differentiate them from their larger and more well known competitors?

 

[gdl203]

Sad about AS. I always liked some of their models, but I could never find them. Maybe there was simply to little to differentiate them from their larger and more well known competitors?

They wanted to be everything to everyone with low level construction and leather quality shoes on one end and handgrade on the other (with relatively similar branding), an extremely confusing situation that made it impossible to fully market the brand one way or another. You cannot develop brand value without clear association with a level of quality and price positioning.

That's why we had to drop them after a couple years. They continued to exist because of all the private label work they did for brands (who knew how to position themselves).

They also felt some allegiance to a couple of aggressive off-price UK sellers that only devalued the brand and product but apparently supported them enough financially to let it happen.

 

[smittycl]

Seems like another example of the continued hollowing out of the middle. Sargent seemed better than Department store stuff but not very comparable to C&J and up. Another mid-to-lower tier option taken off the field.

 

[gdl203]

Handgrade AS that we carried in 2013-2015 was every bit as good as C&J. I think maybe better. Their finishing skills were def better than C&J and closer to EG. Don't forget that G&G used to make in that factory and that increased in skill and level of finishing transferred to their handgrade line when they started working with Ron to develop their high end range.

 

[smittycl]

Handgrade AS that we carried in 2013-2015 was every bit as good as C&J. I think maybe better.

Similar to your earlier comment I could never tell what was good there. They seemed unfocused.

Anyway, hard for me to buy shoes online.

 

[gdl203]

Similar to your earlier comment I could never tell what was good there. They seemed unfocused.

Absolutely correct. It's asking too much of consumers to try and figure out those differences on their own

 

[Luigi_M]

I wouldn't say they were bad at all.
Their Exclusive range was nice and so were their boots - at a fair price

 

[smittycl]

I wouldn't say they were bad at all.
Their Exclusive range was nice and so were their boots - at a fair price
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Maybe easier to find in Europe? My only experience with them was at Sid Mashburn. they seemed nice but I was already sold on C&J by that point.