Anyone interested in a wool jersey group buy?
 

NOTE: The thread if you are actually interested in a wool jersey is here: http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=303681

This thread was started with that intention but is mostly a discussion of Portland Cyclewear and the insensitive comments made by their rep to another cycling group.. read on for more on that:


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Original Post:



I've been eyeing the wool jerseys at Portland Cyclewear... they are nice classic looking designs and i got to try one on in a shop the other day and they are very soft and comfortable, nothing like the wool i remember being forced to wear when i was little..

http://www.portlandcyclewear.com/page/page/3163257.htm

A couple examples (won't have logos, of course)

http://www.portlandcyclewear.com/i//chad_Red.jpg

http://www.portlandcyclewear.com/i/c...ssince1925.jpg

Individual pricing on the website works out to $84 shipped for a long sleeve, and $78 shipped for a short sleeve, within the continental US. However, they have very attractive pricing if you order 12 or more jerseys, and you can mix and match styles, colors, sizes, and sleeve lengths (i checked with them to confirm - no mixing and matching of other items like pants or caps though in the jersey order though). For orders of 12 or more, long sleeve jerseys are about $53 each shipped, and short sleeves are about $48.50.

So... i was thinking, if we can get together 11 other people (or fewer people who want more than one jersey), we could save a bunch of money. I am not trying to make money on this but if i get the jerseys shipped to me and then re-mail them out, that will cost something aside from the time to label and repackage 11 jerseys, so i was thinking that adding about $10 each would be reasonable (Breakdown: A padded mailer is about $2, 1st Class postage within the continental US with insurance for $50 is about $5, PayPal fee on $60 is about $1.80, which adds up to almost $9).

So what that comes to is $63 shipped with insurance for a longsleeve, or $58.50 shipped with insurance for a short-sleeve. That's about $20 off the regular price, and a good $40 to $80 off buying a wool jersey from some other stores. If anyone wants more than one jersey, that would be cheaper as they could probably go in the same envelope.

Interested? I can't prove that i'm trustworthy, but i do have good eBay feedback (100% positive, 50 transactions: link) and good Beerology feedback (100% positive, 35 transactions: link). Beerology is the rating system the tech site ArsTechnica uses for its trading forum, BTW.



I guess it would make sense to post in this thread if you're interested, and if we get 11 people (or 11 jersey orders, to be more precise), then we can go ahead with the money transaction (using PayPal, i think).


-robin

after reading the thread on them over at fgg I am very much opposed, not 'cause they are made in china, and not because of the possability of sweatshop labour but because of how lightly and prickish Chads responses were to the questions.
perhaps a group buy from earth wind and rider? I've delt with those folks and they were great.

Yeah, i read that.. I'm sort of conflicted, as they guy sounds like an incredible prick, but so much so that i almost doubt whether that email conversation was real... would somebody running a business say that to a potential client who was on the verge of placing a large order, and who very obviously cared about the issue?

On top of that, most of my mountain bike, all my computers, and most of my clothing was made in China, so i'd be a hypocrite for suddenly refusing to buy a Chinese made jersey. I would actually imagine that small production run boutique items like retro Merino wool jerseys are probably made under better conditions than some other products, including most 'mass production' clothing. And plenty of business owners are amoral pricks, probably the more so as you go up the corporate foodchain.

How are Earth Wind and Rider's prices when ordering larger quantities?

OK.. i've contacted Earth Wind and Rider to see if they can do a deal on about 12 jerseys. Their pricing is 50-70% higher than PortlandCyclewear, but presumably their products are sweatshop and moron free. :p

well my team are planning on doing a ten jersey order, and I think we were quoted at 100 bucks each.

For long or short sleeve? The shorts sleeve ones are $105 individually, so that's not much of a discount.. long sleeves are $120, so that's a bit better. I can understand that their markup probably isn't so big since they are not importing from China though (AFAIK).

BTW - I just got this response from Chad at Portland Cyclewear when i asked him about the incident. Frankly it seems a bit of a strech that some coffee shop was trying to 'steal his Chinese contacts', but who knows...

