SUPERDENIM SMALL QUESTIONS THREAD (Use instead of making new threads)

[Double 0 Soul]

There's more than that! but most can be had for peanuts on ebay, much cheaper than JP prices but i think Loose Grooves was on a JP record label hence their market was flooded with them and ours wasn't, it came out in 97 so they're not often seen over here.

I only got my dosh back from that wonky Brennan B2 yesterday, jeez-louise! they're a bunch of useless fucks, It took them 7 days and 18 emails before they even acknowledged they had recieved it back, even then i had to pester them to ruturn the shipping costs they promised me... it would have been comedy if i didn't have nearly £500 in their bank account.

[Maynard Friedman]

2 hours ago, Double 0 Soul said:

Can i ask a little favour of the UK based sufu-crew..

I'm wanting a CD from Yahoo! they're readily available in JP and cost less than a £5'er but insanely expensive in the UK due to rareity, i'm not going to import a CD for goodness sake, i could add it to my next purchase.. only problem is, i haven't bought anything from JP for a while and have no plans to (my bike is almost built) so if any kind soul is using a proxy service at some point, would you mind giving me a hola and adding a CD to your order for me? Thx!

Proxy Co-Op

Putting it back on the new page…

[Double 0 Soul]

Thanks Martin,

When my kid was born, I bought a sensible dad-wagon (Golf GTI) with, 4 doors, Isofix, leather seats for easy wipe down and such, the last time i saw some of these missing CD's was in that VW...i would have bagged evrything up when i sold it, gloves, window scraper, sunglasses and such and put it where?... who knows?!

Edited June 9, 2022 by Double 0 Soul

[lyraman]

Does anyone know of a good proxy service for ordering from Merceri?

[Hopethisoneisnttaken]

11 hours ago, lyraman said:

Does anyone know of a good proxy service for ordering from Merceri?

I know Buyee  works with Merceri but haven’t tried it. I did use buyee for Rakuten and yahoo auctions and had a good experience. 

Edited June 11, 2022 by Hopethisoneisnttaken

[lyraman]

Thanks but I’ve read some pretty bad reviews about buyee as a proxy, maybe they’re better with Merceri

Edited June 11, 2022 by lyraman

[julian-wolf]

For whatever it’s worth, I’ve only ever had good experiences with Buyee, both for Yahoo and for Mercari 

[Broark]

What Julian said, never had any issues with Buyee.

[lyraman]

Thanks guys, I think I’ll try buyee

[Double 0 Soul]

I haven't read any bad reports re- Buyee, i've never used them for the simple reason they ship at full value.. for folks based in the US this ain't an issue but it is for folks based in the UK. My preferred proxy Zenmarket doesn't work with Mercari.

There was talk a few years ago thet Mercari was going to expand operations and open offices/distribution warehouse in the US/Eu so you wouldn't need a JP shipping address to buy/sell.. not sure what happened there.. i stopped buying stuffs so stopped being interested.

[Hopethisoneisnttaken]

4 hours ago, Double 0 Soul said:

I haven't read any bad reports re- Buyee, i've never used them for the simple reason they ship at full value.. for folks based in the US this ain't an issue but it is for folks based in the UK. My preferred proxy Zenmarket doesn't work with Mercari.

There was talk a few years ago thet Mercari was going to expand operations and open offices/distribution warehouse in the US/Eu so you wouldn't need a JP shipping address to buy/sell.. not sure what happened there.. i stopped buying stuffs so stopped being interested.

Zenmarket can mark down the value? 

[Double 0 Soul]

Zen is almost fully automated.. you fill in your own value they just re-package and fwd it on.. just be aware that if it does go missing in transit you're only compensated to the tune of the value which you've declared.

[Maynard Friedman]

The last time I used zenmarket (a couple of months back) they no longer allowed me to mark down the value. It all now depends on which shipping method you use apparently, although the only available one, which did allow a markdown was surface transport.

[Double 0 Soul]

I bought a rear mech from Yahoo when EMS re-established their services after covid but before Putin invaded Ukraine and Zen worked the same as always.

Looks like we had the golden years.. Zen, Rakuten, Yahoo, EMS and our economy.. all shadows of their former selves

[MJF9]

33 minutes ago, Maynard Friedman said:

the only available one, which did allow a markdown was surface transport.

Surface arrrrgggh… 6 weeks in still waiting for the boat to reach port!!

