[Closed] Sad news - Vulpine

Made nice stuff at sensible prices.

At least they tried.

Ahhh, yip.
Sad news that.
Hope they find a buyer, potentially a good business.

great shame - good product and a good ethos.

🙁 Seems to be the way of all my favourite companies recently...

Sombrio
Middleburn
Embers...

damn, I really like the merino padded boxers I got from there. And the bibshorts. That said I got both heavily discounted in their sale which probably speaks volumes.

I think they needed to diversify away from the hipster lifestyle cycle wear which I can't see there being much demand for in this country given the weather and cycle infrastructure.

Didn't they very recently commission a couple of bespoke bikes from August frameworks which is some clever, ahem, balance sheet management from the owners assuming they could see the demise of the business coming.

They were also selling loads of stuff on Sports Pursuit too

Interesting particularly after all that crowdfunding.
I have bought some Vulpine - right from the very beginning - that stuff was good, I didn't think much of the size of any of the other items I'd bought it was all very oddly shaped, and TBH it mostly didn't work very well.
Before I get roasted - I'd spent probably £500 on Vulpine stuff, but nothing for the last 2 years as it just didn't really do anything for me, and I rarely wear what I had bought because of the function and cut issues.

That's a shame, always liked their design although they didn't really suit the cycling I do.

London prices.

I had an email from them with some 'off bike' T-shirts in just yesterday.

Some looked ok.

They're £50. each.

So I passed funnily enough.

Always a shame when a company closes its doors. Personally, I never really got them, they lacked a USP but maybe I wasn't their target market.

Sad news especially as I have a jacket I need to return because of a faulty zip 🙁

letmetalktomark - Member
Sad news especially as I have a jacket I need to return because of a faulty zip

Support your local seamstress

£160 for a pair of jeans. U wot now?

Definitely a Gen X company. Not for us Boomers.

Really shocking to hear, their jeans are awesome and fit great (you need to wait for the sales to afford 'em however). They clearly worked their arses off to make it work so deserve a break. From reading other stuff hopefully it's a necessary move to keep afloat.

Nice people too. We have had them at Bespoked many times.

That's a shame. Got a merino cycling top of theirs that I really like.

Stuff was generally wa-ay out of my price range, though, without quite having the wow-look-at-me-I'm-minted cachet of the likes of Rapha to back it up.

Just need to wait for their fire sale stock to appear on SportPursuit.

one more company bites the dust, more to closely follow as is capitalism, possibly sports direct might buy the brand name and start selling their stuff at affordable prices

the more you look at the investment and turnover figures, the more it starts looking like

[img] [/img]

Shame to see them go. Bought a few items from them, jacket, shorts, couple of cycling tops. The last few items shorts and jersey not same build quality and the previous items.

I wish them luck. It isn't easy to run a business. I really hope they keep going because I sent a pair of shorts back the other day and havent had a refund yet.

Shame to see it happen. Got a merino top of theirs in the sale at Christmas for £30 and its lovely. Wouldn't have paid the £110 retail price though 😯
Hope the make it.

Chuff me just looked at their prices.

Very few places in the country you could wear stuff like that and not look a right d!ck

So cycling gear for rich London Hipsters

Rest of us commute etc in Aldi / Lidl gear

Maybe that trouser co from Hebden Bridge could taken them over 😆

Very few places in the country you could wear stuff like that and not look a right d!ck

I have a few of their pieces, and I was wearing the wind proof jersey with matching arm warmers today. Lovely kit.

Never paid full price though.

Well worth reading:

http://fantasyequitycrowdfunding.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/vulpine

I've sat in a room with Buffet and listened to his advice on investing. I don't think he'd recommend cried funded equity - even if he did miss a couple of gems.

For once I agree with ninfan.

Still nice kit the bits I've got (from the less hipster end of the range)

I felt bad saying in their questionnaire that having Hoy branded clothes didn't make me more likely to buy them and they dropped the whole range.....

Shame to see them go, the Portixol and Beacon waterproof jackets ive got are excellent.

