Happy Jeans - Tcb 20s contest thread

[garden gnomes in space]

Lame, with a large dose of hypocritical.  

[aho]

The only good of it is, these are pretty fast faders and it'll at least give everyone a level playing field to start from (until Uncle Karl wears his pair for 2 days LOL). That said, super sad as my pair is really starting to come into it's own :/

[erk]

Very sad. Plus we gotta pay to ship em back...

[goodrain]

wait, what happened?

[jigsaw]

1 hour ago, garden gnomes in space said:

Lame, with a large dose of hypocritical.  

hypocrite at it finest for sure, honestly im disappointed with the road they take but it is what it is

[Maynard Friedman]

Something going on here? As Craig David sang “Can you fill me in?”.

[beautiful_FrEaK]

I think it's quite obvious what is happening behind the curtains and I can understand the frustration.
I'm sure @volvo240thebest will explain if he's allowed to or wants to

[Paul T]

Check your emails, Maynard.

So sorry for Inoue and you, Michel. Luckily i have been collecting mailers recently. It's so annoying that we can't all simply post photos of the arc-less jeans, but we have to be honest, it was a trademark infringement.

[Cucoo]

Well time to get some wear on my new LVC pairs at least. Huge bummer since I've grown to love my 20s after 80 or so wears. Will be hard to get this excited about a new (standard) pair.

Agreed on hypocritical though. 

[volvo240thebest]

Hey guys

sorry for being missing in action, I am swamped with work at the moment.
I wrote using your private emails rather than this platform mainly because many people involved in this experience are not checking sufu everyday of course. And there is a privacy matter as well, which I ask you all to understand and respect.

Here's the official communication from Inoue, which I leave in his beautiful ango japanese google-ese gramelot, I'm sure you can all figure out the meaning perfectly:

About the TCB 20 contest model that I sold the other day
I was pointed out that this time conflicts with another registered trademark of another manufacturer.
We take this point seriously
We have judged that TCB 20 contest jeans which we have already manufactured and sold conflict with this manufacturer's trademark.
In response to this situation, we are currently collecting TCB 20 contest jeans which we manufactured and sold.

 

Edited February 1, 2018 by volvo240thebest

[MasonAlexander]

The whole situation is terribly unfortunate. Very lame.

I have no idea where I stand on this. My main concern is the fact that it will probably cost me like $50 dollars to send the jeans from the East Coast of Canada to Japan and if that is the case, I unfortunately must refuse, or I’ll have to ask for a refund and get jeans from a different company. I understand that it is not Inoue’s fault that we have to send them back, but its not my fault either and I cant afford money out of my own pocket to pay for anything right now

 

edit!! Im sure there is no possible way for me to express this idea without sounding like a prick, but that is not my intention

Edited February 1, 2018 by MasonAlexander

[volvo240thebest]

5 hours ago, garden gnomes in space said:

Lame, with a large dose of hypocritical.  

yes, it's lame and hypocritical of the other brand involved in this little rodeo... I hope this is what you meant.

I guess some of you may be pissed off by what it's happening.
Blame me rather than TCB in first place. I'm the person who brought up the idea of this design, Inoue wanted to use the "cat ears" design if you all remember, but anyone but me was happy with it, so at the end of the day he simply accepted what I've asked on the basis of contestants consensus.

 

[Cucoo]

Meh, he had the jeans stitched that way after all so if he had anticipated anything like this he could have refused. Not your fault.

I don't really get how you can be so protective of your own rip off to threaten TCB this way, that's what gnomes meant I think. Most 20s have been sold overseas where this other brand would be in hot waters with their design themselves. What a joke.

[jigsaw]

i really2 hope that this is not final decision and to not rush things, would love if there a alternative option for this to settle.

im not try to stretch the matter longer for Inoue.

[Maynard Friedman]

Could everyone simply agree to rip the arcs off and that would be that. How will the other company know whether all pairs have been returned to TCB?

[MasonAlexander]

Ive got a few more questions

Were these the same price as a normal pair of TCB 20s? I cant quite remember

Any ideas what the turnaround time will be? Am I going to be jeanless for 2 months while I waited for my pair to get to Japan and then another pair to get back to me?

This is all very lame. Fuck that other company. 

The TCB20s isnt even actually a cut that I would have ever been interested in buying if it wasnt for the fact that these ones were “special” and “limited” pairs. I dont want a regular pair

Ive lost interest at this point

Edited February 1, 2018 by MasonAlexander

[jigsaw]

31 minutes ago, Maynard Friedman said:

Could everyone simply agree to rip the arcs off and that would be that. How will the other company know whether all pairs have been returned to TCB?

