I think some of the pitfalls these makers experienced could’ve been avoided.History in this forum shows that makers can go from heroes to villains rather seamlessly.
I remember clearly when John Chapman of GoodWear was revered on a god-like status a few years ago, then the prolonged wait times and lack of communication made him loose that status and now we hardly ever see a post about him, and mostly in the classifieds.
Dave Himel was another super sought after maker that could do no wrong, and now he is well and truly in the naughty list according to most of the threads about him in the last couple of years, he’s even the source of mockery in some threads.
The list goes on with others that had their 15 minutes of fame like Diamond Dave, who disappeared to never return after his fallout.
Even Aero has had some rough patches here and when I first joined TFL, 90% of the posts were about them and the most positive reviews were about them too.
So I think this should serve as a reminder that this niche is quite fickle, so you need to play your cards well if you plan the long game and to stay relevant.
GW: Keep communications open. In this day and age emails, even canned response type, can be scheduled and sent. Sure it takes time away from making stuff. Maybe 10 minutes, but that will go a long way in keeping people happy.
Himel: He has always been risky with his choices. While some of the stuff is laughable, like the pig belly, he’s also made a slew of beautiful jackets. So the critique and subsequent jokes about some of his design choices are fair game. I feel his brand is arrogant, and I don’t personally care for that…but he can most certainly make very nice stuff. He’s also made some real duds. It happens.
Diamond Dave: To me his jackets did not look well built. He appeared to be in the apprentice stage and didn’t move beyond it. In my mind he was something of a non starter.
This latest offering from Field seems like a totally unnecessary social media stunt, I suppose in an attempt to get Instagram users who need to be spoon fed what to wear, in line for a jacket. I suppose Greg is banking on the pull of whatever group of people that fall under the spell of influencers….they will empty their wallets b/c IG tells them to.
This would make more sense for a larger company, with multiple machinists. One group works on these and that’s all they do. A one man band with a 2 year(?) waitlist….I dunno. Seems like more people will be pissed than pleased.