BK price increases again?

[bretron]

Went a few weeks ago. The thread was locked without further comment.

Such drama, man!

 

[AustinTX]

Well, I have some money to splurge on a really nice jacket. And the field is narrowing.........

First, found that thread from 2009 about Stu at Lost Worlds. Sadly hilarious. Went to the website, and, nope, hate being told I'm wrong and possibly effeminate to boot by someone who reminds me of nothing more than the Soup Nazi (not that there's anything wrong with that!). NEXT!

Then Carrie from Thurston dressing down a potential (formerly) return customer on this site. Wow!

Now the "BK Broiler" on the present thread.

Hmm.... where to spend that wad of cash? Where, oh where?

At least the field is "self-narrowing." (Customer service is king with me; you can stuff the rest if that's lacking).

 

[bretron]

Even the best and classiest of sellers have a tipping point when it comes to "the customer's always right" mantra (have heard about JC, of all people, refunding fully paid for jackets because of "difficult" buyers). I can also understand sellers' need to raise prices .

BK's problem seems to be they're just trying too damn hard to make a name for themselves rather than let their product do it for them. Yet at the same time they just make it harder on themselves with negative attention such as this latest price hike issue (switching from Euros to GBP overnight- especially when youre based in the EU- is pretty damn low class IMO).

But time will tell what the market will bare- at what point is the cost equal to the customer's perceived satisfaction. I for one miss the days when Bk's motto was (to paraphrase) "a great jacket at a reasonable price".

Now, the Aeronaut does still haunt me (especially in the badalassi steer), and all things considered i think its the best non-Himel shawl collar option on the market, but all this online fodder just keeps holding me back.

C'mon, Andy. Rise above!

 

[Brettafett]

Every combat pilot consider themselves the best of the best, whether they are going down in flames or not
Some consider that arrogance or machismo. Kinda fits that a maker of combat pilot's jackets displays the same... Tally ho Andy!

But really, how do you objectively compare the top repros... GW, ELC, BK and the Japanese jackets, in a way that actually means anything to most of us?
Even a perfectly good GW gets returned because the owner has a 'personal' issue with it.

Price hikes are not fun, esp the unexpected ones. Personally though, I am losing interest in uber expensive premium jackets, long waits and unavailable materials etc... And even the best of the best get returned or sold off for any number of reasons, most subjective anyway...

As stated before, there are some mid priced makers offering some decent jackets of reasonable authenticity, accuracy and (arguably) better quality and workmanship than WW2 jackets, that are becoming more and more tempting to this die-hard jacket lover.
Speaking of which, anyone had any experience with Steve McColgan's jackets?

At the end of the day its all good.

 

[Seb Lucas]

I agree with Bretron, the customer isn't always right and sometimes said customer is a fink with a personality disorder and best told two words loudly, one of the words being "off!". But back to BK where the problem is never the customer....

 

[zhz]

You only filtered three out, lots left

Well, I have some money to splurge on a really nice jacket. And the field is narrowing.........

First, found that thread from 2009 about Stu at Lost Worlds. Sadly hilarious. Went to the website, and, nope, hate being told I'm wrong and possibly effeminate to boot by someone who reminds me of nothing more than the Soup Nazi (not that there's anything wrong with that!). NEXT!

Then Carrie from Thurston dressing down a potential (formerly) return customer on this site. Wow!

Now the "BK Broiler" on the present thread.

Hmm.... where to spend that wad of cash? Where, oh where?

At least the field is "self-narrowing." (Customer service is king with me; you can stuff the rest if that's lacking).

 

[Sloan1874]

Such drama, man!

It is interesting to note that when Aerial Star closed their thread, the FL mods posted a very polite thank you.

 

[zhz]

What I dont understand is, they did build a good reputation in the past, but seems they start ruin their reputation now...No doubt, the garment still good maybe even better, but what happened recently holding me back as well.

Even the best and classiest of sellers have a tipping point when it comes to "the customer's always right" mantra (have heard about JC, of all people, refunding fully paid for jackets because of "difficult" buyers). I can also understand sellers' need to raise prices .

BK's problem seems to be they're just trying too damn hard to make a name for themselves rather than let their product do it for them. Yet at the same time they just make it harder on themselves with negative attention such as this latest price hike issue (switching from Euros to GBP overnight- especially when youre based in the EU- is pretty damn low class IMO).

But time will tell what the market will bare- at what point is the cost equal to the customer's perceived satisfaction. I for one miss the days when Bk's motto was (to paraphrase) "a great jacket at a reasonable price".

Now, the Aeronaut does still haunt me (especially in the badalassi steer), and all things considered i think its the best non-Himel shawl collar option on the market, but all this online fodder just keeps holding me back.

C'mon, Andy. Rise above!

 

[Sloan1874]

This will run and run...

 

[Dickie Teenie]

Well i ordered a BK jacket when i knew the leather i wanted was available. Am i second guessing my decsion, no. Am i glad I ordered it pre price increase, heck yeah.

 

[thor]

I bought my BK M-422 last year and couldn't be happier with the style, fit and quality. One of my best jacket acquisitions, especially now in light of the price increase.