If accurate, that crowdfunding blog post is quite damning. How a business can miss sales targets, turn a predicted profit into a loss and give itself an increased market value is beyond me.

Although social media companies seem to do the same thing quite well

When they started I loved their kit. It was affordable and good quality then they took investment and it went bonkers IMO. Overpriced and boring. Seems they wanted to expand too quickly too soon and lost the way. Always sad when a business goes especially as Nick was so passionate.

liked Nick when i met him, nice chap, enjoyed the CityCross 1 Vulpine corner throwing lettuce at the racers with him dressed as a fox...

How a business can miss sales targets, turn a predicted profit into a loss and give itself an increased market value is beyond me.

In a general sense, that's fairly simple.

Possibly.....borrowed a lot of money to purchase assets/buildings/equipment/stock etc.to fulfil one or more large contracts.

Possible not the case with Vulpine, but the scenario isn't unheard of, for genuine reasons.

looks like the Hoy Vulpine / Evans thing cooling off may have caused some of the pain...

IIRC nealglover that's what happened to GT Bikes - a basic cash flow crisis where they had millions tied up in new (I drive) stock and nothing left to pay the bills.

I thought the Hoy line with Evans was misguided and over ambitious - and I tried a pair of their bib shorts when quickly reduced to half price and they were basically transparent which you'd think might have been spotted at an early stage.

I thought the Hoy line with Evans was misguided and over ambitious - and I tried a pair of their bib shorts when quickly reduced to half price and they were basically transparent

I have those bib shorts, and they are brilliant. Transparent? Nope. Did you try a pair two sizes too small or something?

I have the Hoy trail shorts as well, and use them 80% of the year. No nonsense and well made.

Sad to see the brand fall into the cashflow trap… depressing to see the normal negativity on this forum.

Kelvin, usual charming people and their negative views. I tend to ignore them now. Not worth the time of even replying to them.

FWIW, I'll miss Vulpine. Cut fitted me as a leaner chap, and the pieces I have get worn to work daily. My jacket of choice is their softshell which I've had three years now and purchased after testing it for the mag. I've had great service when I needed to return items, even having them fully refund me for a pair of trousers that were lost on return from them after repair (I'd crashed them and put a hole in them) . The repair was done for free, then posties lost it 🙁

I do hope Nick manages to sort something out for himself, family, and staff over the coming weeks.

I thought the Hoy line with Evans was misguided and over ambitious

Seems to be the way of all my favourite companies recently...

Sombrio
Middleburn
Embers...

Middleburn still going....

 

Ecans can make more profit selling their own brand gear, just copy everyone else's designs. Seems to be the way most of the big shops are going.

Prices are too high imo and too much aimed at city riders. The Hoy take was a nice idea but was overpriced and then they had to have multiple sales to try and shift it.

I bought Mrs W a Hoy jersey the other week: [i]really[/i] nice for £50 at 50% off. STiff competition in her wardrobe, but still I think it's going into her 'favourites' drawer next to rapha and above twin six/morvelo, but we're struggling to see who would have been happy to pay twice the price for it.

That is a shame. 🙁

Ecans can make more profit selling their own brand gear, just copy everyone else's designs.

@julian re full price that was my view exactly. I looked at their website in the last and thought it was all quite pricey. POC I like and I thought was better value for example

It isn't full of negativity it is people's views and experiences. Not one person on here is happy to see what has happened whether you liked Vulpine kit or not. Like any company some people like their stuff others it doesn't fit etc.

I must have dreamt up the negative comments then, or my filters aren't as good as yours.

Did you try a pair two sizes too small or something?

Yes, clearly my fault that their shorts were defective 🙄 if they were 2 sizes too small I wouldn't have been able to get into them would I. Anazingly people can have different experiences and opinions. I own Vulpine stuff I like (Merino tops) and have bought them for other people but the bibs they sent me were sh1t and went back. And I think the Hoy tie up, sold via a national chain was a step too far. And trying to grow too quickly is one cause of cash flow problems- only weeks ago they published a magazine about their history and plans for the next 5 years, they had his n hers custom bikes at Bespoked, at the same time they were "offering the opportunity" of a second crowd funding drive to try and raise cash. No one is wishing them ill or saying they deserve it, just speculating on the underlying problems.