[busterthehuman]

I've never had issues with Buyee, either. I've also always receive my packages in less than 10 days as well. 

[UkeNo]

I’m certain people have answered this already but anyways….

is there still a way to search and buy from Yahoo Japan. I’m in the UK. Wasn’t sure if there’s a proxy website or something? 
thanks

Edited June 20, 2022 by UkeNo

[beautiful_FrEaK]

I do it through my proxy of choice: FromJapan

You can search there

[Maynard Friedman]

You can also search Yahoo via Buyee or Zenmarket.

[Jambon]

I’ve used fromjapan and Neokyo - fromjapan was very quick but ended up paying import duty in the U.K, neokyo was painfully slow but there was no import charges. 
 

Well worth using with Freewheelers the U.K. stockist charges double the price they do in Japan. Stuff them. 

[Hopethisoneisnttaken]

Where does one buy laces? Looking for flat non leather, black or brown(or both)laces. Tried shopping locally but the quality was extremely disappointing. 

[Double 0 Soul]

I usually buy Dr Martens flat laces in black or brown from Amazon for around £7, you can get them waxed or unwaxed.

[nick682]

4 hours ago, Hopethisoneisnttaken said:

Where does one buy laces? Looking for flat non leather, black or brown(or both)laces. Tried shopping locally but the quality was extremely disappointing. 

https://www.guardedgoods.com/collections/shoe-laces

[Duke Mantee]

What’s the big attraction to horsehide?

I’ve had a few requests for horsehide belts, and even more discussion about the leather.

[beautiful_FrEaK]

I think it's just "en vogue" right now. You see the same desire for horsehide on shoes/boots. I think it boils down to that.
Furthermore, I think the arguments are that horsehide is pretty strong

[Maynard Friedman]

Snakeskin or nothing for me.

[Duke Mantee]

11 hours ago, beautiful_FrEaK said:

I think it's just "en vogue" right now. You see the same desire for horsehide on shoes/boots. I think it boils down to that.
Furthermore, I think the arguments are that horsehide is pretty strong

You might well be correct.

As for strength, it’s no stronger than cowhide (save for arguments re part of the hide and tanning methods). Neither is it the most exclusive nor most expensive … by far, the biggest factor for cost is normally the length of tanning process.

Most comments seem to be centred around the appearance and/or grain although, frankly put, that has nothing much to do with quality of leather but reflects more on the tanning and the currier (and it might argued if a tannery is investing in a good currier then arguably you’re already getting good leather).

I’m just intrigued as to why horse hide seems to have such cachet.

Edited June 28, 2022 by Duke Mantee

[julian-wolf]

I suspect folks are just interested in it ‘cause of its tendency to be split very heavy / thick—it’s probably the same audience as is interested in 20+ oz. denim jeans and 2.5”-wide belts

(I admit: I jumped on the bandwagon with my Flame Panda boots, and they’re some of my least favorite boots overall, largely because of how uninteresting the horsehide really is once you start to wear it—that’s not to say that there’s not some very interesting horsehide out there, just that I was swayed for perhaps the wrong reasons)

Edited June 28, 2022 by julian-wolf

[Duke Mantee]

32 minutes ago, julian-wolf said:

I suspect folks are just interested in it ‘cause of its tendency to be split very heavy / thick—it’s probably the same audience as is interested in 20+ oz. denim jeans and 2.5”-wide belts

It’s very unusual to see thick horsehide buddy - even when you can get a thick part (normally the strip) it’ll vary enormously over the length. Tough to get consistent belt weights for example, but a lot easier to get enough for boots and shoes.

Sorry to hear your Flame Panda boots have an ‘uninteresting’ leather … what was the tannery?

[julian-wolf]

That’s interesting. I obviously don’t have any experience with jackets, but I’m used to seeing horsehide boots quoted at 8+ oz., which seems very thick. I guess that could just be the makers choosing unusually thick portions of hides in order to cater to the (pseudo?-)heavy-duty audience? But that seems like a bit of a stretch—who knows
 

The Flame Panda boots are black horsebutt from Shinki Hikaku, I think. The dye job is super thin, as if it was made to intentionally wear away and show something akin to patina as quickly as possible—the whole effect feels phony. The leather itself has very little give to it, and lots of tight creasing at flex points. Nothing against creases in leather, of course, but in this case it doesn’t end up being a great look.