Status of the sugarcane denim contest

[Blackplatano]

As some of you remenber, i was organizing the SC X SF denim contest but had to leave the country for a couple weeks. People were suppose to PM me if they were interested and then when i come back I counted the PMs and talked to sugarcane to see if something can be done.

Unfortunatly, I did not receive as many PMs as i needed to make it happen. Therefore you can conclude that a collab will not happen. I don't know the status of the denim contest or which jeans will be chosen this year, but it won't be sugarcane.

[headtowall]

Bummer. I was most stoked on this one.

[nightdeposit]

yeah, really. i wasnt around here for a bit, must have missed the thread... hopefully it will happen, someday?

[Darkadious]

maybe you could give a time contraint for people to PM you that they're in?

i'm sure without the bump-age of your thread people have forgotten about it (or never heard of it), and all they see is the WH thread.

[bonanz]

shit dude you should have made a separate thread, i just searched your posts to find that one where you mentioned the details...i would have been down for sure over the WH...never saw it though

[sneakeraddict]

i need those sugar canes in my life.

you probably need to do a better promotion of what you are planning.

Also, who said a competition has to have hundreds of members?

However many enter, Im sure most would be happy to pay the production cost price. After all, you said Sugar Cane were not doing this as a profit making exercise, therefore it does not matter how many or how few enter, as long as we cover Sugar Cane's costs for each pair.

[Blackplatano]

i need those sugar canes in my life.

you probably need to do a better promotion of what you are planning.

Also, who said a competition has to have hundreds of members?

However many enter, Im sure most would be happy to pay the production cost price. After all, you said Sugar Cane were not doing this as a profit making exercise, therefore it does not matter how many or how few enter, as long as we cover Sugar Cane's costs for each pair.

The number of participants does matter. They did not care about making a shit load of money, but they did want to break even. Making a whole new design for a few people is inpractical and expensive.

[sneakeraddict]

Well if charge enough to cover the cost of each pair of jeans, then you break even.

That is simple economics.

It doesnt matter if you make 2 pairs or two hundred.

If the cost is covered, the cost is covered.

If you cant get this project off the ground, better to just say now, because I dont think you ever specified how many people "needed" to enter anyway?

[Blackplatano]

Well if charge enough to cover the cost of each pair of jeans, then you break even.

That is simple economics.

It doesnt matter if you make 2 pairs or two hundred.

If the cost is covered, the cost is covered.

If you cant get this project off the ground, better to just say now, because I dont think you ever specified how many people "needed" to enter anyway?

If you know about economics, then you should also know that cost of production is at it's highest when a lot of effort is put in to make an inefficient number of goods. Starting a new model just for 2 people is simply not efficient. I don't think you understand how expensive it would be for those 2 people.

The number needed has been stated, and it was not close enough. So i don't understand what you mean by "off the ground" when it's already dead. It was killed by lack of participation....and warehouse (lol)

[Wu Dynasty]

Honestly, you being gone for so long and the lack of definite information about these jeans are probably what caused people to lose interest. Now with the Warehouse/BIG jeans well underway (and with a wealth of information regarding size and details) it's going to be hard to restart this. However, if this project does continue, you can definitely count me in.

[bonanz]

Honestly, you being gone for so long and the lack of definite information about these jeans are probably what caused people to lose interest. Now with the Warehouse/BIG jeans well underway (and with a wealth of information regarding size and details) it's going to be hard to restart this. However, if this project does continue, you can definitely count me in.

count me in too if you can get it running again. hawaii denim! he said in the original post that was buried in that billion page 'next contest' thread that he needed 100 people. Did this whole sugarcane deal revolve around your trip to japan? is that why you are saying it is dead now?

here are the original posts in that 'next contest thread'

Just received a call from sugarcane. Some key points were said.

For them it is much easier to provide a standard jean for the contest ala samurai. They suggested to me the okinawa SC40301N, which are some great jeans, but we are negotiating on a custom jean as you all know. From the comments and PMs i received, I think i got the the style of jeans that most people would prefer. So I proposed the following;

1945 cut with medium rise and without the hip flare.

Hawaii denim in a very high tension weave

Okinawa details, such as green selvage, green pocket bags and pockets.

36" inseam

This idea for the jeans will be discussed tomorrow in Japan.

Now, this is were superfuture comes in.

The thing is that a custom order like this requires some months to be filled. So for this to happen i will need a list of the people who are committed around 5 months before the contest, since sugarcane will make the quantities/sizes we demand. The other issue is that this jeans will be VERY limited. As everybody knows, the more limited and rare something is, the more it's worth. So it is very likely that this will command a premium price. A premium price that I will try to negotiate but will be very hard to keep down because these jeans would be so limited.

So here's the deal

For this incredible project to happen, we need the most people possible. at least 100. The more people we have, the lower the cost and the sweeter the prize!

So this is what is going to happen.

