[Closed] Brands who used to be good?......

Been about 15 years since Karrimore were any good, absolutely nowt to do with Sports Direct.

Muddy Fox
Intense (I'm sure they didn't all snap)

Saracen have done the yo-yo thing. They're now making great again. There was a time though.......

Findus? Not sure they were ever good, but there value has certainly managed to decline of late!

Raleigh

I've got a Karrimore fleece - about 4 years old. Nothing wrong with it at all!

Muddy Fox?

Karrimor Bike stuff, of old, used to be brilliant. Sad to see the Mike Ashley shell that the brand is now

Muddy fox is a good call...

perhaps if it wasnt for mr ashley there would no longer be a brand.. reads like the issues /blame lay elsewhere with sports direct/ lonsdale buying a name only after recivership in the hands of a.n. other.

Karrimor is a brand of outdoor and sports equipment and clothing. It was founded in 1946 by Charles and Mary Parsons with Grace Davies who hand-sewed cotton-duck cycle pannier bags from the upstairs of their Lancashire cycle shop.
Karrimor went on to build an international reputation for outdoor clothing, rucksacks and footwear.
The Clayton-le-Moors, Lancashire based company was bought in 1999 by South African leisure group Cullinan Holdings which immediately cut manufacturing with the loss of 80 jobs. It had previously been acquired by 21 Invest, part of the Italian Benetton empire, in 1996 for £7 million
The brand went into receivership in 2004. Within 24 hours it was bought out by Lonsdale Sports,[1] who broke up the company, selling the outlets and retaining only the rights to the name, which was licensed to such events as the Karrimor International Mountain Marathon.
Sports Direct, Lonsdale's parent company, now sell Karrimor branded products across all their UK stores.

Karrimor.. had a condor rucksac and was ace and a hot earth, but dropped them years ago sad really , don't rate rohan much these days either lot of branded footwear although the timberland shoes I have are still pretty good, berghaus stuff is a bit meh although I buy their fleeced from time to time.

Slazenger
Dunlop (sport)

Karrimore's demise has nothing to do with SD.

Lifetime Warranty (except we go bankrupt once a week)
It's been a shell and a badge for a decade at least.

Audi

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😆

Rapha.

CRC by recent accounts on here 😮

Berghaus.

Karrimore's demise has nothing to do with SD.

The demise of the business doesn't but the demise of the brand does. The point of a brand is promise of quality - this item is of the quality you expect from this brand.

If they buy the brand then apply it to goods that don't live up the the expectation then they have everything to do with that [i]brands[/i] demise.

Oh I wondered into a Sports Direct recently and saw a pair of Karrimore boots that looked OK so bought them. Will I die?

perhaps if it wasnt for mr ashley there would no longer be a brand

I'd rather that, than good names being bought in fire sales and slapped onto tat, not that it really matters.

I bought a Karrimor 15l running daysack thing for SD a couple of months ago, mainly because it was very cheap, but I am more and more impressed by it.

Ok, it might need a bit of modification to be spot on what I need, but it's a light, comfortable, useful running bag and well worth the 15 quid I paid for it.

I'll admit that this is a sample size of one, and that a lot of their other stuff is tat, but a minority/some of their stuff is pretty amazing for the price.

Its Karrimor there is no e.

Oh I wondered into a Sports Direct recently and saw a pair of Karrimore boots that looked OK so bought them. Will I die

they're made of horse leather

The last karrimore pack I bought was in about 04 a year in zipps knackeded I took it back. The shop still advertising a lifetime warranty said sorry we went bust in between not valid. I believe they repeated that for the years since. If they were any good they would be profitable.

Oh I wondered into a Sports Direct recently and saw a pair of Karrimore boots that looked OK so bought them. Will I die

Have you worn them yet? I'm surprised you're not pushing up the daisies already.

There's nowt up with Karrimor Boots, other than being sold alongside football shirts, on some frightful retail park, that probably has a Macdonalds and a KFC on it. So therefore they can't be accessorised with the Audi.