 

yes can we please just do that

 

 

19 minutes ago, MasonAlexander said:

Ive got a few more questions

Were these the same price as a normal pair of TCB 20s? I cant quite remember

Any ideas what the turnaround time will be? Am I going to be jeanless for 2 months while I waited for my pair to get to Japan and then another pair to get back to me?

This is all very lame. Fuck that other company. 

The TCB20s isnt even actually a cut that I would have ever been interested in buying if it wasnt for the fact that these ones were “special” and “limited” pairs. I dont want a regular pair

Ive lost interest at this point

 

cant agree more

[volvo240thebest]

^ the pair was marketed through a third party so it didn't have the retail price you could get when buying directly from the factory or from another japanese retailer who's notorious to offer low prices. I guess what you paid is very similar to the normal retail price of the seller, anyhoo make your decision, you're not sounding as a prick, don't worry about that mate! The turnaround time should be quick

 

1 hour ago, Cucoo said:

I don't really get how you can be so protective of your own rip off to threaten TCB this way, that's what gnomes meant I think. Most 20s have been sold overseas where this other brand would be in hot waters with their design themselves. What a joke.

It took me a few minutes to figure out what you wrote, after all I'm not that good with English apparently! I will not articulate anymore on this matter because I feel it could become a slippery slope. I don't work as a professional in the denim industry, I don't know well enough copyright/trademark rules and how they work nationally in Japan or internationally.  I personally don't feel is correct to defame a company, even in a forum like this, without really knowing in the detail the legislation and the circumstances. Who knows who read this discussion. Let's keep it clean and safe for the sake of all professionals involved, thank you.

I guess all of you can figure out what I think about this anyway!

Edited February 1, 2018 by volvo240thebest

[volvo240thebest]

12 minutes ago, jigsaw said:

42 minutes ago, Maynard Friedman said:

Could everyone simply agree to rip the arcs off and that would be that. How will the other company know whether all pairs have been returned to TCB?

 

yes can we please just do that

guys, this is the very first thing I've asked. Inoue consulted a lawyer and decided to proceed differently.

[volvo240thebest]

so this is what I've agreed with Inoue.

Who's opting for an exchange will receive a pair which will have:

• special own design arcs (cat ear design)
• special pocket fabric
   

I've even asked if he could slap another special patch, but he has them anymore, and printing a new batch for a limited number of jeans is not possible.

 

[Cucoo]

Well there's a silver lining. I'll keep the contest patch for sure, even if the numbers have come off by now.

And yes, we should probably let the legal situation rest on here. We don't have to like it but no good can come from discussing it either.

[bartlebyyphonics]

whilst sharing solidarity with the kvetching about losing our contest pairs I think it is totally clear that tcb has lost the most in receiving whatever action to which this recall is a response; a whole batch down the toilet to be refunded and conflict with an elder (in the hierarchical cultural context of japanese elder worship etc)...

he bears the potential pain and the brunt of the risk. if we really support him, compliance is pretty necessary (as much as those words pain me to type)

 absolutely keeping & re-stitching patch

 keeping original size too: would be too weird to change…

 and this is all said with maximum sadness, with a few washes the 20s were just starting to chime with the lvc type I blue…

a blue day... getting back to this stage will take a while, but challenges are there to be accepted...

[volvo240thebest]

bartleby joining the forum is the best thing happened to sufu in the last 12 months, IMHO.

Edited February 1, 2018 by volvo240thebest

[bartlebyyphonics]

^ thanks, that's too kind, not sure i deserve as much

lovely to be here with you all... 

[nycsurfer530]

Hmm what if we seamrip out the current patch and mail it with the jeans, could Inoue sew on the contest patch to our new pair himself so I’m not left having a suit tailor sew denim?

[volvo240thebest]

^ this is a brilliant idea, will ask but can't see why he would not like to do it.

[Cucoo]

Why can't he just take off the offending pockets and put new cat arc ones on?

[volvo240thebest]

I'd be tempted to mess up and add the extra patch on the left of the rear waistband (Karl style), and sport a double patch though!

But let's keep things the same for everybody, otherwise things will start to become messy..

[volvo240thebest]

14 minutes ago, Cucoo said:

Why can't he just take off the offending pockets and put new cat arc ones on?

just asked to Inoue

his reply

[13:11, 1/2/2018] Inoue Hajime: I think it is unnatural because the color of the fabric is different

I will exchange

and, regarding removal and re attachment of the contest patch, OK.

Edited February 1, 2018 by volvo240thebest

[Cucoo]

I don't really follow, because the rest of the jeans has been washed a few times? That'll even out in no time? It's not an new fabric, is it?