What is going on with Crockett & Jones?

[CreamCat]

I live in Oslo. Until recently, there was no stores here selling C&J (and I looked everywhere worth looking, Oslo is a small city with population of only 1 million). I used to get mine when abroad, or from plal.com. During the last few months however, I've come over 5 or 6 stores carrying the brand now. Some of them are demanding preposterous prices - 1100 dollars for a pair of Brogues.

What is going on? Is this part of a larger international, aggressive marketing? And most importantly, does this mean that the quality of products are falling?

Incidentally, the same thing happened to Barbour a couple of years ago here. Suddenly, you can their shirts "everywhere".

Thank you in advance for any reply.

CreamCat

[Bishop of Briggs]

I would assume that C&J is implementing an international expansion of its retail network. It would make sense, especially as the British market is especially tough in the recession.

Those prices are ridiculous, especially as the pound is weak against the Euro. C&J can be purchased online much cheaper, around £250 to £350, from the likes of Bodileys.

[bengal-stripe]

Traditionally Crockett & Jones has produced most of his output under ‘private label’. Probably one third of their shoes carry the name C&J, while the rest bears the names of retailers or designers. It is possible, I wouldn’t know, that one or two retailers has switched from private label to the name C&J. as the name got better known. (If you’re a retailer, you make a cool business decision, whether your own name or the name of the manufacturer carries more cachet. It must be a very bold retailer who sells ‘Kiton’ under his own label.)

Don’t forget: Norway is not a member of the EU, let alone the Euro. There might be taxes and duties to be paid which make imports prohibitively expensive. Are C&J more expensive than other imported shoes within the same price range?

If you take the Bishop’s advice and get shoes by mail order, check out beforehand how much the taxes and duties are likely to be.

Alternatively, get a cheap flight and do your shopping in the UK. You might even want to go up to Northampton and visit the C&J factory and it’s factory shop, where you would find stuff with considerable discounts.

Actually, it works either way. The only Norwegian footwear I know ‘Swims Galoshes’ is outrageously expensive here.

Rolf

[Des Esseintes]

(If you’re a retailer, you make a cool business decision, whether your own name or the name of the manufacturer carries more cachet. It must be a very bold retailer who sells ‘Kiton’ under his own label.)

Actually,Bardelli in Milan do - or at least did - this. I have two jackets with only the Bardelli label as a visible brand name inside the jacket but, apart from some stylistic idiosyncrasies, only the one large letter "K" inside one of the inner pockets gives the maker away!

dE

[Merc]

They are opening their own (much larger) freestanding store in NY soon, instead of inside Turnbull & Asser.

A) They are capitalizing on their reputation. They probably should if they have the capability to expand production with no quality loss.
The problem is if they cant. One of the big auto indsutry analysts states that Toyota's old motto was never build a new car in a new plant with new workers. First open a new plant with a mix of experienced and new workers. Then keep hiring. After a period, your local staff can pretty much takeover except for some key positions. Then only after a couple more years, can you build a new model there. He notes that they abandoned that motto in order to achieve global #1 status. Now they have an 8 model 7 million car recall.
Its a tricky process - expansion.

B) I dont blame them. A company should probably try to grow to the maximum size they can without losing the motivating spirit of the enterprise. CJ is probably are a large enough co (as far as northhampton goes).

C) Perhaps they have investors/ JV partners in the retail portion of the business

D) I haven't noticed a dip in quality. i just got a second pair of snowdon (veldtschoen)
That said i have a pair of handgrade brogues where the stitching on the pattern (broguing?) is a bit sloppy. For me the main issue with C&J is only a limited slice of their lasts actually work for me and those lasts do not include any of the handgrades.

[Bishop of Briggs]

Comparing C&J to Toyota is to lack understanding of both businesses - manufacturing, marketing and distribution.

[Merc]

Comparing C&J to Toyota is to lack understanding of both businesses - manufacturing, marketing and distribution.

i don't believe i did compare them to toyota-where did you read that in my post?

what i said was that toyota had a philosophy for a very long time that allowed them to expand with no slip-ups. According to the guy who just wrote the book about the crackup of detroit, they abandoned that philosophy a few years back. He implied it was responsible for their recent foul up.

i have no idea whether or not C&J is up to the task of market expansion (i.e. multiplying their sales volume).
But i am almost certainly correct and (i would think noncontroversial) in stating that, that is the danger. IF they don't have the systems, the management, the talent in place to support maintaining quality control at double (or whatever the multiple is) their current volume.

I is not whether I understand about manufacturing and marketing - what i am talking about is 3/4 a management issue

And i am asking the question of whether they can do it
It is by no means a foregone conclusion that they can. Management and vision as well as shoe craftsmen are all in relatively short supply.

[Bishop of Briggs]

Crockett & Jones make for other brands too - e.g. Cleverly, New & Lingwood, Ralph Lauren, Shipton & Heneage as well as Turnbull & Asser. The firm is capable of managing and supplying an expanded network of retail outlets. C&J's quality control is far better than Church's who, in my experience, sell imperfect goods at full price.

[AndyM]

C&J's quality control is far better than Church's who, in my experience, sell imperfect goods at full price.

Interested in your comparison of C&J and Church's, I am happy with some Church's I bought years ago but have read a lot of negative comments about Church's current quality. I am considering C&J for my next pair, in your opinion should I choose from their handgrade range or is their standard range close in quality?

[Merc]

Crockett & Jones make for other brands too - e.g. Cleverly, New & Lingwood, Ralph Lauren, Shipton & Heneage as well as Turnbull & Asser. The firm is capable of managing and supplying an expanded network of retail outlets. C&J's quality control is far better than Church's who, in my experience, sell imperfect goods at full price.

i suspect they can handle it. but time will tell.