£160 for a pair of jeans!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!and they are made in China FFS!Quite a good profit being made methinks.I know if you don't want them don't buy them but am intrigued as to who pays that sort of money.(and the air miles kind of shoots their green credentials down in flames as well)
Ah, i was wondering where the weekly Howies thread was.
Probably the same sort of person who pays £80 for some [url= http://www.rapha.cc/index.php?page=42 ]mitts[/url]
Ah, i was wondering where the weekly Howies thread was.
I thought we had it the day before yesterday.
I've got a pair, half price. Nicest jeans i have owned.
Waves to the haters.
the same people that pay what you think is too much for a bike, or a car, or a watch, or a loaf of bread
oldfart - Stop being so negative. You people make me sick, always running down British companies.
Yes they are made in China but they are made in a very nice factory. Of course its in a totalitarian country that has recently change the manner in which it carries out executions to one arguably more painful for the victim so that their organs can be harvested and sold to 'developed' countries, but that wouldn't look good written next to a picture of a Welsh beach so is strangely absent from the site.
Still, kudos to them. They seem to have found their niche and they aren't short of an 'ethical' customer or two.
you can spend a lot more than that on jeans if you want too..
Cardis- short arms deep pockets ;o)
Yet still felt the need to comment on my post.
Bless.
BTW, can you point out the inaccuracies in my post?
People with £160 for a pair of jeans and like the cut and fit?
Oh sorry, I forgot, "we" only do our clothes shopping in Aldi on "offer Thursday".
FFS. What a sh*t troll.
It's ridiculous price but you could be paying £400 for a horribly boring "hand-me-down" Howies coat .... mmm now who would!!???
http://hmd.howies.co.uk/jacket.html#womens-detail
I always buy Evisu/Diesel and Replay jeans in the sales. I never pay more than £60 for any of them and as long as they get me laid I dont care. However if I wore Howies I'd look like a middeling-anglo saxon with frustrated aspirations of wanting to live in New Zealand and drive round in a VW T4. Then I will only pull girls who have slightly manly ankles and think wearing body warmers is 'cool'.
odd that, i wouldn't wear evisu, diesel or replay clothes even if you paid me to do so, but i'm happy to wear howies' stuff...
In answer to the original question, probably David Cameron.
I only wear their jeans. I normally wear Reiss shirts/mix of other for tops.
I recently got a Howies catalogue through the door (sent to a former tenant). Having read the utter bullshit marketing blurb, I will now make a conscious effort not to buy Howies stuff. I know most other stuff is probbly made in sweatshops etc, but it's the 'we're so great, aren't we?' guff that really puts me off.
I would much rather have 'look, we won't lie that our stuff isn't made using cheap labour in a country with a dubious Human Rights record, but we will at least won't bullshit you too much, or rip you off too badly'.
S'why I buy Hope!! 🙂
i'm a scruffy weirdo though hora...
It's ridiculous price but you could be paying £400 for a horribly boring "hand-me-down" Howies coat .... mmm now who would!!???
There's no such thing as a "ridiculous price" unless the market won't sustain it. There's evidently a market for these items, just you're not in it. You can't apply a subjective value to something you claim to have an objective value. Doesn't work.
Same argument can be used for bicycles.... and we know how precious the STW crew get about being told by someone that "you could get a car for that".
Hora - if you need a certain pair of jeans to get you laid then your patter must be ****ing rotten. hmmmmmm - what year was it you last got laid?
This morning good enough? She had to tear off my Aussiebum undies mind..
[i]i'm a scruffy weirdo though hora... [/i]
Thats funny. I can wear an Armani suit and still look like a tramp. Whereas a good looking model can wear an asda suit and most girls wouldnt notice the cut of the fabric or the fit...
Me? Contradiction? Life is full of them darling 🙄
I work in the jeans industry. If value is built in a brand (like Evisu using Japanese denim) then the price is justified. However using Japanese denim and producing them in China is bullshit - all the end product produced there is either for the mass market i.e. Tesco or Asda own product or for brands who are stretching their offer and want to introduce a cheaper price point.
