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BLOGFindon Store Shuts, After 25 Years, Cissbury Are 100% Online!
Cissbury celebrate 20 Years of Trading! IT'S SHOWTIME! By Moody Mark December 2nd, 2009 As an industry veteran, I have both exhibited and attended countless Motorcycle Shows over the last 25 years, and at the moment the NEC Show is in swing (not likely to be in full swing though, I am guessing …). Cissbury retailed at the NEC for some 15 years, and had wholesale displays on numerous years as well and I have seen many changes in the Show and the feel of the Show in that time. In its heyday, to get into the Show to retail involved secret lists of MCI (industry old boys Club) members getting first pickings, then non members getting on a waiting list for cancellations (which never came). Now they call you to try and get you to take space! Heyday was running out of stock and having to drive to the wholesalers overnight to get more, banking so much cash we had to go to the bank in pairs and some bigger stands even had security guards to collect everyday. When the Show was over a week, not ten days, the industry was booming and it was a cool and exciting time. Now it’s far from it, I’m sad to say … I am guessing the NEC show is now in its twilight years as it has suffered the same fate as the Road and Race Show. That is the absence of key manufacturers like Honda and Ducati. These guys will quote cut-backs and the credit crunch as the reason, but the fact is the Show is a dowdy car boot sale with an insurance company, a couple of bike makers to look at, then a sea of panic stricken retailers hoping to break-even at best. The cost of stand space is unbelievable. I can’t say for fear of the MCI old boys clubs wrath, but I have rented a High Street store in the middle of the biggest town in Sussex for a year for less than 10 days at the NEC. The risks involved are huge and the slightest hiccup in weather, road works, petrol shortages etc can spell huge losses for the beleaguered traders. Winter Clothing Survival … the Cissbury way
By Mark November 11th, 2009 Before opening Cissbury, I spent a few years despatch riding in and out of London and saw two full winters’ work. Here are my thoughts on how to keep warm:
Hello to everyone at BBA couriers (some of whom are still riding now from when I worked there). Ride safe… KLAN HEATED CLOTHING HEATED MOTORCYCLE HEATED CLOTHING AND WINTER THERMALS MOTORCYCLE GLOVES WINTER MOTORCYCLE GLOVES HANDLE BAR MUFFS MOTORCYCLE WATERPROOF CLOTHING TANK SUITS AND OVERALLS Brands Brands Brands. By Mark October 27th, 2009 Bikers love brands and brands love bikers. Nowhere is a brand built easier and faster than the motorcycle world. The reason? It’s a small pond. So many strong names have been created over the last 20 years in biking — some have floundered, some are still going strong — but what’s the real truth behind some of them ... First building brands, simple really. 1. The press. Since motorcycling revolves around so few publications getting the inherently lazy journo’s interested isn't tough. Bung them some free gear, inflate their egos with jolly industry banter and bobs-your-uncle: product reviews, free coverage in photo shoots and all of a sudden your product has credibility … Is it any good? … Who cares. Certainly not the magazines. They wouldn't know good from bad and need to fill the publication with something! 2. Racing. Another doddle, even if your product has bugger-all racing relevance. It can easily be promoted on the tracks lesser-teams and riders will take anything they are given and the bigger ones may need another session of racing and industry banter plus a bit of cash but its not the premiership. So again your latest bundle of tat can be wobbling round Brands in front of the great British race-obsessed in next to no time. 3. Advertising. Please .... advertise where you like and say anything that comes to mind (back to the press again here) lazy, desperate for the revenue and ill informed. You could say your new product was going to cure global warming, end world hunger and increase sexual pleasure for all ... and the publisher wouldn’t even blink. All very cynical, well, I have followed this exact route many, many times for what are now biker household brands, cherished, loved and argued about down the pub. So what’s good and bad? Well to be frank that's down to you! The reality is you would have to go out of your way to buy a bad product these days. Back in those days 80% of motorcycle gear was crap at best and downright dangerous sometimes. I’ll never forget one of my best mates standing up in a Brands gravel trap quite literally in his pants! His ‘supposed’ race suit had fallen apart and was hanging off him like some leather roman toga. Now even the cheapest of gear will provide sensible levels of protection. RST for instance make some superb race products and are one of the few to genuinely take an interest in the sport and learn from it. Helmets have been one of the bigger bones of contention over the last few years and this is where the smoke and mirrors of marketing have really won the UK over. Snobbery and gullibility have seen fairly tin-pot helmet manufacturers rule the roost here for years. One of their importers even championed the new Sharp Test in an attempt to discredit the evil (in his eyes) budget ranges from the Far East. In an almost unbelievable backfire, his own precious range of the country’s favourite top-end brand was slated by the Test he championed and exposed his product for what it truly is. The rule of thumb in helmet design is ‘old’ is bad, and ‘new’ tends to be the way to go. The likes of AGV have the means to produce new helmets ever year, after huge expenditure in R and D, testing and design. Some other manufacturers from the land of the rising sun haven’t produced a new helmet for nearly ten years! More ranting soon … Cissbury wholesale and our influence on the UK motorbike clothing market ... By Mark September 28th, 2009 As I touched on last week, Cissbury became fairly influential in the race leathers market due to its shop sales and almost stumbled on wholesale supply. We approached Spyke in Italy – Robin Boote and I actually jumped in the car (one of the first twin turbo supra’s in the UK ... a quick trip) and drove down to see them. This was purely to obtain a big stock of suits, as UK wholesalers had little or nothing at all. They naturally assumed we were there to wholesale the brand, we blurted out yes off course we will find you a dealer network, and like so many great opportunities we never saw it coming and worried about how we would do it later… Cissbury set about building the brand for Spyke by calling in our relationships with UK racers. Terry Rymer had the suits and gave them their first world championship in endurance. Ray Stringer also carried the flag for them in UKSB plus many Journo’s including Shakey Byrne at Fast Bikes. All however came crashing down when Spykes own debts meant they needed a handout from their wholesalers in the form of huge orders for their dubious range of textiles (remember if I wouldn't wear it I wouldn't buy it!). We loved the leathers but the textiles were rubbish … a rival wholesaler in the Midlands gave them what they needed in the form of a huge order and do you know they still have some of that order remaining in stock now some 10 years later… Robin and I got straight back on the plane and picked up Kushitani, RS Taichi from Japan and ultimately I found myself in Hong Kong talking to Arlenness and Berik. We first brought all these brands to the UK and all were made household names by us. I’m sure no one can forget our stands for Arlenness one year at the NEC with the Jacuzzi! But all ultimately suffered a similar fate. You may think that your agreements are watertight but business is ultimately blind and greedy – our work for all these names was rewarded with betrayal in the end. Spyke slumped into a fourth rate brand here – no one even recognises RS Taichi or Kushitani – only the Arlenness and Berik names stay strong and which we still proudly stock in Findon. Can’t say I don’t miss this side of the business. Did meet some great people and travel the world, and I am sure there are plenty of cool brands and gear out there right now that could be introduced to the UK like we did – so many times. But the risks are too high and despite having all our money (thanks to Gordon Brown), the banks refuse to lend it back ... Next time we’ll get into brands, shall we – where they are really coming from, how good they really are, and what should you believe ...
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