And the 'Brand' perception means you can't pull off the impression that you're about to climb K2, when in reality you'll be walking between the car park and the tearoom in Keswick 😉

The North Face

There's nowt up with Karrimor Boots, other than being sold alongside football shirts, on some frightful retail park, that probably has a Macdonalds and a KFC on it. So therefore they [s]can't[/s] [b]probably will be[/b] accessorised with the Audi.

FTFY.

Good call on Berghaus, it was the choice attire of smack-heeds when I was at college.

Another one is Burberry

In terms of brand cachet, not the same as quality of product, but:

Burberry

EDIT: Beaten to it while typing..

North Face all got a bit high street for a while but back on track now.

Sony

They used to be the high end electronic brands now I wouldn't touch them for anything but gaming now. Samsung for Apple now in most cases...

I would have to disagree with Burberry - it was really only in the UK it because the chav brand, in the rest of the world it was still exclusive. And now I think it has regained it position in the UK as quality highend - its just the middle class still remember the good old chavvy days!

joolsburger - Member

North Face all got a bit high street for a while but back on track now.

USSR.
Gone right down the pan since Gorbachev.
Awaiting another Sports Direct acquisition sometime soon.

BMW. They used to make some quite interesting cars, that were good to drive but now they make dull eco wagons with horrible four pot engines. They also used to be quite good looking too (the E46 and E39 are still some of the best proportioned cars that they ever made).

Marzocchi used to be good and affordable now the only good forks they make are eye wateringly expensive.

Oakley have a bit of a dodgy image these days, although the product is still pretty good.

Nokia

IMO Muddy Fox were never a 'great' brand, but they were one of the first to get in there and produce mountain bikes.

Karrimor and TNF both became a bit high street. This diluted the brands outdoor heritage as percieved by us. This is the point, percieved! In moving to be more available in the high street (or SD) they likely sold more and made more money but in doing that lost some credibility with the people who use the kit on mountains.

Berghaus sort of started to go the same way but less so I think.

Do people think that other big credible brands will go the same way with stores like Go Outdoors? Prana? Rab?

TImberland.
Used to offer a lifetime warranty on shoes and boots. Advertising phrase was something like 'someday you might need to replace the laces'

Nokia is a quite a remarkable example they went from being the biggest selling mobile manufacturer in the world to not even being the best seller in Finland..... in just one year. Just by missing the boat on flippy/foldy phones a few years back.

second page and still not one of you has had the decency to say it....

Brands THAT used to be good.....

Helly Hansen

Sony

NHS

My local pub!

No fear.

When I was at school in the 90s they were really exclusive and only the rich kids wore No Fear. I remember the slogans seemed really inspirational, to a teenage lad anyway.

Nowadays they are the epitome of chavtastic.

I used to like Firetrap stuff but since they were bought by the Ashley empire the quality had gone downhill.
I also now avoid USC as this starts to look more like Sports Direct everytime I pass it. I do wonder how long the likes of Diesel will continue to supply USC now Ashley owns them?

North Face

North Face all got a bit high street for a while but back on track now.

Same with Berghaus as well. They went very dog walker/chavvy at one point producing baggy not well thought out kit. That is still there in some forms sadly, but the top end Xtrem kit is absolutely bloomin brilliant! Am very much toying with buying a Kanchenjunga to replace my current mountain jacket, and have tried on a Velum and the fit was just as good if not better than the 'big' names (Rab, ME, Haglofs, etc).

Some might see it as cynical marketing, but the sponsorship of Leo Houlding etc does seem to have bought some focus to them. Leading the way on things like waterproof(ish) down jackets and other technologies as well. Sorted!

Onza
Salmon Racing
Kodak
No Fear
Mistral/ F2/ Sailboard
Rucanoor

Belstaff

welsh rfu

Evisu

Same with Berghaus as well

I'm going to disagree with that. Have been wearing mens Berghaus long sleeved zipped technical tops and am really pleased with them. An alternative to merino so you don't end up feeling damp.

