Aero Grand Theft Sale – who's going?

[Stand By]

Sadly wouldn't describe Galashiels as the most scenic town any more, what with rundown high street and giant Tesco, but still tempted to go. Anyone recommend decent B&B?

Hey, what I wouldn't give for a giant Tesco out here! All the best British chocolate and crisps and biscuits - all so plentiful and cheap. And beer! And tea. And decent, thick ice cream sauce (no such thing as raspberry sauce out here) and Irn Bru and Shandy and I'll take some Hamlets too.
The UK confectionary out here is sooo expensive (if you can find what you want) and rather cost-prohibitive to me. You're all so lucky over there.

 

[Mark]

I think the point being, that if you were able/willing to buy a few, it might indeed cover the costs of travel and you also get a trip for your troubles...
I know that the one Aero I have that I picked up at the factory in 2011 is always going to be a very special jacket, even though I don't wear it much. I think I'd be hard pressed to ever sell that one.

Yes this is true, a trip to the factory would be a real experience indeed with of course the chance to pick-up a jacket that you know will fit you! Sadly too far for me.

 

[bn1966]

All my spare 'Jacket' cash is already tied up

 

[Cooperson]

Very tempted but I'd need a few more details of the jackets on offer and some prices before I could make the journey. I've visited the factory before and it's a long trek with an overnight stay, just be nice to know they'd be something at the end of it that might fit.

 

[pak]

How are these jackets being marketed? Aero knockoffs? I'm wondering if the whole lot should be stored away or destroyed so the Aero name and market will not be diluted.

 

[ProteinNerd]

They aren't knock-off though, they were made by Aero.

I'm also wondering how this will affect the second hand market, in the short term at least. I'm sure more than a few will hit eBay, whether they are being bought for that purpose or are an impulse buy later regretted...

 

[Sloan1874]

How are these jackets being marketed? Aero knockoffs? I'm wondering if the whole lot should be stored away or destroyed so the Aero name and market will not be diluted.

Really? Have you not been paying attention for the past four years? It's stolen stock, not knock-offs.
As far as the second-hand market goes, these jackets for the best part will pre-date the new designs, so I guess it'll depend on what you're after - anyone hoping that there's going to be a glut of Board Racers or Aeromarines is going to be somewhat disappointed...

 

[Short Balding Guy]

To Peacoat's point, I checked flights from both Minneapolis and Chicago to Scotland and it was minumum $1250 just to get there. I really want to come visit, however would want to stay a while and just don't have the budget for all those travels presently. The base fare is more than any of thier jackets in that sale I suspect.

I did the same. I was traveling in San Jose late last week and even checked the flights from there desperately thinking a flight may be cheaper - expectedly disappointed.

Like others I will watch carefully and keep my eyes peeled over the next few weeks.

Shopping my first leather 38s jacket, Eric -

 

[tropicalbob]

I did the same. I was traveling in San Jose late last week and even checked the flights from there desperately thinking a flight may be cheaper - expectedly disappointed.

Like others I will watch carefully and keep my eyes peeled over the next few weeks.

Shopping my first leather 38s jacket, Eric -

Don't forget that the Edinburgh festival will be in full swing during that time.

 

[nick123]

I did the same. I was traveling in San Jose late last week and even checked the flights from there desperately thinking a flight may be cheaper - expectedly disappointed.

Like others I will watch carefully and keep my eyes peeled over the next few weeks.

Shopping my first leather 38s jacket, Eric -

Born and raised there. Much prefer the lower half of the state, but that's home.

 

[jacketjunkie]

How about some investigative journalism? Sneaking into their showroom with a hidden camera and making a list of jacket styles and sizes?

With all due respect, I understand they don't have time to measure up everything and putting it online, but taking pen and paper and making a list of what styles are available in what size.. I don't see that taking longer than 30 minutes. It's like what, 100 jackets? They are really giving me a hard time by not giving us any info at all about what's going to be available. I am expected to travel there for 300 bucks without knowing a thing about which products will be available and for what price. If this was organized by anyone else than the Calders (who I hold dear and mean no offence to), I don't believe I would see anyone buying this.

Really? Have you not been paying attention for the past four years? It's stolen stock, not knock-offs.
As far as the second-hand market goes, these jackets for the best part will pre-date the new designs, so I guess it'll depend on what you're after - anyone hoping that there's going to be a glut of Board Racers or Aeromarines is going to be somewhat disappointed...

 

[Fanch]

The best case scenario is to appear early on the day of the sale and try on stuff then. What is left over will, I suspect, perhaps then be measured and listed on Aero's website. I would be there at the Aero factory myself if I didn't live on another continent. Interesting times.

 

[Sloan1874]

I guess the problem is that if there was a list then, a. you can bet there would be any number of people getting in touch asking for specific jackets to be put to one side, and b. listing jackets would result in people travelling up for one specific jacket, only to be very disappointed. The 'pot luck' approach means that you travel in hope and aren't left too disappointed when you get there.