I will leave the country for 3 weeks tomorrow. Sugarcane will discuss the jeans tomorrow. During the following 3 weeks they will decide what they are willing to do for us, depending on the demand. Superfuture has to PM me stating their interest if they are willing to participate. When i return in the middle of June, I will count the participants and post a list. I will then contact sugarcane and tell them how much interest i received. So basically, the number of people willing to participate in the contest determines the future of the project.

PM me if you want to participate. I will log on tonight for the last time and answer any questions.

Well... i see some concern about the price, but keep in mind that designing a whole new jeans model is not cheap. I will try to keep cost down but some people have ridiculous expectations like $100-150. Again, i will try to keep it $200 and under.

Also understand that saying that you will join once the details are known is useless since it might not even happen if people are not willing to join.

If you are willing to participate in the sugarcane contest PM me. Stating your interest in this thread is not enough since i will only count the PMs i get.

[justiz2]

I too would like to state my interest in this project. However, what with the Warehouse contest as well as the World Tour project currently going on, maybe this could be kept for the future? Maybe the next contest after the Warehouse one has finished?

[scoon0224]

Bi-yearly contests? two running at once (July 1st and Jan 1st?)

Can the membership support it?

[sneakeraddict]

we have to get away from the competition element for everything, IMO.

Surely not everyone here have jobs where they can wear jeans anyway?

The sugar cane project was a good idea regardless of a 'competition', and I'd rather the people who wanted them HAD them, rather trying to get a high number of entrants for the 'competition' side, and then dictating when they have to wear them, when clearly there might not be the demand for 100 pairs in parallel to another competition at the same time.

So no one gets them.

Even if thirty people just want them, regardless of whether its a "competition".

The idea of not being able to make this project a reality until 2010 or something with the next 'free' competition slot is just silly.

[scoon0224]

co-sign on that

but it's partly the 'contest' aspect that brings the profile to the project.

The prospect of having a website with the special denims featured is our selling point to them.

I agree that I'd rather HAVE them. (I'd rather have ALL of them... all the ones that fit anyway)

You could run it as a contest easily, as likely only a fraction will actually update and be in the running. Make 100 pairs, get 30 participants. It's not like participation would be mandatory.

[indigo_junkie]

I agree with sneakeraddict. My job doesn't allow me to wear jeans for half the week. I rather just buy jeans if they look good and add them to my collection (to my collective... hehe).

I don't know if Sugarcane would have made jeans for sufu members in a group buy capacity. A sufu competition could give a lot of free publicity for the brand and it be worth them to make jeans for cost of production. Which is too bad, really, because you can't have too many comps running and with the Samurai S5000 comp (which I missed out by a month, freak me.) and the Dubbleworks comp, there really isn't time/space/budget for a Sugarcane one before June 2008.

I like what Adsurgo's doing, in making his own jeans off suggestions from other sufu members. It's something different, and definitely unique. Something that can't be bought in stores. Barring any sizing problems, I'm definitely in on that.

There doesn't have to be a competition to justify a group buy. I'd rather a sizable group of us (like say 20) all put in as a group buy to get a discount on a pair of SC that would be very difficult to get on your own, eg. a pair of SC40400 Hawaii natural indigos (correct me if I got the product code wrong) with that freakish vertical fading.

The DenimJunkie group buy was something I had wanted to jump on, but fell through. Perhaps some of the members on the forum that can speak Japanese and have connections with more obscure brands could start group buys for jeans like Steam Locomotive, Kapital or Gardners (or that Momotaro jean everyone's been jumping up and down about).

Anyway, just my two cents.

[Blackplatano]

There are a lot of misconceptions here. For one, if sugarcane is not making any money by doing this, then why would they do it? The answer is advertisement. What provides the advertisement? The competition. If we do it as a group buy then they would not make money and they would not get any advertisement. So they have no reason to do it.

I hope i made that clear enough for everyone to understand.

***There is some good news though.

Sugarcane is interested in doing it next year (If the demand is good of course). They told me they will need the information early to organize the details.

SO if you guys want to do it next year, it can be done***

[thelion1856]

well shit im still down for this. make it happen and people will buy.

[hopesgone]

I'm in!!

how about if the first thread be edited into a list of people who are in.. that way it's easier to keep track of the numbers.. the first post can be edit'd many times and easier to be viewed by the contestants too.

[indigo_junkie]

There are a lot of misconceptions here. For one, if sugarcane is not making any money by doing this, then why would they do it? The answer is advertisement. What provides the advertisement? The competition. If we do it as a group buy then they would not make money and they would not get any advertisement. So they have no reason to do it.

I think you mis-understood was I was trying to say. Of course it would make sense that Sugarcane would make these special contest jeans at cost (or near cost) for the free advertisment. What I was saying was if it were possible to do a group buy on a rare pair of hard-to-get SC natural indigos (like the 40400) so that everyone in the group could get it for a slight discount off retail (only if this competition thing wasn't going to happen because an appropriate "spot" hasn't opened up on the Sufu calender).

Doesn't matter, really. If SC wants to sponsor the next comp, I'm definitely in. I'd pretty much enter anything that gives me an excuse to wear a nice pair of jeans everyday.