"I sent them some samples at no cost and now they are bad mouthing me so I ask them to return the samples. My jerseys are not made in a sweat shop. It just was apparent from earlier emails that they just wanted the contact information in China where I have them manufactured so they could go around me.

You didn't get a chance to read those."

I also contacted Swobo about 12+ pricing.. any other companies i should try to get a quote from?

I guess it would be good to know if anyone is actually interested in doing this at all so i'm not completely wasting time...

We tried this a few months ago IAB did a nice design (actually a few designs)
http://www.h3odesign.com/Misc_Images/01_Ordering.jpg

Do a search on Vintage Jersey here, there's lots of information/posts.

but we couldn't get enough people to commit to buying them to actually get the
deal done.
I'm still interested if we can pull it off.

Marty

First, I have only good things to say about Chad at Portland. He was very helpful and flexible for what was going to be a complicated order.

I think the main reason it didn't work out the last time is because several styles and sizes of jerseys sold out and the people here didn't like what was left. I would like to try it again next year soon after Christmas so we can choose from a large selection.

I am interested if someone is willing to ship across the border.

I had nothing but problems with chad...I will never do business with him again...when I saw the thread over a fgg I wasn't surprised...boycott him

I would be interested as long as it isn't Portland or chaddy boy

I know the guy who emailed Chad in the first place and he isn't the sort to fabricate things..

At first he was really confused about it on Minneapolis Bike Love, other people emailed him and got similar responses. The sweatshop thin is pretty difficult to avoid, but being a total crass jerk to someone who potentially could have been a good customer isn't excusable or professional IMHO.

http://www.mplsbikelove.com/forum/vi...er=asc&start=0

Mark me down for 1 jersey, even if it is from Portland. I have run my own embroidered patch business since 1994, and i know how things can get twisted around sometimes.

I like the classic & vintage designs except for the web address. I do not want a web address on my jersey!!! Hell, i would not wear my own web address on my jersey@

Word...well except for the fact that I run my own business. But I'm in for a jersey.

Note that the FGG order took 4 months to ship from the day Portland cyclewear recieved the money.

regardless of where the jerseys come from, i was thinking of plain ones. I saw that C&V logo thread a while back (had forgotten about it actually) and would have gone for it except that yeah, i don't really want a web address, or any big logo, on my jersey.

I suspect going with plain jerseys will make the order a lot simpler and faster, also.


Anyway, we are up to 4/10 people, minus 1 if we end up using Portland. I can ship across the border as long as the receiver pays shipping. I'm supposed to get a call from someone at EWR today so hopefully we can see what their prices will be. Which we might use also depends on the consensus here, and who is committed to buy what, at what price (ie. willing to pay double to get a non-Portland wool jersey).. I am not going to write off Portland if that is what people want (so far 3 are still happy to go with Portland, one is not).

I think that, based on what I've seen, I also wouldn't be willing to give this guy my business. If he DOES use potential sweat shop suppliers, that might not be enough to put me off, if he was honest about it. That kind of crass bull**** and rudeness? Not someone that I want to give money to.

I'd be in for one not from PCW, if it's fairly logo-less and costs less than $90.

That other thread mentioned these guys: http://www.vintagevelos.com/woolistic-customers.html

Maybe we should get pricing for them?

any update? is this still going to happen?

I'd still like to get a nice wool jersey. I was quite disappointed when the last attempt fell through :( .

East Hill

Count me in on this.

I'll still try to get some more info - i set up a time for the guy from EWR to call me, but he never did.

Thing was, i realized that unless they can give a pretty steep discount, along the lines of Portland's discount amount, it simply won't be worthwhile.. For example, if they give $15 off each jersey, and it costs me $10 to mail out each jersey to each of you, well, we're barely saving anything and i'm juggling all these packages and mailing stuff to save myself $15...

FYI, I don't know if this matters any at all, but EWR jerseys are made in China.

Seriously? If so, that kind of makes the whole fuss about not using Portland a bit silly. Frankly, i don't much care if the guy is an a**hole.. i deal with a**holes on a daily basis :p If the premium was a few dollars, i wouldn't mind going with the nicer people, but personally i wouldn't pay an extra $40 for what may be (can we confirm this?) the exact same Chinese made product..

hmm..