Unfunded Liabilities: a/k/a The Cloth Thread

[gopherblue]

I have a Harrison's question too: Has anyone seen/handled the Harrison's Anniversary Tweed? Had anything made from it? Thoughts/opinions?

 

[bertie]

I got the samples of the anniversary tweed but have not had anything made up. The cloth is very rustic and the checks are HUGE. The samples do not have the weight listed so I could not venture a guess.

 

[jerrybrowne]



I have a Harrison's question too: Has anyone seen/handled the Harrison's Anniversary Tweed? Had anything made from it? Thoughts/opinions?

Just looked into these. Some interesting patterns- however I was shocked that the US distributor charges $175/ meter for this, making it more expensive than LL!

That said if anyone has 2.25 meters of the brown with green overcheck they want to sell, I'm interested.

 

[gopherblue]



I got the samples of the anniversary tweed but have not had anything made up. The cloth is very rustic and the checks are HUGE. The samples do not have the weight listed so I could not venture a guess.

I'd love to see/handle a sample. Are you in the NYC area?

 

[bertie]



I'd love to see/handle a sample. Are you in the NYC area?

Nope - about 2400 miles west and north

 

[unbelragazzo]



The cut length price for Fox used to be £42/m ex-VAT on all ranges.  Entirely due to Alden queering the pitch for others and having his supposed own 'range' of cloth issued Fox Bros. jumped their price to the £92-£100 ex-VAT level.

They also changed ownership, launched the whole Fox Merchant thing with a lot more online presence, and collaborated with a number of other retailers. Even if LL did not exist and/or had never partnered with Fox, I doubt the price of Fox flannel would still be 42 pounds/meter.

 

[NewYorkIslander]



Awesome find, Robb Report.

That would be a nice coating even without the interesting story.

Any thoughts on how the old old stuff differs from today's heavyweights, if at all?

Thx! I don't have incredible experience with modern heavy stuff, just what Frank has, but from what he says, and my limited experience is that the older stuff is way more dense and heavy...not easy to work with.

 

[mactire]

They also changed ownership, launched the whole Fox Merchant thing with a lot more online presence, and collaborated with a number of other retailers. Even if LL did not exist and/or had never partnered with Fox, I doubt the price of Fox flannel would still be 42 pounds/meter.

Possibly not, but he has made a deliberate policy of trying to stop mills from selling cut lengths stock ranges to the public incl. those who make the linens & tweeds he sells [which are all from their stock range].

 

[Slickman]

^ this is true of the barleycorn which molloy quoted me at 2 different prices, first the stock price, then once LL got wind of my pending purchase, the LL price

 

[Maccimus]



^ this is true of the barleycorn which molloy quoted me at 2 different prices, first the stock price, then once LL got wind of my pending purchase, the LL price

Interested to know how LL got the wind of your order...

 

[S K M]



^ this is true of the barleycorn which molloy quoted me at 2 different prices, first the stock price, then once LL got wind of my pending purchase, the LL price

And how substantial was the difference?

 

[mactire]

Interested to know how LL got the wind of your order...

I recall that some moron posted in the LL asking if the stock barleycorn he'd enquired about was the LL cloth or not.

And how substantial was the difference?

Taking into account sterling prices & vat 2.5 times the RRP from the mill.

 

[patrickBOOTH]

Going to look at some Lesser 16oz stuff next week. Probably will check out the Smith Botany book as well. What is the price like on these books? About average?

 

[johanm]



Taking into account sterling prices & vat 2.5 times the RRP from the mill.

This is awful. I hate getting ripped off by middlemen regardless of the underlying goods. For me it would take the fun out of the purchase and I would skip it altogether.

Going to look at some Lesser 16oz stuff next week. Probably will check out the Smith Botany book as well. What is the price like on these books? About average?

They're priced roughly in between the Harrisons/Minnis group and the Scabal/H&S group, but better than both for this type of cloth IMO. Also try Smith Steadfast which is really good and kind of intermediate between Lesser 16 and Botany.

 

[patrickBOOTH]

Great suggestion, thanks.