[cosmicflop]

I'd pretty much enter anything that gives me an excuse to wear a nice pair of jeans everyday.

Amen to that. Count me in too.

[cheep]

I think you mis-understood was I was trying to say. Of course it would make sense that Sugarcane would make these special contest jeans at cost (or near cost) for the free advertisment. What I was saying was if it were possible to do a group buy on a rare pair of hard-to-get SC natural indigos (like the 40400) so that everyone in the group could get it for a slight discount off retail (only if this competition thing wasn't going to happen because an appropriate "spot" hasn't opened up on the Sufu calender).

Doesn't matter, really. If SC wants to sponsor the next comp, I'm definitely in. I'd pretty much enter anything that gives me an excuse to wear a nice pair of jeans everyday.

I'd pretty much enter anything that gives me an excuse to wear a nice pair of jeans everyday.

Amen to that. Count me in too.

then make sure you get in the dubbleworks/warehouse contest this year.

[kiya]

Hey man.. who are you working with at Sugarcane?

Nobody at Toyo has any idea about this contest..

[indigo_junkie]

then make sure you get in the dubbleworks/warehouse contest this year.

Was there any doubt?

[Blackplatano]

Hey man.. who are you working with at Sugarcane?

Nobody at Toyo has any idea about this contest..

Paul...

10 char

[Blackplatano]

This is part of the e-mail i got from sugarcane today.

This explains some of the requirements for a collab and

it how we can get a discount.

Having has a lot of meetings with sugarcane , it is very difficult for them to just produce a new style and mix their original ideas into something new for few pairs. we would require minimum of 250-300 to do anything new even if we called it a limited edition like what has made and done for mr freedom in usa. there are a lot of other things to take into account after that. who would collect all the money from your members entering the contest. we would require one person to pay us the whole order and then that person to collect from the members as it is not possible for us to collect this by individual people. there are so many factors to consider as you are talking about developing a new jean. have a think and lets me have your thoughts on the pints raised so far. that is the reason it is better to offer your members the existing models so there is no pressure on you to find numbers to fulfil the production and the collection of payment. We can always arrange for your members to make purchase via one of our e-tailers togged.com and they can arrange a discount code for your members to purchase these at a good reasonable price.

look forward to your thoughts and comments.

ps we are at moment developing a new fashion model

P.S i also received information on a new slim model been developed for august. Save your money for this one, because it sounds like it will be a hit.

[kiya]

This is part of the e-mail i got from sugarcane today.

This explains some of the requirements for a collab and

it how we can get a discount.

P.S i also received information on a new slim model been developed for august. Save your money for this one, because it sounds like it will be a hit.

couple of things..

"paul" doesn't work for Sugarcane.. he's the distributor of SC through the EU..

that new slim cut is the model i designed and cut.. it's the Self Edge x Sugarcane 02...

i can't wait.. i'm beyond excited for this one. we're doing our best to keep the price well below $300.

SC won't produce a new cut for just anybody, they're extremely exclusive, they love the contest idea, but if most of the contestants are within the US then they'd like for it to involve their US accounts such as History Preservation, Blue in Green, Self Edge, Chuck's Vintage, etc.. I've been supportive of the idea, but they want the stores to handle it, and at the moment between the Samurai contest, Dubbleworks, Skulls upcoming, and two Flat Head tours, there are enough long distance runners in races. it'd be smart to wait a half a year, then try one without so many others taking a go at it at the same time.

[sneakeraddict]

Yeah basically if we do this, we cant do it without paying a US retailer for the privelege.

Oh well, thats life.

[Blackplatano]

couple of things..

"paul" doesn't work for Sugarcane.. he's the distributor of SC through the EU..

that new slim cut is the model i designed and cut.. it's the Self Edge x Sugarcane 02...

i can't wait.. i'm beyond excited for this one. we're doing our best to keep the price well below $300.

SC won't produce a new cut for just anybody, they're extremely exclusive, they love the contest idea, but if most of the contestants are within the US then they'd like for it to involve their US accounts such as History Preservation, Blue in Green, Self Edge, Chuck's Vintage, etc.. I've been supportive of the idea, but they want the stores to handle it, and at the moment between the Samurai contest, Dubbleworks, Skulls upcoming, and two Flat Head tours, there are enough long distance runners in races. it'd be smart to wait a half a year, then try one without so many others taking a go at it at the same time.

I know he is in charge of EU distribution. He works as a medium, so in other words he talks to japan on my behave. I don't speak jap i'll much rather talk to him.

You should know that this SC contest wouldn't happen now if it does ever happen, so it doesn't matter how many activities are going on right now. Paul has stated the possibility of a limited edition as you all have read, so i'll take his word.

[Blackplatano]

Yeah basically if we do this, we cant do it without paying a US retailer for the privelege.

Oh well, thats life.

Not really, SC has not said anything about this so i would not worry.

Paul said it would be done online through togged.com, not any US

store.