Epaulet shop - Official Affiliate thread

[bry2000]

Not crazy. Just comes down to what you are looking for and how you enjoy buying it. It is certainly better for the retailer, but not necessarily better for me personally.

 

[justinkapur]



I'm into the whole preorder experience. I find it fun and addicting. Given my price neighborhood, 80% of my clothing purchases over the past year have been Gustin campaigns and EP EFFs, and Vass / Bonafe MTOS and Alden preorders.

I find the anticipation as much fun as receiving the item. Am I crazy?

I think you can get to that point when you have a really good wardrobe where you are not needing those pieces right away. I love MTOs as well and I prefer them over buying off the rack just because you get something unique and like you say you enjoy the anticipation. Its not an ideal world especially if you look at Gustin. They are taking forever to deliver and having issues with sizing consistency. Epaulet has been great at delivering goods in a reasonable time frame and having consistency in sizing. If there has been issues with consistency in the sizing they have fixed it right away. Gustin just tries to play it off.

 

[kwanon]

I'm only going to order Individualized shirts going forward. Took me a long time to realize the stock fit doesn't work for me. Still hurts passing up amazing EFF fabrics. It took me a few shirts to dial it in, mainly because of my own poor choices. Once I sent Mike some pics of me wearing an earlier order he was able to size me properly. It's worth the growing pains, and the cost of a few imperfect shirts, to upgrade. If I could wear the standard fit I would buy NESC/Gitman as well, but probably limit myself to EFF events simply because that's where all the most fun fabrics are found IMO.

 

[Peter1]

Re Aldens: As others note, the pricing is not much of a value proposition, at least for "ordinary" shoes like wingtips, PTBs, chukkas. TBH, Allen Edmonds and some of the mid-tier British brands do those shoes just as well for $200 less. But, if you have hard to fit feet, Alden's range of lasts and widths are fabulous, and their boots are special. So...if Ep can stock Indys and "casual" makeups (suede, natural welt, eyelets, commando/dainite soles) of boots and bluchers, I think that's the way to go. As for pre-orders, I'm surprised that so many people can just toss away 150-200. So, yeah, demand at least 50 percent, and 100 percent for super-narrow/huge/small/wide sizes.

As for shirts, I've got a couple of Gitmans from Epaulet and hope you'd still carry them. But I'm from PA. The Portuguese shirts look nice but I haven't bought any, mostly because I can get GV on the secondary or sale market for $75-110.

 

[eljlakers]



I think you can get to that point when you have a really good wardrobe where you are not needing those pieces right away. I love MTOs as well and I prefer them over buying off the rack just because you get something unique and like you say you enjoy the anticipation. Its not an ideal world especially if you look at Gustin. They are taking forever to deliver and having issues with sizing consistency. Epaulet has been great at delivering goods in a reasonable time frame and having consistency in sizing. If there has been issues with consistency in the sizing they have fixed it right away. Gustin just tries to play it off.

Agree with Justin and Peppercorn. Part of the fun, now that I have a wardrobe plenty big enough, is the anticipation of a unique order, or just seeing a shipping notice pop in my email out of nowhere.

That said, think about the economics of this more than the "fun." You may want Mike to be a "real shop" and carry lots of inventory, but the more inventory he has to carry (and take a chance on it not selling at any margin) the higher prices he has to charge across the board. The more he can lock in sales prior to an item being produced, the more he can pass on amazing prices to us (and not just on the EFF pre-order items but across the board). In the fast fashion business, you play the guess-what's-hot inventory game. But in our scenario, when we're buying stuff made to last and styles meant to be relevant across years, not months, what's a couple months for radical value?

 

[bry2000]

We just have different ideas of what makes the shopping experience fun and what constitutes "radical value" (your term). There is no right answer and I can appreciate others' points of view. I personally don't like the pre-order process and I see more disadvantages to it than advantages. If I were not a common size, maybe my view would be different.

 

[CanadaCal]

Its all about cash flow for a small business. Pre-orders make sense on both ends, as customers can justify disposable income easier when it is spread out.... or they just load up on more pre-orders

They are not for everyone. Instant gratification still holds a nice spot. Ability to return goods is very useful, or exchange sizes. Sometimes you can do this via pre-order, usually not. Typically a discount is also given off full retail, some turn out to be very generous.

Pros and cons on both sides.


One thing I will say is a pre-order commits you to buy from X retailer (unless you abandon to deposit). If you are waiting for a item to arrive there is a chance you will find what you're after somewhere else first.