 

[hpalapdog]

I have shared tons of information including industry secrets previously subdued which put an end to years of speculation; I even showed how to determine whether M-422 were veg tanned or chrome tanned, but unfortunately the posts were deleted and the threads locked down because some members could not behave. For these reasons and also because as I said our affiliate thread is suspended, as much as I like to, I cannot share any more info here. Anyone interested, feel free to contact our email.

Indeed you have.

I used to think hard sell tactics were part and parcel of the American way of business. For example, this company goes in for it but with an element of humour https://www.atthefrontshop.com/ as do Lost Worlds.
Clearly though it winds some people up regardless of where they hail from.
One thing that surely winds the majority up is the deleting of whole pages on this forum when only one or two post break the rules . On the Chrome v Veg thread pages 14 and 15 were deleted just as I started reading them including a completely innocuous factual post by yours truly ! Mods please do the decent thing and reinstate them.

 

[MightyEighth]

Speaking of which, anyone had any experience with Steve McColgan's jackets?

.

I was just about to add a link to some recently made McColgan A-2s, which were part of batch run for a recent Angelina Jolie movie.

SMW were selling off the rest of the batch run, and when I looked at their site, they have massively reduced prices on these beautiful/accurate pacific A-2s!

http://www.smwholesaleusa.com/aged-a2-jacket

http://www.smwholesaleusa.com/a2-jacket

Seriously cheap, if the quality of other SMW stuff I have owned is anything to go by, and they are doing LIFETIME guarantee!

 

[tropicalbob]

What did happen to Aerial Star? I was really pulling for them.

 

[Sloan1874]

They're still going, I think they just decided to direct their efforts elsewhere. http://aerialstar.com/index.html

 

[IXL]

"Andyfalzon," the guy who insists that any jacket featuring belt loops, but not supplied with a belt as part of the basic purchase, is not intended to be worn with a belt: ever, at no time, by not a single manufacturer, anywhere on the entire planet. Not now, not then, not ever. By every single manufacturer in the whole world.

Statements of this type reminds me of a goldfish, while sharing a small bowel with a few guppies, declaring himself to be "the largest, most powerful fish in the universe," and having no clue as to the existence of the Atlantic Ocean or it's contents.

 

[Worf]

I was just about to add a link to some recently made McColgan A-2s, which were part of batch run for a recent Angelina Jolie movie.

SMW were selling off the rest of the batch run, and when I looked at their site, they have massively reduced prices on these beautiful/accurate pacific A-2s!

http://www.smwholesaleusa.com/aged-a2-jacket

http://www.smwholesaleusa.com/a2-jacket

Seriously cheap, if the quality of other SMW stuff I have owned is anything to go by, and they are doing LIFETIME guarantee!

I don't know about these cats. I ordered a B-10 Bomber Cap from these guys almost a month ago. Paid PayPal and haven't heard a peep from em. I emailed em on Monday still no word. This stuff's supposed to be "on hand" so I don't know what the hold up is. I'll give em till next month then I'm going to the PayPal.. then the authorities. I already lived through one bait and wait since getting into leather jackets, I'll not abide another.

Worf

 

[andyfalzon]

"Andyfalzon," the guy who insists that any jacket featuring belt loops, but not supplied with a belt as part of the basic purchase, is not intended to be worn with a belt: ever, at no time, by not a single manufacturer, anywhere on the entire planet. Not now, not then, not ever. By every single manufacturer in the whole world.

Statements of this type reminds me of a goldfish, while sharing a small bowel with a few guppies, declaring himself to be "the largest, most powerful fish in the universe," and having no clue as to the existence of the Atlantic Ocean or it's contents.

Thank you. I was talking about fashion jackets. Ever heard of Dsquared and such? You know, from Europe. Some of those jackets have fake pockets too. Go to any fashion shop in Europe selling that kind of brands and if you find a belt to go with the jacket I'll buy it for you. Ah, and don't forget to ask for a belt, 'cause I 'd love to see their faces when you do.

No doubt, if the jacket has loops you can stick any belt you like in there, but not every jacket with loops has a matching belt that was made specifically by the designer/maker to match that particular jacket. Since we're talking about European I 'd say none has a matching belt sold separately.

 

[pipvh]

Christ, not the belt thing again...

Having come into this ten pages along the line, I fail to see what all the fuss is about. BK's Westfall, at £700, is still £124 cheaper than ELMC's equivalent Californian jacket. Their USN jackets are £100 cheaper. And all of these are half the price of the buttery-soft fashion jackets I saw in Liberty yesterday. The leather jacket industry isn't a charitable institution, guys. If the makers aren't allowed to make a profit, they won't make jackets. I've no idea what BK's/Eastman's/Aero's margins are, but I imagine they are pretty slender.

 

[Carlos840]

Since we're talking about European I 'd say none has a matching belt sold separately.

Surely Eastman are not European?!

http://www.elmc.co/wallet-wear-and-belts

oh, wait, is that a jacket with belt loops and a belt?