I just feel sorry for those who bought them at the original price to see the price slashed a few months later. Bummer!
Woodlore Woodsman shirt reduced.
- Thread starter Aliwren
- Start date
Agreed,talk about a kick in the nuts.
95 quid for a shirt,you would have to have wide windows to see me coming.
I remember when Ralph Lauren shirts were all the rage in the 90's, folk spent over a hundred quid on them. Just to go down the pub to let some bone head rip it off!
Fair play John, sounds like you have quite a few interesting jobs in your time, mine would be of very little interest to anyone here or indeed anywhere so I won't bother describing it 
Red, I know that John is more qualified to review fabrics and build qualities of clothing in relation to their suitability for bushcraft etc and I don't doubt that he knows of several shirts available for retail now which perform the same functions for less money.
Personally I have no interest in general fashion labels, and will buy whatever I think is best for my purposes This normally means that my expensive buys will have to work well for general urban dwelling, urban travelling (I like to spend time walking foreign cities), bushcraft, hiking and general outdoor pursuits.
As I can't generally afford the luxury of buying or indeed carrying the specialist clothing for each activity (I plan a mixed urban/rural europian backpacking adventure or world if the finances work) I often have to buy brands, I hate branding from companies splashed in massive letters on my clothes however, so normally it is as subtle as they offer and from companies that I like such as Howies (big plug as they a reliable and honest company with outstanding ethics) who seem to cater for my tastes. Icebreaker - whoops there's another label (v-subtle branding)
Now I am sure that some will point at a Howies fleece or coat etc and say, no there is a better and cheaper option for a specialist bushcrafter and I wont doubt them. Others simply wont like their style etc. But hey I think they are good honest company.
Personally I am not interested in a Ray Mears shirt or any of the alternatives but I do think he has an honest (read non rip off) market for them. OK so here goes, pure conjecture I know but I would suggest this man as one potential customer.
He is a captial city dweller, most likely London but could be an expat, he is very busy with his work, I am thinking lawer, banker etc. He enjoys adventure but his work and family leave him very little time to indulge. He has watched Ray Mears and wishes to give it a go so he signs up to one of the foreign adventure holidays they offer and his wife buys him the gear he needs to go for Christmas (how sweet). They don't have time to research all the options so they go to raymears.com and get all the stuff they need happy in the knowledge Ray knows his quality gear and will deliver as promised without ripping them off.
Side note - I have been ripped off by a one man company with non delivery of goods and unresponsive communications which has often been recommended on this board on numerous occasions, my friends also have had exceptionally bad service from this company. IThere are also lots of posts on this board of people also waiting months or giving up with the same guy.
However I have never read on this board about anyone getting done over by raymears.com - hence my objection to the term rip off. OK so I dont think the other guy I am talking about is a true rip off merchant - but he did sell his stuff too cheap, could not keep up with the demand, stuck his head in the sand and let a lot of people down.
Now back to the shirt. This guy and his wife know that this is an expensive shirt, and they know that also as glen pointed out this is a low volume run and they need to preserve stocks as long as possible - the thing is though they don't care - remember they are intelligent people as are all of us are in our own ways. The point is the guy is going on the adventure of a life time,he doesn't mind giving Ray a tip (he thinks he is a good guy) by buying his expensive shirt, he has a talking piece that he can wear for the rest of his life and tell his grand children about his time in the jungle (when there still was a jungle....)
I don't mind either because in my experience Ray Mears has inspired a new generation to really appreciate the wilderness and the importance of preserving it. Sadly Ray has to compete with a lot of other idols who personally I think are less worthy who promote only consumption of the wilderness to provide fast cars, throw away fashion and other trivialities.
So thats my soap box - I think Ray is an ambassador in todays media world for people like us. He smooths our path for us. When people enquire about my fondness for axes, knives, sleeping under trees and army style sleep systems I can point them to Ray and they understand I am not some weird **** lunatic camping in the woods for sinister purposes.
Aliwren started this thread purely to recommend this shirt, so what if it is expensive - not everyone is short of cash, I would rather that cash got spent on Ray Mears than some pointless throw away plastic junk thing to provide an hours amusement.
btw Aliwren - I don't want to stereotype you, I just gave one example of a potential customer, not saying that is who you are....
