Rapha by George

i think i will read the wet vs dry lube article again...much more useful and even more entertaining that this crap...

Good business for Asda! 

Jesus boys. Storm in an espresso mug. One of these, natch:

Anyway, it's a beauty out there today. Get your on your bike and ride and meet here later to agree that Chris Grayling is a prick.

So... I'm back late to the party...

Rapha as a brand sell expensive cycling clothing. They often limit (deliberately) kit that sells out and have a few items that form a sale (on rare occasions). In fact, the brand has such high advocacy that many items appear on eBay higher than their original selling price... They have gone for a bit of a split range in the last few years making 'core' products slightly more affordable to compete with higher end mass market producers such as Castelli.

They rent or own some pretty decent retail real estate in prominent cities across the UK, organise events, book signings and have 'members' who pay a monthly fee for free coffee to look at and have the first chance to buy their products.

You think an investor has paid a premium price and is going to attempt to look to mass market their products to bring them down to a Walmart/Asda level. Now, call me presumptuous but couldn't they just have purchased Aldi and removed all but the middle 2 aisles? Do you think they're going to rebrand the Rapha clothing to George, lure people in with loss leaders like 9p tins of beans?

And when this happens, because it obviously will, you will delight because you think the 'Merci Wiggo' t-shirt I purchased a couple of years ago will bring less of a smile to my face?

Strange old mindset some people have.

Please note - none of the above assumptions about your feelings are based on facts as you couldn't be arsed to clarify what you mean and I'm not qualified in therapy...

Thought as much. This was like watching Sean Spicer drowning. If you won't stand behind your own posts, just don't even bother.

I have only 1 experience of a Rapha product, a jersey which I printed with my own design before trying it on - I trusted the brand.

When I actually got to wear the jersey I was surprised at how short it was at the back.   I have a collection of jerseys by various manufacturers so I measured them all and the Rapha was shortest by 2cm - on average my jerseys are 4cm longer.   The jersey is a large and is 68cm long, I'm 5'9" but need a large jersey as I have a 40" chest, so length has never been a problem.

In sorrow rather than anger I wrote to Rapha and suggested that they warn customers that their jerseys are shorter than average.   Their reply was to refer me to their size chart and to state that the jersey was within manufacturing tolerance as the length can be between 68 and 74cm.   I was amazed that a premium manufacturer could have such a big manufacturing tolerance.

Lessons learned, always try on first and don't expect too much from a premium brand.

I'm starting to think that this don simon character isn't actually Italian 

It wasn't your "off the cuff" attempt at humour that was taken too seriously, it was your passive aggressive defence of your argument that led everyone to assume you were thick enough to believe such a binary world exists. Do us all, and especially yourself, a favour by letting it go now

Going back to the earlier mantra of 'play the ball not the player' I am genuinely interested in your thoughts so a response to my post would be appreciated.

Don, you are on the level of Freespirit or Superpython. Your deflection skills aren't even up to those of Kellyanne Conway. Are you going to explain why it "smarts"  or are you going to punt it into the stands? I'm going to bed, you have a whole day to come up with something, I am guessing you can't.

I need your thought process explaining as the title suggests you feel that £200 shoes and £130 jerseys may start to be offered via the George brand. In turn you suggest those owning the merchandise will be upset.

The way I see it, a consortium of very rich men/women who have many businesses including one of retails largest have purchased a successful high end company that has succeeded in selling high ticket quality items. I would think that they are likely to keep their high quality high margin brand exactly where it is.

Would love to hear your thoughts to the contrary...

It's amazing to think that someone's so narrow minded as to believe that a person who makes their money selling cheap things to the mass market, would only buy an "exclusive" brand in order to knock the prices down and fling them out at fast as can be made. Bravo, OP. Bravo.