August 27, 2005
the 800-pound gorilla
Kind words about English Cut from Shel Israel, courtesy of BL Ochman:
The Best Blogs Have Passion and Authority
After doing more than 100 interviews with bloggers certain trends emerge. “The bloggers that we find to be the most interesting display passion and authority. The great poster child is the English Cut guy. Thomas Mahon started English Cut and we all went to it. At first,” Israel says, “everyone was fascinated about thread counts, how they tailor a suit, whether guy dresses right or left. In a matter of a couple of months, Mahon became the world’s authority.”
People wandered away from the English Cut blog because there is only so much they want to know about how to make a $4000 suit. But, says Israel, it doesn6 Responses to “the 800-pound gorilla”
No, it’s not fair, and long-term I don’t think it’s sustainable.
I disagree, unless you’re hinting that he, perhaps, should work harder at getting his own sales to “cut out the middleman”.
It’s certainly fair though. He wants to make suits, and make a handsome sum doing so. You want to sit in your pajamas, blog, and come up with unique ways of selling stuff. You both do what you want, everyone wins. Being a gymnast or a football player is harder work than being a tailor too, but you can’t think for a second how unfair it is that they have to put in more effort than their managers.
I am certainly not hinting that, Peter. I’m happy as a bug in a rug, selling his work… with him sewing like a maniac.
But Jeeze Louise, the amount of new business that has come in during the last few weeks has just been silly… I guess there’s worse problems to have.
“The big initial rush of traffic that came English Cut’s way wasn’t people wanting to buy suits, but people who found the business model fascinating, and wanted to see how it could apply to what they’re doing.”
The first half of that rings true: I suspect many visited English Cut purely out of cat-walking-on-hind-legs fascination at the idea of a blogging tailor, with the juxtaposition of old-world skills and new-world technology that implies.
But the idea that all of the early visitors were fellow marketers looking for ideas seems a little too egotistical to me. I know I visited fairly early and had no interest in the business model; my initial interest was sheer novelty, and I remain subscribed because the content is interesting and well-written.
Would English Cut have succeeded if the writing (which is Tom, right? comments about “him running around like crazy while I blog away in my pyjamas” make me wonder about ghostwriting) were pedestrian and plodding?
James, of course, the fact that it’s well-written is key. Had it been pedestrian and plodding, I doubt it would’ve have gotten so much attention.
But nobody who knows Thomas would accuse him of being pedestrian and plodding, so it was never really an issue.
I’m not sure if I agree with you 100% on your second point. I think the business model generated a lot of initial interest among the non-suit buyers. It’s certainly that which got the attention of the mainstream media. You may not include yourself on that list, but that’s OK.
NPR and BBC4? Congratulations. That neither of them do commercials is especially sweet. enjoy the ride hugh!
Hugh: Why not put your prices up a $K or two?