Comments on: history of english cut

By: Like It Matters

Like It Matters — Thu, 07 Apr 2005 13:20:45 +0000

How Does Your Global Microbrand Grow?

Take one savvy tailorin the UK. Niche the offering. Niche it again. Mix one manic, disaffected dreamer as marketing instigator. Fold one open-to-happenstance PR type in NYC. Drop crumbs along the way. Yield one midnight reader/writer in Louisiana, who,…

By: hugh macleod

hugh macleod — Mon, 21 Mar 2005 01:16:53 +0000

And to be fair on me, Dave, that was kinda the idea. “If I tell them what they need to know to unload that cash on me and entertain them while I do, perhaps they shall” etc.
But, like I said, you never know if it will actually work or not until you try.

By: Dave

Dave — Sun, 20 Mar 2005 22:07:06 +0000

Johnnie, I think you’ve hit it. As brilliant as we all think we are, we’ve seen over and over again that many successes are things nobody thought would fly. At heart I’m an empiricist. No amount of theory and conjecture will be as compelling to me as the act of throwing against the wall, and the sticking thereto or lack thereof.
Put another way via a quote from the Butthole Surfers — “It’s better to regret something you have done than regret something you haven’t done.”
Hugh, it may not have been the original plan but it ought to be the plan next time. “Hmm, there are people out there with money in the pocket and a vague possibility of purchasing my thing/service/whatever but currently lacking the impetus to do so. If I tell them what they need to know to unload that cash on me and entertain them while I do, perhaps they shall.”

By: Johnnie Moore

Johnnie Moore — Sun, 20 Mar 2005 20:06:36 +0000

Reviewing the naysayers cheered me up no end.
As well as reminding me of my own ability to get into the heady space of second guessing the universe.
What I keep (re)learning for myself is the value of trying stuff out over theorising.

By: hugh macleod

hugh macleod — Sun, 20 Mar 2005 16:23:02 +0000

Oh, Eric, another point:
To be fair on the “naysayers”, the idea of a blogging tailor back then was pretty “out there”, even by blogging standards. Heh.
We didn’t know if it would work or not. One never does, of course.
But when Tom first started telling me about his job in detail, I was invariably telling him 50 times a day, “You should be telling people about this stuff! It’s utterly fascinating, dammit!”
I think he started the blog just to shut me up.

By: hugh macleod

hugh macleod — Sun, 20 Mar 2005 15:59:22 +0000

Eric, that’s very kind of you to say. Thanks =)

By: hugh macleod

hugh macleod — Sun, 20 Mar 2005 14:25:30 +0000

Reece, Dave, Jay: Thanks for the comments. Some interesting points.
The plan was never to turn bloggers into Savile Row customers, or vice versa.
But a blog seemed to us the best way to get the information “out there” in an entertaining and educational way.
Much better than the usual “Providing the finest traditions of Savile Row since 1911″ blether that most of his competitors’ websites have.
I’m seeing two things starting to happen:
1. We’re starting to get e-mails from already-serious buyers who say “I’ve been reading your blog for a while, and would like to buy a suit from you.”
2. We’re getting a lot of e-mails saying, “I’ve always wanted to buy Savile Row, but never knew exactly how to best go about it. Now I do, and would like to make you my first port of call.”
Both are seriously good markets to have a relationship with.

By: hugh macleod

hugh macleod — Sun, 20 Mar 2005 13:35:46 +0000

Robert, I know you were blogging pre-Microsoft. I was thinking more about your non-Microsoft peers’ reaction.
Cynthia: Without me English Cut would never have existed, with or without me plugging it.
That being said, most of the traffic doesn’t come from gapingvoid now… maybe it in the first week or two (late January), but it was really getting mentioned on BoingBoing (February 13th) that REALLY got the word around.

By: Eric E

Eric E — Sun, 20 Mar 2005 10:04:31 +0000

Hugh:
I loved the transition from the cartoon about getting Scoble to link, to the question at the end, to the comment by Scoble. A brilliant demonstration of the mix of humility and hubris that makes your writing/cartooning so worthwhile. But the comments pooh-poohing The English Cut are even better. The negative energy exuded by the naysayers is a lesson for us all to push through when we believe in something.

By: Robert Scoble

Robert Scoble — Sun, 20 Mar 2005 09:04:11 +0000

Actually I was blogging before I got to Microsoft.
So, they sorta knew what they’d be getting before inviting me up.

By: cynthia

cynthia — Sun, 20 Mar 2005 07:35:44 +0000

question: how would english cut have fared if its author did not have a friend who was a very well-known blogger plugging him?

By: beissholz.de - von bissig bis garstig

beissholz.de - von bissig bis garstig — Sat, 19 Mar 2005 18:06:34 +0000

Blogging = Kontakte oder Wer braucht Prospekte, wenn es Blogs gibt?

Hugh MacLeod kannte und mochte ich schon, bevor ich Blogs

By: J.P.

J.P. — Sat, 19 Mar 2005 04:38:22 +0000

If you don’t think people are interested in this online check out http://www.styleforum.net. This is all these guys talk about at were even featured in the NYTimes. (Yes, I am “one of these guys”)

By: Jay Sennett

Jay Sennett — Fri, 18 Mar 2005 23:20:22 +0000

Dave and Reece,
Dave, you are right on when you say that Thomas explains to us how to become a customer. This fact alone is one reason why Thomas’ blog works. He demystifies a heretofore upper-crust process. In doing so, he does two things for me: he earns my trust and understanding. Now I know why he charges what he charges.
Reece, I think a Hughtrain approach to a web provider works. The conversational style is,again, key. Web nerds don’t educate me on how to become a customer (see Dave’s earlier points on this behavior). So I’d probably switch my business to a provider that makes all processes associated with web pages/blogs etc transparent, treats me like an intelligent customer and shows me how easy it is to be one of their customers.

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 18 Mar 2005 22:13:17 +0000

Reece and Jay,
There is a phenomenon I call the “unfamiliar cafeteria factor.” When you walk into a new cafeteria style place, you never know which way to go through the line, where you pay, do you get the food yourself or ask someone to dish it for you, what? I’ve walked out of places because it seemed like too much trouble to figure it all out while right next door was a restaurant I already knew how to work.
There are definitely times when I have money in my pocket but the threshold to get me across to a purchase is enough to keep me out of a store. Not knowing exactly what you are doing and not relishing the possibility feeling like a dunce for trying to shop there (not uncommon in high end stores in the USA) is a threshold big enough to often keep me out of a market.
Suppose I was vaguely interested in a bespoke suit but didn’t feel like having someone look down their nose at my ignorance and thus never bothered walking into a Saville Row shop. Where Thomas has changed the threshold is in two ways — 1) He has educated me enough to know the basics to start the process without feeling like a total dumbass and 2) he has let me know that he personally and his particular business cares enough about me to get me to that point. Thus, me and my money in my pocket is gravitating directly to him for my virgin bespoke suit experience.
I’m a shlub and not in the market for this particular product (today), but I am smarter and more interested because of the English Cut blog. In fact, I might one day enter the market for the product *because of* English Cut. The key here is that this is replicable, and is particularly useful in any business where this threshold exists, highbrow and low. Comic book shops, banjo stores, hothouse flower nurseries, etc. Any place where having the ins and outs explained increases the odds of you entering their store can potentially benefit from explaining to you how to become a customer.