So Aliwren recommends and and then almost instantly loads of people jump in and start taking the **** - nice.
Is Harrods expensive - yep - everyone knows that but lots still shop in there. Do they rip people off - I very much doubt it - I would expect quality to be guaranteed as would everyone who shops there - thats why people with loads of money shop there, they don't have to do the research to avoid ripoff's elsewhere by mistakingly purchasing low quality items.
If I was Ray I would not be interested in setting up a high volume/small margin business, I would rather be messing about in a canoe plotting my next adventure. If ray wanted to knock out competitively priced bushcrafting gear there is nothing stopping him. With subtle branding and quality gear, good supply and manufacturing chain, resilient it infrastructure, advertising etc he could blow a big hole in the market for himself. Read mass market, (Blacks stock an exclusive line of Ray Mears signature tents and sleeping bags for the family camper - we have seen it with TV chef cookwear and supermarket lines......) - he chooses not to, he sticks to the job of a low volume quality outfitter and relatively non commercial abbassador of bushcraft and fair play to him I say.
Lets have a annual "Lets be nice to Ray Day" on bushcraftuk
Red, I know that John is more qualified to review fabrics and build qualities of clothing in relation to their suitability for bushcraft etc and I don't doubt that he knows of several shirts available for retail now which perform the same functions for less money.
Personally I have no interest in general fashion labels, and will buy whatever I think is best for my purposes This normally means that my expensive buys will have to work well for general urban dwelling, urban travelling (I like to spend time walking foreign cities), bushcraft, hiking and general outdoor pursuits.
As I can't generally afford the luxury of buying or indeed carrying the specialist clothing for each activity (I plan a mixed urban/rural europian backpacking adventure or world if the finances work) I often have to buy brands, I hate branding from companies splashed in massive letters on my clothes however, so normally it is as subtle as they offer and from companies that I like such as Howies (big plug as they a reliable and honest company with outstanding ethics
) who seem to cater for my tastes. Icebreaker - whoops there's another label (v-subtle branding)Now I am sure that some will point at a Howies fleece or coat etc and say, no there is a better and cheaper option for a specialist bushcrafter and I wont doubt them. Others simply wont like their style etc. But hey I think they are good honest company.
Personally I am not interested in a Ray Mears shirt or any of the alternatives but I do think he has an honest (read non rip off) market for them. OK so here goes, pure conjecture I know but I would suggest this man as one potential customer.
He is a captial city dweller, most likely London but could be an expat, he is very busy with his work, I am thinking lawer, banker etc. He enjoys adventure but his work and family leave him very little time to indulge. He has watched Ray Mears and wishes to give it a go so he signs up to one of the foreign adventure holidays they offer and his wife buys him the gear he needs to go for Christmas (how sweet). They don't have time to research all the options so they go to raymears.com and get all the stuff they need happy in the knowledge Ray knows his quality gear and will deliver as promised without ripping them off.
Side note - I have been ripped off by a one man company with non delivery of goods and unresponsive communications which has often been recommended on this board on numerous occasions, my friends also have had exceptionally bad service from this company. IThere are also lots of posts on this board of people also waiting months or giving up with the same guy.
However I have never read on this board about anyone getting done over by raymears.com - hence my objection to the term rip off. OK so I dont think the other guy I am talking about is a true rip off merchant - but he did sell his stuff too cheap, could not keep up with the demand, stuck his head in the sand and let a lot of people down.
Now back to the shirt. This guy and his wife know that this is an expensive shirt, and they know that also as glen pointed out this is a low volume run and they need to preserve stocks as long as possible - the thing is though they don't care - remember they are intelligent people as are all of us are in our own ways. The point is the guy is going on the adventure of a life time,he doesn't mind giving Ray a tip (he thinks he is a good guy) by buying his expensive shirt, he has a talking piece that he can wear for the rest of his life and tell his grand children about his time in the jungle (when there still was a jungle....)
I don't mind either because in my experience Ray Mears has inspired a new generation to really appreciate the wilderness and the importance of preserving it. Sadly Ray has to compete with a lot of other idols who personally I think are less worthy who promote only consumption of the wilderness to provide fast cars, throw away fashion and other trivialities.