If you look around there's some to be had at reasonable prices. 🙂

No mention of Specialized. Maybe because theyve always had good ride mixed with DESIGN FLAWS

Apple
Used to be a brand of free thinking arty creative types wanting to be an individual - now just mass marketing and bland 😉

Kodak is a good one, now just a patent file
AOL - anyone know what they do anymore (not saying they were good though)
MBR - used to have bits worth reading

Dirt mag. Thinned down like Berlusconi's hair piece.

I think Timberland boots are fairly poor compared to 20 years ago , the first pair I bought were so good when the soles eventually went I sent them off to get re-soled . These days they aren't much better than Caterpillars.
Also Fila and Tachinni were the ultimate in Soccer trendy coolness , Now they copy old designs but still fail miserably.
Also see Stone Island , though I always thought mediocre quality and very overpriced.

In the bike world see :

Kona , Always fairly cool but now very poorly specc'd.
Spesh again compared to the new breed of German bikes fairly poor value for money.

Howies

Animal

North Face all got a bit high street for a while but back on track now.

You sure, still seems like high street tat to me. Very few decent outdoor brands left, only Rab and Haglofs spring to mind.

Howies +1

Used to buy loads of their stuff but not seen anything half decent for years. Their T-shirts used to be great in the early years.

Very few decent outdoor brands left

mountain equipment, arcteryx, mountain hardware, patagonia, mammut

there's loads

I am sure Black and Decker were half decent once upon a time. Their power tools seem crap these days.

TNF have such a huge range that they comfortably cover both high street fashion-ware and decent technical clothing, with lots in-between. Much of their technical stuff is just as good as any other outdoor brand. Much of the negativity towards TNF is some form of snobbery because there isn't any exclusivity left in the logo.

Marin. No market presence.
Kona. Seem to have lost their way.
Karrimor. Same as everyone else's perception really.
Black & Decker. As above.
Howies. Just no longer interesting in terms of products and the t-shirts simply don't feel as nice.

Syncros

Used to be ace. Especially the seatposts.

What angeldust said.

Again, like Berghaus, TNF top-end kit is properly good. They've come out with some UK specific jackets (Point Five and another one I can't think of) recently which have had great reviews. Funny thing is that if you head over to Sweden, you see people wearing Haglofs kit like you do TNF over here so you can't really judge a brand by who wears it!

Mammut?

I still use a softshell of theirs on the bike that I bought in 2000.

Howies - over-priced, falls apart, cut for people that don't do any sport. Old pair of trousers cost half as much and outlasted the most recent which have massively improved my sewing skills. What happened to the 'rocking chair test'?

Howies - over-priced, falls apart, cut for people that don't do any sport.

I sent a jacket back as the waist was wider than the chest - god knows what model they used for the design, but whoever it was needed to cut down on the pies....

Juniper
Checkpoint
Cisco
IBM (although really, I'm struggling to remember the last decent thing they made. They must have been good at some point)

And non-IT related.

I think budweiser must have made some tasty beer at some point, it's horrible now.
Little Chef

British Airways
Ralf Lauren
Alfa Romeo
Olympus
Nomura
Barings Bank
Triumph
W H Smiths
Xerox
Preston NE
Moseley/Richmond Rugby Clubs
Élan skiis (Stenmark era)
IBM
Grandstand, Newsnight, Question Time, QoS, BBC Sport
The (Manchester) Guardian
CND
The Liberals (and the Lib Dems)
Minced beef
Sainsbury
NUM
Body Shop

athgray - Member

I am sure Black and Decker were half decent once upon a time. Their power tools seem crap these days.

We've got an ancient B&D hammer drill which I think Noah used on the ark, it'll be going long after all the orange plastic crap they sell now is in landfill.

