What happened to Malford of London?

[razl]

Does anybody know what happened to Mal? Around the end of the year he was going gangbusters and then somewhere around the beginning of the year it seems he started to wind-down and/or check-out. I vaguely recall he said something big was coming and to stay tuned but his affil thread appears to be dissappeared and I haven't gotten a reply on PM. It does looks like his site is still up but he's nowhere to be found here.

Is there a backstory that I missed? Not trying to air dirty laundry if there's some hush-hush thing that happened, but I'm genuinely interested if we lost someone who was a big SF contributor in the affiliate area. His towards-the-end EG seconds proxy alone was a labor of love that quite a few members benefited greatly from (including me; those Galways that just didn't quite work out - sigh).

 

[othertravel]



Does anybody know what happened to Mal? Around the end of the year he was going gangbusters and then somewhere around the beginning of the year it seems he started to wind-down and/or check-out. I vaguely recall he said something big was coming and to stay tuned but his affil thread appears to be dissappeared and I haven't gotten a reply on PM. It does looks like his site is still up but he's nowhere to be found here.

Is there a backstory that I missed? Not trying to air dirty laundry if there's some hush-hush thing that happened, but I'm genuinely interested if we lost someone who was a big SF contributor in the affiliate area. His towards-the-end EG seconds proxy alone was a labor of love that quite a few members benefited greatly from (including me; those Galways that just didn't quite work out - sigh).

+1

He proxied some EGs for me as well. Was considering reselling due to worries about sizing, but I'm going to make them work.

He's a great guy.

 

[EFV]

I miss him here as well. Great guy & poster indeed!

 

[DazNorthEast]

I've just bought this great Tom Ford pocket square from him which I received today, brilliant service.

 

[razl]

^^ Good to hear, but I still wonder why he has apparently left the SF universe? ...

 

[PreppyJ]

I was wondering the same thing. Some type of dispute must be going on, and I don't think the stuff on the site is as good as it used to be. Maybe he was too nice of a guy to say no when everyone asked him through SF for extra discounts, and it was hurting his business. All theories, who knows....

 

[razl]



I was wondering the same thing. Some type of dispute must be going on, and I don't think the stuff on the site is as good as it used to be.

Agreed, though I'm not knocking his current goods, just by comparison from the latter half of last year - he had some good, great, and even phenomenal stuffs at great prices. He's definitely not had arestock like that in quite a while.

Maybe he was too nice of a guy to say no when everyone asked him through SF for extra discounts, and it was hurting his business.

As an aside, I read a business perspective on sales a long, long time ago and the crux was there are really 2 camps: those who do their best pricing all the time and don't do sales and then those who do for various reasons. The point was that as soon as you start doing sales/codes, customers come to expect it and will shop accordingly. It becomes almost impossible for the "specials" to remain special because those in the know just hold out for those.

It's been interesting to see this in action "on the ground" across the affiliates here. Without naming, some just do not and some do. You can see the pattern shopping it seems to generate. At least one affil though has been able to successfully navigate it by essentially making everything low inventory and special so the possibility of waiting for the sale is a true roll of the dice. That may be the best way to play it.

I only mention it because, like you, I know Mal had plenty of sales - and I took advantage of a few - and I'm really hoping that wasn't part of losing him; it would mean I contributed in a roundabout way and I would have rather paid full price for the stuffs that I got than this.

I've said this to a number of sellers - tiny, small, and large: "I want you to make money and stay in business, because if you don't then we all lose".

 

[alexSF]

The affiliation expired and as I've understand correctly when an affiliate account expired, user and official thread will be freezed and no longer visible to normal users.
The same happened in the past with Afinepairofshoes.

The point is why he decided to not renovate it, btw his site and ebaystore are pretty alive as always.

 

[razl]



The affiliation expired and as I've understand correctly when an affiliate account expired, user and official thread will be freezed and no longer visible to normal users.
The same happened in the past with Afinepairofshoes.

Ahhh, OK. I didn't realize that was standard operating procedure. (head scratch) While I understand the forum's rationale to cease promoting an affiliate if they choose not to renew that's actually kind of a shame; there's a lot of knowledge and info in those threads that is essentially going to disappear once the affiliate moves on. I imagine in AFPOS there was a wealth of last and sizing info that people will be missing out on. Methinks the powers that be maybe a little short sighted here.

The point is why he decided to not renovate it, btw his site and ebaystore are pretty alive as always.

I'll just chalk that up to a business decision for whatever reason. Your point above removes the mystery of it for me, everything else is just mechanical. That said, I wish he stayed and/or renews here, but at least his leaving isn't because of something nefarious.

 

[razl]

I thought I'd wrap up with this: I messaged Mal on his site and he's doing well. I didn't ask for details of and he didn't offer (nor would I have relayed here) any info on his SF departure.

He's up to his eyeballs in new stuffs so business is flourishing. I'll be making a point of following his blog to stay up with his latest and greatest.

While I wish he still had a presence here (I think the forum is a bit smaller without him) I am glad to see he's doing well without it. As I told him, upward and onward!

 

[Jamesgatz]

Mal has some wonderful new Ralph Lauren stuff and a weekend sale to boot. Just ordered a batch stretching from Purple Label to Blue.

 

[circumspice]

http://www.malfordoflondon.com/corn...ne-brown-herringbone-patch-pocket-jacket.html




This is a pretty cool jacket for a 40r who can get down with elbow patches

 

[razl]



http://www.malfordoflondon.com/corn...ne-brown-herringbone-patch-pocket-jacket.html This is a pretty cool jacket for a 40r who can get down with elbow patches

That's a gem; and as per Mal's usual, a great price to boot!

 

[PinkestFlamingo]

The site's had a refresh recently (if only on Chrome, I'm not sure). Miles easier to use!

 

[PreppyJ]

Yep, it seems like Mal has been doing some gradual upgrades over time which has really given the website a much enhanced feeling. Also, some of the stuff he has been putting up lately has been awesome. The only thing I will complain about are the prices which although great, are not as great as they were last year. Also, for some reason, he took all the RL off the site today, even though it was on it two days ago. I am sure the hundreds of pieces that were on were not suddenly purchased.