Cycle clothing brand Vulpine is "insolvent" and enters administration

Tony Farrelly wrote:

@Fixie Girl

Hi there, 

In case you’re wondering where some of your comments on this story have gone - we’ve deleted them to save you from the real risk of being sued for slander. 

Not sure how it works over there in Portland but over here if you call someone a crook you generally need to be able to back the assertion up with something more than your “Spidey Sense”. 

As for the rumours circulating in Portland - we’ve asked around and they would appear to have no basis in fact.

At least one member of the road.cc team invested money in Vulpine, we’ve been reviewing their kit since they launched, and from time to time they’ve advertised on the site - generally we like their stuff. 

Our hope is that the company will emerge from administration in some form, ideally with all or most of its workforce intact. 

Don’t know how likely that is to happen, but I do know that personal abuse and unfounded rumours from someone who seems to be neither a Vulpine customer, investor or employee is unlikely to do much to help that positive outcome become a reality - the personal abuse bit also breaks our site T&Cs.

Tony,
road.cc editor

Tony - I think you will find that my comments are 100% founded and in no way abusive.  If what we've seen here in the US, via official channels in 2016 and today, were made public...

Perhaps Nick would like to defend himself, perhaps respond on Twitter?  

I feel for the investors and the employees, I really do. It could so easily have been me and I am sure it has effected many of your readers...

Perthaps you should do some digging yourself as this will stand as a cautionary tale for both the cycling industry and unregulated crowdfunding in general.

FG

Tony Farrelly wrote:

If your comments are "100% founded"  back them up with some proof.

Until then…

I would but I am under NDA until the 15th. 

We've been going through all their accts today with a view to purchasing the business. 

Its been audited down to the furniture, the fridge, tents, clothing rails a couple of broken bikes and a turbo trainer. 

If your guy was an investor/shareholder in the US he can ask for these docs.  Is it the same in the UK?

Until Monday...

Tony Farrelly wrote:

I've made a note to get some popcorn in…

It's a horror. Nightmare on Filament Walk part 1..

rusholme ruffian wrote:

fixie girl, Did you come across Mr and Mrs Hussey's newly acquired bespoke bikes during the audit? The blog about them on the Vulpine website (now removed) insinuated that the company had purchased them. I've still got my eye on Nick's - at a fire sale price.

They dont appear in the fixed assets..  That only lists 2 display bikes at a cost of £5K that arent rideable?!

The accts have a lot of undocumented misc costs that could easily cover the cost of the other bikes.

Fixie Girl wrote:

I would but I am under NDA until the 15th. 

We've been going through all their accts today with a view to purchasing the business. 

 

i have some difficulty in believing that someone seriously considering buying the business would, at this moment in time, be spending time trash-talking the former management on a BB.

rjfrussell wrote:

Fixie Girl wrote:

I would but I am under NDA until the 15th. 

We've been going through all their accts today with a view to purchasing the business. 

 

 

i have some difficulty in believing that someone seriously considering buying the business would, at this moment in time, be spending time trash-talking the former management on a BB.

We were serious enough to request the documentation from the Administrators but won't be going forward. We are still under NDA however.

The current management have come in for plenty of worse criticism from
http://fantasyequitycrowdfunding.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/crowdcubes-vulpi...

They called this back in 2015. If the cycling trade press/crowdcube did their due diligence then Vulpine would likely still be a small thriving business and 588 potential investors would not have lost £1m.

Fixie Girl wrote:

rjfrussell wrote:

Fixie Girl wrote:

I would but I am under NDA until the 15th. 

We've been going through all their accts today with a view to purchasing the business. 

 

 

i have some difficulty in believing that someone seriously considering buying the business would, at this moment in time, be spending time trash-talking the former management on a BB.

We were serious enough to request the documentation from the Administrators but won't be going forward. We are still under NDA however. The current management have come in for plenty of worse criticism from http://fantasyequitycrowdfunding.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/crowdcubes-vulpi... They called this back in 2015. If the cycling trade press/crowdcube did their due diligence then Vulpine would likely still be a small thriving business and 588 potential investors would not have lost £1m.