 

[Gav]

Without any details of pricing and what is available, I am not going to bother making the drive up.
It would cost way north of £150 to get there and stay overnight even doing it cheaply. So they would have to have a jacket I want in my size with a bigger discount than that to make it worth it for me.
I'll stay at home.

 

[willyto]

I guess I have a different point of view. I'm traveling all the way from Spain to Edinburgh for 3 days to be able to visit Galashiels on Saturday. I haven't visited the city before so it will be a productive trip other than what Aero has to offer. I wanted to visit Aero Leather for a while and there's not going to be a better time to do it, being able to try jackets in the spot and take a look at more than 150 jackets together while also having the chance to try on other items like the clothing line that they say will be there too is one of a kind opportunity.

I would have done this trip sooner or later and this is the perfect chance to also take some advantage of it by trying to find a nice jacket for a cheaper price.

 

[wdw]

@willyto, it's a great time to visit Edinburgh, as the Fringe, the Festival and the Tattoo are all in full swing. The only problem will be having enough time to do everything.

 

[Edward]

I'm tempted, but I really have to clear out a bunch of stuff beofre I bring anything more home. (Especially since Herself has been to the factory with me and knows all to well how it goes! ) If I lived closer by or could get a return train to Edinburgh overnight on either side for twenty quid, I'd love to go up just for the sense of occasion, but I'll have to wait for another time now.

That all said, if a brown size 42 HWM turned up among the online leftovers at a crazy price, I'd be hard-pushed not to jump on it. I was never crazy about that boxier, fifties design until I impulsed on one of the trainee ones in black back in early 2012, and it gets probably morewear now than any other leather jacket I own. Ridiculously flexible for casual wear; I would totally pick up a brown one as well if Ken had a new batch of trainees gonig through the system.

 

[ButteMT61]

How about some investigative journalism? Sneaking into their showroom with a hidden camera and making a list of jacket styles and sizes?

With all due respect, I understand they don't have time to measure up everything and putting it online, but taking pen and paper and making a list of what styles are available in what size...

Aero has always been unwilling to put up numbers on even single jackets on the website. It's such an odd thing about them - take 2 mins to measure a jacket before it goes up on the website? Dunno, I've not looked at their sales pages forever due to that frustration. Seems that they could pay some intern for a day's work with some food and a beer or two after to measure them all up and list 'em online. But I guess the place is running fine without my input, so good luck to those making the trek up that way. Should be fun regardless of getting a jacket(s) or not.

 

[cloudylemonade]

I guess the problem is that if there was a list then, a. you can bet there would be any number of people getting in touch asking for specific jackets to be put to one side, and b. listing jackets would result in people travelling up for one specific jacket, only to be very disappointed. The 'pot luck' approach means that you travel in hope and aren't left too disappointed when you get there.

You're right Craig.

Although we are aware we are asking customers to travel in good faith, we feel we can’t release the full range of sizes, styles and prices right now. One, we're still collating this information, combined with the fact we’ve already having customers ask for pre-sale purchases, asking if we have things in certain sizes/styles if they can be reserved etc, which we have to decline. I hope those of you who can make it, trust us to see your trip is well worth the time and effort involved

As a general guide, the used relabelled 'Storse' jackets will be priced at around £300, these are in great condition as a general rule. It appeared that those who had broken in their mislabelled jackets were generally quite happy to keep them, so the vast majority of the replaced jackets were only lightly broken in. The few we’ve sold on our regular website Sale page have sold around the £500/£550 mark so selling these at £300 is a huge discount.

There are a lot of A-2s particularly in smaller sizes, there will be plenty around the £200/£250 region.

It's worth bearing in mind, these jackets were stolen by someone who chose them carefully over many years from the full stock of Aero, it’s obvious that he wouldn’t take anything but the best. So these aren't 'knock offs' or poor stock.

Regular unused Aero jackets from the recovered stolen stock will be no more than £450 while many will be considerably less. In truth, the pricing is still being worked out, but we're committed to making this a special event with special prices. We appreciate people taking the time to come and see us, and we hope that it'll be a special day out for our customers as well as a happy event for us, putting the hellish few years behind us at long last.

As a further encouragement for those of you unsure if you'd like to travel... Anyone who makes the trip but can’t find a jacket in the sale will be able to get 20% of any regular Aero item in our stockroom on the day of the sale.

We're a little short staffed as some of you may know Rachel has now left Aero, and we're in the process of working on a new website, so timing for this hasn't been great so our hope of providing more detailed information by now hasn't worked out as we hoped, but I hope this is of some help?

Holly

 

[cloudylemonade]

Aero has always been unwilling to put up numbers on even single jackets on the website. It's such an odd thing about them - take 2 mins to measure a jacket before it goes up on the website? Dunno, I've not looked at their sales pages forever due to that frustration. Seems that they could pay some intern for a day's work with some food and a beer or two after to measure them all up and list 'em online. But I guess the place is running fine without my input, so good luck to those making the trek up that way. Should be fun regardless of getting a jacket(s) or not.

We do put measurements on the sale pages!