However with first hand experience the jeans are normally of inferior quality and want last as long as North African / Italian / Turkish denim mills production
Using the best denim in the world (Japanese) and producing them in China is like putting Caviar on your chips
Oh and as we know this has only happened since Timberland bought Howies
[i]Oh and as we know this has only happened since Timberland bought Howies[/i]
Oh the irony of those Howies corporate w@nker t-shirts 😀
Oldfart I'm with you on this post and so* all the bu**sh** comments from other people harping on!! Sorry but £400 on a coat .. unless it will allow me to live in the Arctic then what a load of cr**.
Bring on the sweat shops, I shop in Primark 😉 and I'm happy!!
8)
I really, really don't care, other people's spending habits are always something of a mystery. My only pair of jeans are Howies. Can't recall how much they were. Bought them 5 years ago, I've had the pockets replaced and patched the knees. They're going pretty well.
🙂
For what it's worth, the assumption that everyone is a hypocrite is a terribly corrosive thing.
£240 Hemp jeans coming soon.
FFS.
I can't understand why some people on here like to have a dig at Howies? I buy some of their gear because i like it and the orice ain't too[i] bad.
I couldn't give a flying for what moral high ground they take.
Got the new catalogue this morning (well actually three of them 'cos they can't clean their db) and I have to say that regardless of what you think of their ethics, you have to admire their balls; the country is sliding into recession, people are loosing their jobs and their houses, credit has evaporated and how do Howies respond? they start selling £75 polo shirts, £400 jackets and £160 jeans... what really amazes me is the kids clothes, £15 for a t-shirt and £45 for a pair of jeans, at the rate kids grow those will only last 6 months tops and I can't remember the last time my son actually managed to wear out an item of clothing before he grew out of it.
Didn't Howies used to be a kind of scruffy, skate/surf brand? Who is their target demographic these days?
Could be worse. You could've paid £10 for a DVD of a bike race from last year to see what you're letting yourself in for.
You wouldn't expect Citizen Kane but you would expect more than a 15 minute film on a disc someone had copied in a dvd writer...
LOL. Are there many of those left?
Oh well, give it 12 months and they'll either have been successful or gone bust.... time will tell.
ha 😀
saw a howies sample sale in bath today
pick up this jacket
http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/clothing/jackets/product/cross-jacket-10228
for [b]£30[/b]
get yourself down there,
they usually do a run of samples sales from cardigan to london
i'd never pay the full price its eye watering 😥
Never pay more than £40 for a pair of jeans ... in fact the last pair I bought cost me £11.
😆
I think Howies are a bit lost with the high growth and take over by Timberland two many forces pulling them in too many different dirctions, ethical, profit, production, fashion/market. etc I also dont like their cloathes anymore they used to make some more technical jackets etc. They appear to be trying to improve but i think it may be out of control. As for prices there to high, especially considering they sell most of their cloathes direct ( cut the number of retailers to one per county this year) and not through retailers hence a lot higher mark up. I wont be buying anymore Howies cloathes but i will recomend these brands
Patagonia- the original and best
Prana- climbing and yoga
Finistere- the new howies
I've picked up three pairs of jeans at the sale in Bath, two pairs of Timbers and a pair of Skomers, plus a Waltons shirt, an esc t-shirt and three pairs of merino kecks. I already had a pair of Skomers, but could never really see me paying out £80 for a pair, but then I wouldn't pay out for a new pair of Levis either, which are probably about the same price. I also have several pairs of Oakley jeans which were around £90 a pair, but I got for half price. Sure Howies look expensive, but so are lots of other quality clothing outfits. While browsing round a jeans shop in Bristol a couple of years ago with a Slovac girl who wanted some decent jeans she was horrified to find that jeans with holes worn through them and then overstitched, with a bit of fancy embroidery on the back pocket were over £180, and none were makes you'd recognise, and the quality was rubbish. Howies stuff is well made, and cheap compared to the so called 'fashion brands' like Red Or Dead. Get over it. I buy Howies because I like the styles, I like the way it's made and lasts, and I particularly like the comfort. The fact Howies are at least making some effort towards responsible and sustainable manufacturing, without being too po-faced, is just a bit of a bonus. Just enough of the whining, ok, it's just getting old now.
.....without being too po-faced.....
Are you serious? This is Howies being discussed you know?
Agree on Patagonia, I'm mental for their shoes. Well them, some Campers and the other ones with a frog symbol. Again I only buy all of these in the sales. Circa 50% of their retail twice a year I make a rare trip into Manchester to shop for circa 3-6 pairs. Then thats me done.
Who would buy Howies?
