-- Last Updated: Sep-09-16 1:16 PM EST --
summers keeping my head from roasting in the southern sun.
Failure meaning a small break in the fabric on the crown.I think it will complete this paddling season before being replaced.
patches add character
just saying…
For $8.50 and the return of the old one
I’ll go for it. My boats and I have enough patches for ample character.
Send it in…
They will replace it.
I got a replacement when mine died.
good business model
– Last Updated: Sep-11-16 4:06 PM EST –
Got to hand it to Tilley. Even accounting for the fact that their hats are actually "made in Canada" I doubt there is more than $5 worth of material and $10 worth of labor and overhead involved in producing one. At the usual "keystone" markup on clothing they would sell for $30. Selling them for $84 pretty much covers Tilley financially to replace a worn one for any buyer twice over their lifetime and for the "50% loss replacement" for infinity. IF my calculations are correct, every time they replace a lost one for $42 they are clearing $27.
Nice racket. But perhaps one of the best ways to convince somebody to pay so much for a simple hat.
I also notice that despite the strong dollar, they are still selling their hats for the same price in Canadian and US dollars. Even Feathercraft shows a substantially lower price in US dollars for their Canadian made kayaks. A Tilley should cost $64.37 US dollar as of this week's exchange rate. Which reinforces that what you are REALLY paying for is the long term insurance on the hat, not so much the hat itself.
Don't get me wrong, they're nice hats And I fully admit I paid a lot for the 2 OR Seattle Sombreros that I dearly love. Finding a hat that's perfect for the stuff you do is worth just about any price, in the end. I understand Tilley's strategy and think it's brilliant.
I got my Tilley from Sierra Trading Post
at a little over half price.
labour and materials
You say
“I doubt there is more than $5 worth of material and $10 worth of labor and overhead involved in producing one.”
I’m a sailor as well as a kayaker. I also sew and repair my boat related “canvas” materials. I guess you have neither bought that kind of material, nor tried to sew it to produce much, let alone a hat.
A Tilley is the only hat I wear, and it has been replace twice now. Worth every cent.
But then, that’s just my opinion.
It is the only wide brimmed hat
I have found that makes a size that fits me.
if their overhead is much more than that
then they’re struggling to make a profit.
Yep
it’s worth the $ for the return. Mine was wearing out after 15 years and many miles & rivers. I finally sent it in last year and asked for the return as the original is a bit of a treasure. I arranged to get it sewn up and do still take it out at times.
actually, I have
– Last Updated: Sep-18-16 12:48 AM EST –
Mystery: I had a boyfriend who was a sailmaker and dinghy racer and I used to make duffels tarps and gear bags with his leftover canvas. I've sewn my own gear my whole life, using two vintage Singer treadle sewing machines. I've made backpacks, neoprene and leather items, spray skirts, tents, sleeping bags and even reconstructed the heavy duty vinyl coated polyester skin of a folding kayak. Made costumes and props for amateur theater productions too, so I have sewed brimmed hats.
10 ounce cotton duck runs less than $10 a yard retail in small quantities, in fact i just bought a 8 yards of it to sew a new skirting for my brother's 20' diameter yurt. A hat like a Tilley takes about a half a yard (makes sense since the hats weigh about 6 ounces each). Brass grommets are easy to set and cost a few cents each. A sewing production assembly line would take less than an hour for cutting, stitching and handling such a hat.
But plenty of popular products have minimal cost to the manufacturer. The ingredients in the average 12 ounce can of soda cost less than a nickel. If we like something, we pay what the maker asks for it, and actual cost of production often has little to do with it.
Our entire married lives we have
– Last Updated: Sep-17-16 3:47 PM EST –
been very budget minded
Bought used homes, drove cars forever, rarely ate out,etc.
We're retired with minimal debt so when one of us really wants an extravagance, we buy it.
She has the Better Than Sex CAD/CAM sewing machine. I have a few boats.
She has nixed the crew cab F150 but they leave me in sticker shock anyway.
Got to love your
description of that sewing machine, String.
Awesome prose!
Yes but when you paddle
with him and are the brunt of his zingers it doesn’t feel “awesome”!
Castoff, I knew I was missing something.
We haven’t paddled in awhile, but I heard you have gone to the dark, windy side.
Yes I have
just don’t take the wind from my sails! My heart is big enough to love two aquatic mistresses with paddling being the other.
Two aquatic mistresses!!!?
You mean A Tally of Tilleys and Tail of Two Mermaids: The Liquid Assets and Unhully Romances of Overboard Otto?
(now playing in less-than-select theatres)
Sail away and paddle on
Found the paperwork. My Tilley is
12 yo.
A youngster
I bought mine in 2000 for a 2 week trip on the Missinaibi so it was 15 when I sent it in.