Shame. I've got a softshell of theirs I quite like. Fit's not great though, I put that down to being designed for 'urban' riding, not racey road bike geometry, and for the £180 or whatever it was supposed to cost I'd have Gore, Castelli or Assos all day long. For the £25 I paid for it in their sample sale though it's awesome.

Conversely the arm warmers I bought likewise for £5 are totally shit. They wouldn't fit anyone. Too big on my arms and too short for my 4-month old son virtually!

Will really miss vulpine. I hate roadie style so they were perfect for me.

However, they did have a quality problem ALL my garments have worn very quickly, rips, broken zips and buttons etc..

So, apart from the quality issues and the high prices they were really good?

Summary then
1) everyone is upset that a British bike related business has had to do this. Real people, real jobs, real stress for all immediately involved.
2) Overpriced hipster gear (unless in a ridiculously low price sale), with quality issues.
3) Endura are hard to beat !

Endura are crap IMO.

No complaints about the quality of Vulpine here, just the fit being different!

I ordered a Harrington jacket from them on Thursday. If it doesn't fit anyone know what my rights are/chances if getting money back?

Slim to none.

There's hardly any negativity in this thread, or crowing over their demise. The comments seem to be about

1. Sadness that they've gone under
2. Honest comments on the quality of the products, which comes across as mixed at best.
3. A bit of speculation over their finances, especially around the self pulled crowdfunding round.

What have I missed?

Endura are crap IMO

Yet IME their kit's good - WP shorts, a great Flipjak gilet, some gloves, socks etc. No issues with any of it. I know some have had problems with other items but it's not like I don't use the kit I have pretty heavily. I have wear through 2 sets of Vulpine baggy/touring shorts in ~3 months each though. Didn't mention that at the time but I guess makes no odds now. In contrast my other touring shorts that cost half as much have done 2 years and many 1000s of miles w/o sign of wear and my Endura lightweight WP shorts are going strong after maybe >1000 miles of wet often off-road miles and living scrunched-up in a bag between uses.

Point is that the quality of one or two items can make a strong impression of a brand even if it's not fully representational? Knowing how hard it is to get products done consistently by 3rd party manufacturers I'd give them some leeway and judge on how they handle the issues, at least first time.

Endura used to make our team kit, which is quite possibly different to stuff they sell, but it was badly made, ill fitting, and didn't last. Probably had 20 different pieces. I'd never buy their 'normal' stuff on the strength of that.

I quite liked the Baa-Baa socks, but they fell apart in 6 months. Gloves didn't last either, thumb seams went.

I could be wrong but I think the custom kit is/was done by a different supplier to order, different to the retail kit. Doesn't answer the other issues you had tho : )

Going way off topic here, but I've had two pairs of Endura neoprene overshoes (one purchased, one replaced under warranty) and the Velcro closure tabs at the top of the zip ripped off both in short order, making them useless.

I also had a pair of their lobster claw gloves and the liners separated from the outers, making them a right pain to get on and off when soaked through (which was often, because they really weren't very water resistant).

So, I don't buy Endura anymore.

Vulpine? Meh. I think it's interesting how much less ire they receive from STWers on the whole compared to Rapha, when their prices are similar and they've always followed in Rapha's footsteps style-wise.

£70 for a long sleeve white shirt with the word 'tech' in the title! No wonder they went bust - no real market for that type of commuting clothing.

I must of been under a stone for quite a while as I'd never heard of the brand before seeing it went under - probably another clue why they did go under.

Endura used to make our team kit, which is quite possibly different to stuff they sell, but it was badly made, ill fitting, and didn't last.