Patrick Bateman and the vapid wealthy.
Pure commodity fetishism; the schtick is everything and reality a distant memory.
You can tell the profit margins they must be making by visiting one of thier shops. Huge amounts of floor space (potential sales space) wasted by large pointless visual displays consisting of nothing very useful. If they can afford to throw away that much sales area - and the advertising is way out of proportion to the actual stock levels by most standards - thier profit margins must be vast.
I should be a bit wary of the Bath "sample" sale, although there are some bargains if you can find something you like. I took a look round there and found quite a bit that was misprints or seconds and which was not marked as such (some things with rips in etc were lablelled as damaged) so it was easy to think they were genuine samples rather than faulty in some way.
I did buy something and interestingly I was given no receipt for my payment...
Finistere looks interesting, although from the website they definitely don't seem to have the whole lifestyle branding thing sussed yet - which is probably a good thing, depending on your point of view.
I have to admit I've bought a fair bit of stuff in Howies sales over the years, I think it speaks volumes though that everyone who springs up on these discussions to defend Howies seems to be keen to point out what good value for money their clothing is in the sales.... says a lot about their rrp.
The had-me-down stuff is interesting, a lot of the value seems to lie in the ten year guarantee, which assumes of course that Howies will be around in ten years to honour it.
I am sitting her in exclusively howies clothing almost all of it bought in the sale, they send me nice e-mails, when I'e talked to the staff there they've been great. I got a £83 merino top for 22 as they listed i wrong on the website for all of 5 minutes and they still stuck by the price. There are the very expensive options but they have the providence to explain this, the ordinary Jeans whilst being 70-90 are still expensive they better made then any levi, gap or other brands I've owned.
Why get so upset by such a small company its not as if everyone you know outside of cycling is walking around in the stuff. Primark sell £3 t-shirts that get throw away after to washes as its disposable clothing. if you spend £20-25 on a howies one you probably keep it until it falls apart.,. which is some time in my experience.
Using the best denim in the world (Japanese) and producing them in China is like putting Caviar on your chips
Mmmmm. Caviar and chips....
😉
Upset? no. Maybe mildly disappointed that a company who used to produce clothes who's design I liked, prices I could afford and ethics were treated light heartedly, seems to have grown into a company who's designs I'm not so keen on, prices I can't afford and ethics are over played.
summarised perfectly ChrisS. End of discussion.
Last pair of jeans I bought were a pair of Levis off a stall in Cheshire St (nr Brick Lane). £4. Seconds/damaged stock.
Why anyone would want to pay £160 for a pair of ****ing jeans is beyond me.
the ordinary Jeans whilst being 70-90 are still expensive they better made then any levi, gap or other brands I've owned.
You keep telling yerself that. They are probbly made in the same factory, just with different labels sewn in. There is a slight difference in quality, but nowt worth the huge price difference. I bought a really good quality pair in Uni-Qlo for £15, as good as owt from 'couture' labels.
£3 T-shirts, I agree with the point there. But then you get 'label' Ts, that cost £40+, that aren't any better than most stuff for a tenner.
Buying good stuff in a sale/worn once second hand is the way to go. TK Maxx stylee. Let the stupid with more money than sense drive the market, and us Chavs'll have the bargain basement stuff!
From the very little I've seen of Howies and their like, they're trading on the inexplicable wish of a certain section of people to dress like surfers even though they don't surf and have no interest in surfing. Why? I don't understand why you would want to do this? I say this as someone who has surfed for a long time and who rarely if ever buys the so-called surf brands as they're priced well beyond my means. If I do, like someone mentioned above, its in a sale at well below normal selling price.
[i]Then I will only pull girls who have slightly manly ankles and think wearing body warmers is 'cool'. [/i]
Still, it'd be a start, right Hora?
I paid £120 for a pair of Stussy jeans - 4 years on and they're still the best/comfiest jeans I own.
I'd pay it again for that kind of life.
I'm going to start a thread asking who'd pay more than £1500 for a car (not me), more than £75 for a watch (not me), more than £500 for a bike (not me) or more than £6 for a bottle of wine (not me).
Except, I'm not going to start those threads, cos I'm not some sort of whining hater.
