Motocann
One Too Many
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- 1,672
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- San Francisco
Very cool boots. Ya don't see Frye's around too much anymore. My olive green pair. Protecting the Holy Grail I see...
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Engineer Boots, Harness Boots...
- Thread starter Creeping Past
- Start date
Edward
Bartender
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- 25,081
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- London, UK
Nice! I've never seen Fryes like that on sale here in the UK, though I'm told the older boots like yours are of better quality than the modern ones.
Edward
Bartender
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- 25,081
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- London, UK
When it comes to boots you both chose wisely.
These are insanely cool!
Bfd70
I'll Lock Up
- Messages
- 4,333
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- Traverse city
Is that an Indy reference?
Edward
Bartender
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- 25,081
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- London, UK
It is indeed!
There's a lot on Vinted actually, like this pair in 40 for €18
It's worth having a look daily. Frye has been Manufacturing in the US until 2003, since 2010, the brand name has been purchased by a chinese company so i guess we are no longer talking about the same product at all.
Edward
Bartender
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- 25,081
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- London, UK
Thanks, I'll check that out. Vinted has recently been recommended to me recently for some stuff I need to sell, as an alternative to ebay's price gouges, and Etsy's slow movement. (I love Etsy as a place to buy new stuff from artisanal makers, but it's search facility is lacking which makes it less than ideal for selling a lot of second hand stuff.)
In my experience, it's not so much moving it to China is the problem in and of itself, as that such movement tends to be boxed in with shifting to cheaper labour alongside lots of other cost-cutting exercises - all for the simple fact that the market won't bear the cost of higher quality. Be nice if that changed, but the market being what it is you are probably right if they have shifted production that way and either kept the price down or dropped it even. I've had some great stuff out of China, but if the object is to keep to a set price and not raise it in line with inflation, then something has to give, and very quickly cheaper Labour costs alone won't be the answer.
Bfd70
I'll Lock Up
- Messages
- 4,333
- Location
- Traverse city
Sharp
Edward
Bartender
- Messages
- 25,081
- Location
- London, UK
Those are very cool indeed. I love the utilitarian look, really nice.
Bfd70
I'll Lock Up
- Messages
- 4,333
- Location
- Traverse city
Did you grab em?
Motocann
One Too Many
- Messages
- 1,672
- Location
- San Francisco
Very Nice!!
Motocann
One Too Many
- Messages
- 1,672
- Location
- San Francisco
I was poking around, trying to find some info on the Frye company. Kind of sad, they've gone to overseas manufacturing. The website has a "Made in USA" section, with very little information about specifically where they are made. The company originally start in Marlborough MA in 1863.
No, but I was really close...I like them without the straps. Size 9.5 if you’re interested- https://www.ebay.com/itm/255161166044
Edward
Bartender
- Messages
- 25,081
- Location
- London, UK
Unless or until the mass market is prepared to pay what manufacture in the US / UK / EU / Japan costs, this is going to be a standard evolutionary pattern in many consumer-product businesses. A separate line for "Made in USA" stuff is an interesting idea. After DMs shifted mostly to China, they introduced a (more expensive, obviously) Made in England line. I've not directly compared the quality of those, though I am given to understand that, freed from the need to build everything to the price point the mass market will bear, they actually do put better materials into the England stuff to begin with. Certainly the only complaint I'd ever have about the Chinese-made options has been the poor quality of materials. The actual construction is as good as ever it was, but if the leather they are given to make them from isn't up to the same standard, the final product has no chance of matching up.
Biggest killer on 'made in USA' stuff for me is that they're all imports, and thus subject to the same problems with currency fluctuations. Post 2016, the pound has stabilised, not quite at the historical lows it hit at one point, but certainly at a level which renders most US made goods vastly more expensive than they were prior to 2016. Adding on all the extras (import taxes, shipping, and so on), I can't see buying much at all from the US now unless or until it becomes practical again to visit in person and buy there. Fingers crossed: I still want to do our proper honeymoon trip to Memphis.
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