So thats my soap box - I think Ray is an ambassador in todays media world for people like us. He smooths our path for us. When people enquire about my fondness for axes, knives, sleeping under trees and army style sleep systems I can point them to Ray and they understand I am not some weird **** lunatic camping in the woods for sinister purposes.
Aliwren started this thread purely to recommend this shirt, so what if it is expensive - not everyone is short of cash, I would rather that cash got spent on Ray Mears than some pointless throw away plastic junk thing to provide an hours amusement.
btw Aliwren - I don't want to stereotype you, I just gave one example of a potential customer, not saying that is who you are....
So Aliwren recommends and and then almost instantly loads of people jump in and start taking the **** - nice.
Is Harrods expensive - yep - everyone knows that but lots still shop in there. Do they rip people off - I very much doubt it - I would expect quality to be guaranteed as would everyone who shops there - thats why people with loads of money shop there, they don't have to do the research to avoid ripoff's elsewhere by mistakingly purchasing low quality items.
If I was Ray I would not be interested in setting up a high volume/small margin business, I would rather be messing about in a canoe plotting my next adventure. If ray wanted to knock out competitively priced bushcrafting gear there is nothing stopping him. With subtle branding and quality gear, good supply and manufacturing chain, resilient it infrastructure, advertising etc he could blow a big hole in the market for himself. Read mass market, (Blacks stock an exclusive line of Ray Mears signature tents and sleeping bags for the family camper - we have seen it with TV chef cookwear and supermarket lines......) - he chooses not to, he sticks to the job of a low volume quality outfitter and relatively non commercial abbassador of bushcraft and fair play to him I say.
Lets have a annual
"Lets be nice to Ray Day" on bushcraftuk 
This thread was, I think, just a good natured laugh about a shirt that is so expensive none of us (except the very wealthy) would dare to wear it except for Sunday best. Very few of us, if any, were slagging off Ray, just questioning his prices in a light-hearted way (many of us also consider the Woodlore knife to be way overpriced too).
Now we've turned all ethical, righteous and serious. I preferred the light-hearted mickey taking myself. I still like Ray Mears and respect him highly even if I can't afford his gear.
Now we've turned all ethical, righteous and serious. I preferred the light-hearted mickey taking myself. I still like Ray Mears and respect him highly even if I can't afford his gear.
Rebel light hearted mickey taking is all very well but I think some things are best left round the camp fire
This board is highly active and repeatedly turns up in google searches, Google searches available globally, Google searches made prior to purchasing an expedition, writing a school project, looking for a handy pair of trousers for your big garden and we have threads repeatedly turning up on here where people are taking the **** out of his products or worse using terms like rip off. It is childish and devalues this board as a important resource for everyone.
Ray I sure would take it all with a laugh if we were all round a camp fire, but this is no campfire, its public forum available to be read by anyone at a touch of a button anywhere in the world. Ray is not in a position where he can partake in internet banter is he. Lets save our public use of British (and Australian) humour for teasing the usual celebrities and politicians who play us as much as we play them.
Oh, unless there is some weird cliquey thing going on , this thread was started as an honest recommendation for a shirt, no saying it was a really good deal, just a statement of a price that everyone can judge.
Lets devalue Ray in front of everyone to see, make him a laughing stock, that really helps us secure more wilds to practice our craft doesn't it? Isn't that what we all want to do?
http://www.ettklickforskogen.se/engelska/ettKlickeng.asp
This board is highly active and repeatedly turns up in google searches, Google searches available globally, Google searches made prior to purchasing an expedition, writing a school project, looking for a handy pair of trousers for your big garden and we have threads repeatedly turning up on here where people are taking the **** out of his products or worse using terms like rip off. It is childish and devalues this board as a important resource for everyone.
Ray I sure would take it all with a laugh if we were all round a camp fire, but this is no campfire, its public forum available to be read by anyone at a touch of a button anywhere in the world. Ray is not in a position where he can partake in internet banter is he. Lets save our public use of British (and Australian) humour for teasing the usual celebrities and politicians who play us as much as we play them.