*high fives miketually*
Awesome response - end of thread surely (and the regular howies bashing please - there are far more apt targets for this kind of thing)
my last jeans cost £6 from tesco, they'll maybe last 12 months then i'll buy some more, good value i'd say
and it's not the jeans that get you laid it's what you put in them and i seem to be doing alright in the bedroom gymnastics stuff at the moment 😉
Except, I'm not going to start those threads, cos I'm not some sort of whining hater.
Are you suggesting that I am?
Erm, no. Oldfart started the thread, didn't he?
😉
you'd pay £75 for a watch?
you'd pay £75 for a watch?
Well, I never have yet but there's a nice one I like the look of that might be going on my birthday list this year.
£240 for hemp jeans and I Thought my £70 Patagonia hemp ones were dear!
Not sure where the wannabe surfer thing comes in, that's all Fatface and other high street chains. Most of the Howies marketing shows bikers and skaters, they just happen to be near the coast. I know a guy who works, or used to work at Howies, (not sure which), who worked at Mud Dock in Bristol. A lot of their technical jackets are aimed directly at bikers. Rapha are totally aimed at the city-dwelling 'lifestyle' cyclist, all the gear, no idea, buy a hugely expensive bike to show off to his trust-fund mates down the wine bar, yet lots on here seem to think they're the bee's knees. Sorry, don't buy into it. I'll stick with Howies, stuff I can wear down the pub and not look like a ****. Or a poseur. Same difference.
Howies are full of sh1te, the woman who owns or did own them would try and tell people that all there materials are natural and not to damage the planet. She managed to say that from her Aston martin DB9 and jetting all over the world in business class! She was in an article in one of my girlfriends mags a while back about successful business women, boasting about how much money and what type of house she had. Never buy a Howies product thinking your doing a moral duty, all your doing is lining the pockets of a hypocrite! If your willing to pay for their overpriced clobber then do so knowing its the same as all other corporate rubbish. "canoe to work and cycle home" ha ha, if you buy into that then you deserve to pay there idiot prices. Howies=shafted.
You'd have to be a fashion victim to spend £160 on a pair of jeans!
Spent a few lunchtimes this week browsing the Howies sample sale in Bath. Was expecting to get some bargains but TBH I really wasn't that impressed. A lot of the stuff was seconds/damaged (holes, rips, etc..) and the quality of a lot of their stuff seemed poor.
I came away with a merino base layer for £20 but I'm now wishing I'd not bothered as the fit is a bit odd.
I don't really mind that the owners make loads of money - why not! most of us are out to be succesful. However, they certainly won't be getting rich from me.
She managed to say that from her Aston martin DB9 and jetting all over the world in business class! She was in an article in one of my girlfriends mags a while back about successful business women, boasting about how much money and what type of house she had.
Is that article available online? Or, are you making it up/mistaken?
Then I will only pull girls who have slightly manly ankles and think wearing body warmers is 'cool'.
Well considering how hig is your ratio fat/body mass I thought that was already the case...
Mmmmm. Caviar and chips....
Should i bring my doggy bag on the 4th 😉
miketually, no I'm not making it up or mistaken, not sure if it was a DB9 but it was definitely an Aston martin! It was in some woman's mag a while back, not sure which one, I will ask the girlfriend and get back to you. Don't get me wrong, I'm not annoyed she is a successful business woman, Its the cr@p she spouts about being a morally correct company and trying to sell ideals. I suppose you could call it clever marketing or as I think of it, LYING!
dave hieatt was in advertising before setting up howies . Its not ther ideals thats the problem its the fact that they make so much noise about it in a holier than now way
>I'd look like a middeling-anglo saxon with frustrated aspirations of wanting to live in New Zealand and drive round in a VW T4<
you called ?
Hi, i'm sat here typing this wearing howies clothing that i got in sale and therefore got for a fraction of the price, meaning that if they never had sales I wouldnt buy any of it and therefore probably dont have a point.
NzCol- WANTING to and FRUSTRATED. Your there dude 8)
These threads always make me chuckle.
I have 3 pairs of Howies jeans (2 bought at 1/2 price and the other at 20% off before the size disappeared). Simple really.
I really, really like them. They fit nice, feel nice and look (well I think) nice. The Rimmers esp.
Have bought other stuff which was all returned (apart from tees) as thought it was shite.
Have bought Patagonia stuff too. Can't say I really liked it. Mostly got prematurely retired.
All advertising is hype. If you like it great: buy it, if you don't: don't buy it.