ShootThePier

Yeah. His craftsmanship is tight! At least you won’t be breaking in the jacket and jeans at the same time! And post the unaltered pic for us to enjoy, we’ve waited long enough with you.

Excellent!

@beautiful_FrEaK thank you. because of your link, I searched and found one of my grail jeans. So many details that made these special, I had forgotten about, or never known. Denim weight and color always stood out to me. And, I’m going to have to drop some lbs to enjoy them, but in the mean time...

Here is seven staring at me. I think about twenty more behind. left to right Hanger1 - TFH RJB Corlection hanger2 - SDA X-s36, SEDB Natural Indigo hanger3 - SDA 40th Anniversary Cherry Blossom hanger4 - WHR 1901, KMW hanger5 - SDA DM004 then the denim curtain is parted to reveal.... more denim. and then, four in a drawer.

Morning calisthenics. Using daddy.’s jeans to build up muscle . great pic.

It sounds like he has gone from loving his craft, to being uncomfortable running a business. The simple answer is to hire somebody to run the business, and stay in the shop, and get back to your passion. Charge more to pay for the administrative assistant.

Interesting. Rocking my 40th Anniversary Cherry Blossom right now.

You’re right, offering fast tracking was a huge mistake, and slap in the face to existing orders.

JD, I agree there has to be a better way, a more transparent way. On one hand you have to create demand by getting product in the market to build excitement. On the other hand you have to maintain excitement. By taking more orders? Insta? Now here is the problem with being “one man, one pair of jeans”. In our economy growth is the measure of success. But “one man” is extremely limiting to begin with. I guess he could farm out processes, but then we’d be really, really pissed! If you choose to come from the angle that Ryan is a criminal or evil, there is plenty of evidence to back you up, EXCEPT, if he were just in this for the money, the product would suck, or never be delivered. If you choose to come from the angle that Ryan is NOT a monster. It is easy to see the mistakes, and how easy they were to make. Our own Artisan challenge must have tripled his requests. If he takes too long to reply, he gets a bad rep. If he turns down orders, he gets a bad rep. If he doesn’t take a substantial deposit, how can he take an order, materials must be allocated at time of order. The first problem is “one man”, but that is also what makes his product special. The second and biggest problem was lack of transparency when inquiries are made. Then again how many of us would wait 2-3 years for any jeans? Maybe he even believed he could speed up his delivery by cutting back on other obligations. I don’t know if any of what I’m saying pertains to Ryan and WHR. I’m just speculating, because if he really wanted to rip me off, he would have never sent a thing.

No disrespect, but how can you say better product? Even if you own both, what is better or best for you, may not be for me. Add Maynard, ec, and JD and we may end up with five different bests. My wife’s favorite pair of my jeans is the WHR. She asked me to purchase a back up pair. But by then, Ryan no longer had any of that denim. “Wife’s favorite” goes a long way in any husband’s book!

I agree the business model and businessman do not measure up to maker and the product. “One man, one jeans” works great. “One man, every hat in the business” does not.

He’s very talented, and I believe he agonizes over the quality of each piece he puts out. He might be too good, and too passionate, which puts him at odds with our current “immediate gratification” economy that he has allowed himself to fall victim to, along with his clients. I understand his feeling of wanting to fulfill every order as they come to him, or he may lose that customer forever. One man making one pair of jeans is an extremely limited output business model. The years where energy, passion, talent, ability, and free time line up is a very small window. All the while, he is planning his next step, next evolution, in order to stay relevant, when our market is extremely small and can be fickle to begin with. Roy is the closest comparison I can think of, but Roy makes a few hundred(?) pairs of the same pattern in multiple sizes, in one fabric, sells out, and moves on to the next project. Ryan offers multiple patterns, sized to order, in multiple fabrics, and still makes all models/patterns he has offered in the past. So while Roy is the closest comparison to Ryan, they are completely different, and both fill a niche in the market. Ryan is in a tough spot. He approaches his craft more like an artist than a business. None of the criticisms here are for his physical product, in fact, that is well regarded and well respected. Getting it is the hard part. I’m very happy I have my 18oz. WHR 1901. My jacket is a little short for me since I’m not tucking in my shirts at present.

Yup.! TFH RJB Corlection collaboration. Great denim, great fit on the 2109.