2nd that howies t shirts and trousers falling apart

rab sizing since they sold out and started aiming there products at go outdoors

Triumph is a little unfair - they are making far better bikes that they used to! Car wise , I guess they don't exist
I can only agree with Belstaff - great functional barnd , now a fashion brand. Same goes for Lewis Leathers.
MG - now just producing rubbish cars (some would say, they always did)
Benelli - a bye word for unreliability
Lonsdale - esp with it's far right association
Arsenal FC
I fail to see how "minced beef" was every a brand !! Certainly Fray Bentos isn't what it used to be
Shipphams
McVities
Oxo
Trebor
Squirrel Horn
Stella
Tag Heuer - chav watches are go!
BMW 3 series. Does anyone actually not own one?
The BBC

Don't laugh

Marks and Spencer - used to be reliable good quality but now mostly cheap tat

The amount of times we've gone into M&S and walked out with nothing. My wife simply can't get her head round the fact that they're shit now until she gets inside and then realises they only do purple jumpers in size 24 and red jumpers in size 6.

The worst suit I own is an M&S suit. After wearing it about ten times, it looks like a sack. My £60 Tesco suit is better quality.

Diamond Back
Mongoose
GT

All three used to make some of the most desirable BMX bikes BITD. Nowadays? No thanks.

How to kill a 'cool' brand overnight? Sell out to a big corporation.

Edit.

Add:

Haro
Redline
DC shoes
Etnies
Vans

Smythsons.

Used to be a nice shop selling, now just chasing the market for handbags and lost a lot of style

Howies?

I sent a jacket back as the waist was wider than the chest - god knows what model they used for the design, but whoever it was needed to cut down on the pies....

That's me, that is! 😀

I've got loads of Howies stuff that's lasted for years. They used to justify their prices as stuff was UK made. The new gear seems to carry the same hefty price tag, but all seems to be made in China. Taking the **** somewhat. Mind you, I suppose that's just following every other clothing manufacturers buisiness model

Everyone loves a Howies bash, I still think their jeans are spot on.

Pretty sure I judge most things on merit individually rather than brand in general, but I could be wrong.

Everyone loves a Howies bash

No, I've never 'gotten' why its so pricey. Its a given that a menswear product should be of a certain quality.

The brilliant knack of the founders was to add a subtle-lifestyle spin to essential a 90's BOSS/ARMANI-branded product for the 00's but on a more subtle/tactile level.

All the power to them. Marketing is about a new message- they got it spot on with a market/audience who didn't want the brashness of 90's 'brand'.

Fair number of STW brands that used to be good feature in this list. IBM number 2 even.

Just because a brand is not seen as cool by a pretty small segment (perhaps even one the brand is not positioned for) does not make it bad. eg. Triumph was the fastest growing motorbike brand in europe last year apparently and is market leader in the UK (20% for bikes over 500cc).

Haro
Redline
DC shoes
Etnies
Vans

I would love an explanation why these are failed brands.

For me, raleigh is a good example of a brand that once had enormous credibility, but has now pretty much lost all of it.

British Airways
Ralf Lauren
Alfa Romeo
Olympus
Nomura
Barings Bank
Triumph
W H Smiths
Xerox
Preston NE
Moseley/Richmond Rugby Clubs
Élan skiis (Stenmark era)
IBM
Grandstand, Newsnight, Question Time, QoS, BBC Sport
The (Manchester) Guardian
CND
The Liberals (and the Lib Dems)
Minced beef
Sainsbury
NUM
Body Shop

Lord Nelson
Lord Beaverbrook
Sir Winston Churchill
Sir Anthony Eden
Clement Attlee
Henry Cooper
Lady Diana
Maggie Thatcher, can you hear me?
Maggie Thatcher your boys took a hell of a beating! Your boys took a hell of a beating!

MrMofo...no one actually owns a 3 series any more, they're all lease cars!

I don't mind some of the Howies stuff, although I'm tight so only ever buy it when its in the sale or I have an offer code! DC and Etnies still make some good stuff and sponsor loads of people.

Azonic used to be pretty cool in the bike world but seem to have all but vanished or make tosh.

Roadrunner Records used to be pretty cool if you liked heavy music but started signing absolute garbage like Nickelback.