But I do agree with @bry2000 some Alden stock needs to be in the store, and I think you can do this with unique makeups, they just need to be perpetually delivered via minimal inventory and pre-orders.
I see no value in stocking Alden stock models. There are what 3,4,5? retailers withing 30 mins of the LES store that do that already, as long as Alden allows that.

 

[BenLeaman]

Quick running out the door to the airport mostly EP fit pic!

EP Heirloom Cardi in Derby
EP Salt Washed Portugal shirting in blue
EP English Drill Walts (one of my most worn pairs)

Non EP
LBM Cashere Overcoat
Edward Green Galways

I hope beyond hope that the Portugal shirting doesn't slim up too much and additionally that the darts stay.

 

[FLW]

Pre-orders can be a gigantic pain **********. I can understand pre-selling incoming stock ("We have X number of shirts inbound, buy yours now and save 10%") and it can certainly benefit both retailer and consumer. I would also hate to see all or even the majority of EP's business go to a pure pre-order model.

I have more or less given up on Gustin and Massdrop because of pre-order frustration. The product takes forever (often longer than promised) and it often doesn't make up to spec. This leads to a clumsy return process or, even worse, the retailer basically saying "too damn bad." I know Mike et al have never come remotely close to doing this and are among the best, if not THE best, when it comes to accommodating customers, but I just wanted to take the opportunity to express my experience.

On the flip side, if pre-orders weren't a thing then we'd lose about 50% of the traffic on this thread because people would no longer be asking "Hey Mike, what about..." or "When will _______ ship?"

 

[FrankCowperwood]

Oh, yes the preorder thing. I've got a preorder that I've been waiting on for 6 months (and it's not even a pair of Aldens... and it's definitely not EP), and I ask about it and it's "Oh, yes, it's almost ready... shipping next week." And then it doesn't. So that's frustrating and it has honestly taken that maker off my list, especially since all they do is MTO.

In general, I've had much better experiences, and I've definitely bought many many things from Mike on a preorder or MTO. Maybe it's because he's always around here (virtually), but even the few times when something's taken a bit longer, I'm not bothered.

And the process, while it can take some patience, clearly gives us access to a much wider range of items than otherwise.

In general I'd say it's a big plus, particularly for me as a long term customer of EP, and it's even more of a plus when there's also stock that's appealing and gives a new customer or a customer new to a certain part of the product line the ability to find out if the stuff works for him.

 

[Nik Telford]

I can say that I've never had a bad experience with EP. Not one. I've sworn off pre ordering from a lot of other brands because of the delays and issues with making it to spec. I've only had one product get noticeably delayed with EP and they more than made up for it.

 

[FrankCowperwood]

Yes, actually, one thing that comes to mind when an EP preorder went a bit off the rails, Mike was more than fair in how he dealt with it. We had options and I was pleased in the end.

I don't even count it as a bad experience. It wasn't. I got what I ordered and it's lovely.

 

[budapest12]

On the flip side, if pre-orders weren't a thing then we'd lose about 50% of the traffic on this thread because people would no longer be asking "Hey Mike, what about..." or "When will _______ ship?"

It's annoying when the timeline hasn't passed or has only barely passed or where the information as to when the order should be delivered is easily accessible somewhere and doesn't require an inquiry on the thread. I'm not sure why it's not understandable when a deadline has been exceeded for a while.

 

[mdubs]

Epaulet Teak Shell Cordovan Sport Trainers.



Along with my favorite EP Shirt, Epaulet x Gitman MTO Electric Youth Gauzy Twill..



-Mike

 

[notwithit]

Got my EFF Portugal shirt yesterday, wearing it today. Couple of thoughts:

1. The fabric is even better than I expected. Super-soft on both sides, even more interesting in person than it looked on the video, and has a nice weight to it.
2. For some reason I thought these were darts-only without the box pleat. Maybe that's just certain Portugal shirts (e.g., salt-washed oxfords)?
3. The cuffs are noticeably snug, like, even a little difficult to button over a watch. I'm sure this is exacerbated by the thickness of the fabric.

I might take the shirt to a tailor to address item #3 (I'm sure I could get an extra 1/2" by having the button moved) and possibly #2 (get the box pleat sewn down).

Overall, I'm really happy with the shirt and especially the fabric. I'd be curious to know what does and doesn't come with a box pleat (I prefer no pleat + darts, or shoulder pleats + darts) and whether the cuffs are usually going to fit on the snugger side.