Oh, unless there is some weird cliquey thing going on
, this thread was started as an honest recommendation for a shirt, no saying it was a really good deal, just a statement of a price that everyone can judge.Lets devalue Ray in front of everyone to see, make him a laughing stock, that really helps us secure more wilds to practice our craft doesn't it? Isn't that what we all want to do?
http://www.ettklickforskogen.se/engelska/ettKlickeng.asp
I do have a lot of time for Mr Mears and some time ago was gifted some of his books and dvds, these are truly excellent. Likewise having looked through his shop website many of the other products on his site are functional and also fair value and i acknowledge this. Perhaps i was unfair to comment on his physique and to acknowledge this i have exchanged the word "chubby" with "rotund" in my original post.
so.....in conclusion my issue is with the value of this garment.
- It's a medium weight cotton shirt with a couple of pockets, it looks exactly like the tradies shirt i got from my last sparkies job.
- It costs a hundred quid! i've paid a lot less for both my buffalo or swanni both of which refuse to die despite smelling like they have.
- It's got Ray Mears branded buttons for gods sake the irony is so thick you could cut it.
- It's 80% marketing 20% value
If my mates spent that much on this shirt would i rip the proverbial ?-Yes - If i did i'd expect the same treatment. It seems i'm rather more thick skinned than a lot of people here.
btw i'm not Australian but Scottish perhaps that explains the frugality.
cheers
G
Cheers
so.....in conclusion my issue is with the value of this garment.
- It's a medium weight cotton shirt with a couple of pockets, it looks exactly like the tradies shirt i got from my last sparkies job.
- It costs a hundred quid! i've paid a lot less for both my buffalo or swanni both of which refuse to die despite smelling like they have.
- It's got Ray Mears branded buttons for gods sake the irony is so thick you could cut it.
- It's 80% marketing 20% value
If my mates spent that much on this shirt would i rip the proverbial ?-Yes - If i did i'd expect the same treatment. It seems i'm rather more thick skinned than a lot of people here.
btw i'm not Australian but Scottish perhaps that explains the frugality.
cheers
G
Cheers
Nope - the merits of the shirt has been discussed on other threads - I started it just as a heads up to let people know the price had dropped- 48 posts later
......!!
MagiKelly
Making memories since '67
However, just to be contentious
A three card monte mans luck will not last forever and one day he will be caught.
Does this mean that his ripping gullible people off in the mean time is ethical?
It was decided in a court case that the three card monte was not a rip off but a game of chance
However that is getting of topic.I suggest you do not buy a computer or any games consoles then
I wouldn't be surprised if the price drop was directly due to threads on here ripping Woodlore over the price.
If you think that's fanciful, has there been any item on the Woodlore site that has been reduced like that or discussed as as much here?
If you Google the term 'bushcraft' and disregard the sponsored links then guess which site comes up at the top? Yep, BCUK and second to that is Ray
I myself would like a woodsmans shirt to wear 'for posh' but no way would I go roughing it wearing one coming back all smoky and skanky. I'd feel far too overdressed which kind of defeats the object doesn't it?
If you think that's fanciful, has there been any item on the Woodlore site that has been reduced like that or discussed as as much here?
If you Google the term 'bushcraft' and disregard the sponsored links then guess which site comes up at the top? Yep, BCUK and second to that is Ray
I myself would like a woodsmans shirt to wear 'for posh' but no way would I go roughing it wearing one coming back all smoky and skanky. I'd feel far too overdressed which kind of defeats the object doesn't it?
I suggest you do not buy a computer or any games consoles then
That is why I feel for those poor folk who bought one as soon as they came out. I did the same with a games console, which was guaranteed to stay at the same price for over six months. I was young and had my own money, so instead of waiting six months, I went out and bought one.
Less than a month later, against what the company had previously said, the price was slashed by 100 quid! I still have that Nintendo 64!
I personally would'nt buy one as i think if i ripped it damaged it in some way how pi***d off i would be!, if you want to spend that sort of money on one you'd want to be out and about all the time to really get the use out of it just because it has got RM's name on it does'nt make the wearer any better whats that saying "All the gear but no idea"
Similar threads
