Club Apparel 2010 Winter order: Skinsuit considerations

[weiyun]

To the trackies and time trialists,

In preparing for the upcoming club apparel winter order, there are a few questions that need input from you guys. Given the available club budget, pricing arrangements and projected purchasing intents, we have the following,

1) How do you guys feel if we only order short sleeved (SS) skinsuit?

2) How do you guys feel if we only have short sleeved (SS) skinsuits in our club stock?

Based on the preliminary interest list posted by Jo in another thread, I note that 10 of the 13 potential new orders are for SS while 3 are for LS (long sleeve). With SS and LS skinsuits being considered as different lines, it would be extremely cost inefficient to order 3 units of LS skinsuits (unless the intending purchaser is willing to pay elevated cost). Further, given the high cost of skinsuits (same as 2 jerseys) with markedly less margin for the club, it's very cost inefficient for the club to lock our limited funds in club stock of skinsuits. So the logical decision is to just build up one line (SS skinsuit) for the club at this stage. As for the size of the proposed club stock, it won't be large. But comments on projected short-medium term interest in additional units may influence our final decision on the size of the club stock.

Of course, we can also just do LS with the same budget effect and omit SS version. Or if there's a sudden increase in the number of orders, then everything may change.

Finally and again given the small volume, we are looking at the arrangement of people needing to prepay their skinsuit orders to guarantee a size.

So please comment away.

[Trouty]

I think we should give people what they ordered - Long or short and in some cases people asked for both. i am sure they will be willing to pay the difference. As far as club stock goes - I guess stocking only short sleeve is a good idea to get the best pricing.

One other thing - a lot of the trackies don't like the zipper in the back. Do we have to have this on the next order?

Also - Wieyun - I need to chat to you about the "Special Skin Suit Order" x 2, but I will private message you.

[weiyun]

I think we should give people what they ordered - Long or short and in some cases people asked for both. i am sure they will be willing to pay the difference. As far as club stock goes - I guess stocking only short sleeve is a good idea to get the best pricing.

One other thing - a lot of the trackies don't like the zipper in the back. Do we have to have this on the next order?

Also - Wieyun - I need to chat to you about the "Special Skin Suit Order" x 2, but I will private message you.

As much as we all like to give what people wants, but the reality is that we can't with our limited budget. With an order of 3, not only will the cost goes up markedly, it'll also complicate the pricing scenarios we have to inform people beforehand. But if those people are willing to accept $180-200 a piece, I suspect we'll be able to cover the extra expenses without putting the club at risk of a loss on the item. So the priority for me is to see the skinsuit buyers get together and decide what they want. If there's a combined order for 20+ units, then yes, we can start to look into running both LS and SS lines. With a smallish order, concentrating on one is the go.

I've already made an enquiry on the custom "Special Skinsuit order" and hopefully there'll be some more information soon. But the key is what graphics are needed on top of our basic design. Nalini people are asking if you need rainbow collars?

I am sure Nalini can take the zipper off the skinsuit if people don't want something to securely keep their CC/car key etc eg. Road TT. So unless the zipper really irritates people, maybe the lowest common denominator should be applied. Lets keep discussing this as we should find out what is the extent of that dislike.

[Trouty]

As much as we all like to give what people wants, but the reality is that we can't with our limited budget. With an order of 3, not only will the cost goes up markedly, it'll also complicate the pricing scenarios we have to inform people beforehand. But if those people are willing to accept $180-200 a piece, I suspect we'll be able to cover the extra expenses without putting the club at risk of a loss on the item.

[/quote]

Fair enough - but if you could inquire whether ordering 10 - 13 skinsuits with a mixture of sleeves will cost more that would be great. The people I spoke to locally mentioned we could have a mix of the 2 as long as the total order was 10+ and the difference between the 2 sleeves was about $10. Anyway see how you go as you get closer with the numbers / pricing.

[weiyun]

Fair enough - but if you could inquire whether ordering 10 - 13 skinsuits with a mixture of sleeves will cost more that would be great. The people I spoke to locally mentioned we could have a mix of the 2 as long as the total order was 10+ and the difference between the 2 sleeves was about $10. Anyway see how you go as you get closer with the numbers / pricing.

Yes, I have been making those enquiries and as demonstrated by our last order, LS and SS skinsuits are treated as separate lines, just as unisex and women's jersey are also in different lines. The other issue to bear in mind is that the bigger a customer we are, the more flexible Nalini can be with us, as well as our pricing discount. But unless people can come out to definitely say that putting on a set of red arm warmers will significantly impact on speed compared with long sleeved skinsuits, we will need to take into considerations of our existing budget objectives.

I am not sure of your source but the difference b/n the two models (SS vs LS) from our last order was only around $3, hence the $5 differential b/n the two in our club price.

One potential scenario we may look into (subject to everything else works out) is that we do one aggregated LS skinsuit and one aggregated SS skinsuit order a year ie. Winter and summer orders. Otherwise the club will keep a small stock of SS skinsuit for year round sale.

Another potential scenario is to just standardise on LS skinsuits and allow people to trim their own sleeves. I am not sure how this will go down with those boys who don't know how to sew.

But tell me, how does wearing a long sleeve skinsuit feel during our current hot weather?

[christian]

I am not sure how this will go down with those boys who don't know how to sew. Wink

Have you ever tried to sew lycra?

I'm all for removing the zippered pocket on the back as the majority of the skinsuit buyers are track riders not TT riders.

[weiyun]

Have you ever tried to sew lycra?

Just have to stretch the material fully before running the stitching. Not too difficult.

I'm all for removing the zippered pocket on the back as the majority of the skinsuit buyers are track riders not TT riders.

I am not against the idea but want to explore all the arguments for and against. And ultimately, it'll be a group decision. So please answer the following,

Does the zipper pocket affect you in any way? If so, how? And should others in the club want to use it for road TT or other events, where else would they store their car key?

So I want to make sure that if we should decide to remove it, we are not removing a feature that's valuable to some and adds no benefits to others.

[timyone]

i dont mind the pockets.
They dont do any thing bad, do they look worse? i havent payed attention, i thought they were cool. Though they may suck later?

[shrubb face]

Keep the pocket, they will be useful for keys and gels during tt's.

[christian]

I'm not sure you'd be able to get a gel out of that pocket during a race, but it is useful for keys. I think your gels will be going under the leg, destroying your aerodynamics slightly.