I've had a lot of Endura kit over the years. UK company, sensible design, good value. Mostly the quality has been really good and it's lasted well. A few duff pieces (some gloves, an early pair of Singletrack shorts where the stiching wore out quickly, some harsh stitching on some bib shorts that rubbed). Quality of all the recent stuff has been excellent and their Equipe road range is superb (bibshorts, shirt and gloves). They do a lot of different fits so can't really generalise on that - the Equipe is proper racing snake whereas some of the mtb stuff is made for fat biffers.

The Vulpine stuff I've got is good quality (a couple of jackets, insulated gilets) and a good fit. Picked up in 'sample' sale at really good prices. Full price on everything looked well over the top this year. The Epic Cotton Harringtons are a nice cotton jacket that dry quickly but they're not a proper waterproof. £150 full price might be justifiable but £250 was ludicrous.

I think it's interesting how much less ire they receive from STWers on the whole compared to Rapha, when their prices are similar and they've always followed in Rapha's footsteps style-wise.

I'm not sure they were on that many peoples radar, especially compared to Rapha

Endura used to make our team kit, which is quite possibly different to stuff they sell, but it was badly made, ill fitting, and didn't last.

Snap. It also never turned up on time and one order I sent back because 12 out of 30 items had been made incorrectly.

Snap. It also never turned up on time and one order I sent back because 12 out of 30 items had been made incorrectly.

This is mu experience of a lot of the makers of club kit, an utter shambles a lot of them are.

Going back to Vulpine, they weren't really like Rapha as they sold hardly any 'proper' cycling kit, it was mostly poncy commuter clothing at daft prices.

interesting goings on on the [url= http://road.cc/content/news/222147-cycle-clothing-brand-vulpine-insolvent-and-enters-administration?sort_bef_combine=created%20ASC&sort_order=ASC&sort_by=created&page=1&qt-more_news=0 ]RoadCC Forum[/url] - looks like they paid themselves and one of the directors a rather large amount of money just before going into administration .....

Its getting ugly over there !

the website is still live, very odd

Fashion brand for London mugs. They're not daft though, judging by comments above about feathering nests.

Well, it seems that folks and their money can still be easily parted:

http://www.bikebiz.com/news/read/tribe-hits-1m-fundraising-target-in-four-days/021266

£5.5m valuation based on:

25,000 'active' members (proportion of them who have bought special offer introductory packs worth £8.95 for £1 unknown)
10,000 people attending 'tribe' events (given a free bar in an event goodie bag?)
£600k 'annualised revenue run rate'

[img] [/img]

http://www.bikebiz.com/news/read/what-the-hell-happened-at-vulpine/021275

smoke and mirrors.

Carlton Reid doesn't pull his punches here...
> http://www.bikebiz.com/news/read/what-the-hell-happened-at-vulpine/021275

Seems like the boss was taking the proverbial.

Oof!

Might need to change the title.....

It is still sad for those who ponied up to fund it all.

There's a pretty interesting thread over on LFGSS about it - basically he sounds like a total con man...I've got a couple of their polo style shirts and they're ok, nothing special. Certainly not £80 special

Chuff me just looked at their prices.

Very few places in the country you could wear stuff like that and not look a right d!ck

So cycling gear for rich London Hipsters

Rest of us commute etc in Aldi / Lidl gear

Amazing lack of self awareness right there.

GregMay - Member

I do hope Nick manages to sort something out for himself, family, and staff over the coming weeks.

Good news, looks like he sorted himself and his family at least.... it was just in the previous weeks that's all.

Mango Bikes have bought the company. Will honour existing orders etc.

Mango Bikes have bought the company. Will honour existing orders et

Wow! Cheap mass produced gas pipe fixies?
Hardly the look Nick was going for. 😯

Hardly the look Nick was going for.

While I think the whole thing sounds badly managed, I should point out to clarify the article from Bikebiz that if you raise lots of money then you're pretty much guaranteed to rack up losses as if you raise 500k, and spend 500k, that's a 500k loss. It doesn't matter where the money came from - if it's not earned and you spend it you lost it. It's a problem for funded companies to get credit etc. you need to be making real money fairly quick, or expect to go back to the trough as cash flow is the killer.