Sheesh, but those blog entries are pretty scathing. Are they accurate?

brooksby wrote:

Fixie Girl wrote:

rjfrussell wrote:

Fixie Girl wrote:

I would but I am under NDA until the 15th. 

We've been going through all their accts today with a view to purchasing the business. 

 

 

i have some difficulty in believing that someone seriously considering buying the business would, at this moment in time, be spending time trash-talking the former management on a BB.

We were serious enough to request the documentation from the Administrators but won't be going forward. We are still under NDA however. The current management have come in for plenty of worse criticism from http://fantasyequitycrowdfunding.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/crowdcubes-vulpi... They called this back in 2015. If the cycling trade press/crowdcube did their due diligence then Vulpine would likely still be a small thriving business and 588 potential investors would not have lost £1m.

Sheesh, but those blog entries are pretty scathing. Are they accurate?

Yes, very.

brooksby wrote:

Fixie Girl wrote:

rjfrussell wrote:

Fixie Girl wrote:

I would but I am under NDA until the 15th. 

We've been going through all their accts today with a view to purchasing the business. 

 

 

i have some difficulty in believing that someone seriously considering buying the business would, at this moment in time, be spending time trash-talking the former management on a BB.

We were serious enough to request the documentation from the Administrators but won't be going forward. We are still under NDA however. The current management have come in for plenty of worse criticism from http://fantasyequitycrowdfunding.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/crowdcubes-vulpi... They called this back in 2015. If the cycling trade press/crowdcube did their due diligence then Vulpine would likely still be a small thriving business and 588 potential investors would not have lost £1m.

Sheesh, but those blog entries are pretty scathing. Are they accurate?

Yes, very.

Fixie Girl wrote:

brooksby wrote:

Fixie Girl wrote:

rjfrussell wrote:

Fixie Girl wrote:

I would but I am under NDA until the 15th. 

We've been going through all their accts today with a view to purchasing the business. 

 

 

i have some difficulty in believing that someone seriously considering buying the business would, at this moment in time, be spending time trash-talking the former management on a BB.

We were serious enough to request the documentation from the Administrators but won't be going forward. We are still under NDA however. The current management have come in for plenty of worse criticism from http://fantasyequitycrowdfunding.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/crowdcubes-vulpi... They called this back in 2015. If the cycling trade press/crowdcube did their due diligence then Vulpine would likely still be a small thriving business and 588 potential investors would not have lost £1m.

Sheesh, but those blog entries are pretty scathing. Are they accurate?

Yes, very.

Wow! They spent £10K on 2 bikes for personal use (out of investors' money) when they knew the business was struggling? Any sympathy I might have had has completely vanished.

gbzpto wrote:

From nick husseys latest failed crowd funding blurb on this site...

"I’m crazy ambitious, but always the ‘right’ way. A way I can always be proud of what we achieve. Always look back knowing we did our best, and did it as the good guys."

Really !!!!

Worth looking at the recent posts here to understand what "good guys" means...

http://fantasyequitycrowdfunding.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/crowdcubes-vulpi...

Paul J wrote:

Does anyone still have a copy of the "magazine" they recently sent out? I was a bit baffled by it when a paper copy came in the door a while ago - "Why are they making a magazine??". Unfortunately I only had a quick glance at it before the wife threw it in the recycling. I'd love to have a read of it now, in light of this.

Baffling indeed, especially with a mailing list of 40,000!

I am speechless, I want to cry and it wasnt even my money...

Sadly someone beat me to my reveal on Monday..

http://fantasyequitycrowdfunding.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/vulpine-illustra...

longhaul.cc wrote:

the bikes in question can be viewed here;

also the mag,

https://www.vulpine.cc/uk/vulpine-is-five

That link would've made me want to vomit BEFORE I'd known about the insolvency. What is it with cycling that attracts such pseud wankers...

longhaul.cc wrote:

oh god;

http://www.bikebiz.com/news/read/tribe-takes-to-crowdcube-for-funding/02...

????

longhaul.cc wrote:

oh god;

http://www.bikebiz.com/news/read/tribe-takes-to-crowdcube-for-funding/02...

Never heard of them until now. Wanky nonsense. Trying to take supplements into the subscription market. 

https://wearetribe.co

Good luck sinking a mill into that.