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Cheesecake Factory menu take on product lines
As someone who has tried to understand their product lineup, I dare anyone to explain Rapha's road jersey collection to me.
Isn’t a high sku count pretty much the norm for any apparel company especially one that’s trying to be “fashionable”. And as long as your warehouse and ordering managers are in sync you really shouldn’t have much in the way of “waste”. Especially if you are doing the occasional clearance sale.
I’d imagine the main issue is just the insane excess inventory when it comes to cycling apparel. Specialized has been running 40-70 percent off damn near everything for over a year now and seemingly still has a lot of overstock. Fox has had more discounts than usual. Tld has plenty of stuff on sale year round rather than occasional sale and clearance stuff. I’m sure it’s the same or worse in the road world. Also seemingly everyone has an apparel line anymore.
Way too many options with more supply than demand. But the margins that people are normally willing to pay for apparel versus bikes should give most of these companies a pretty decent buffer till the market settles.
I’m not sure, as you alluded to, bike clothing is an insanely saturated segment. How much clothing do you need? My dresser drawers are at max capacity. I can’t imagine any apparel company is doing well right now, but an NF with a slightly more manageable scale is probably safer than Rapha? I wish specialized would update their shoe line, but may default to the freerider pro again.
*sets down beer*
Pro Team variations - fit is too tight for anyone with a body fat higher than 5%, but that won't stop a dedicated MAMIL [see also: Lampre Man]. Aspirational[?]. Very tight fit. Replicas of jerseys from every race team they sponsor, plus non-logo versions of the same. Tight, yo.
Core - regular road jerseys for warm weather riding. The fit is what most would consider snug but doable.
Brevet - merino version of the Core line, with more pockets. MAMIL-tolerant.
Classic - MAMIL-friendly merino, very comfy on brisk days.
Shockingly clear explanation. My apologies to everyone for this helpful but nonetheless off-topic diversion.
Possibly also worth noting that GM has sold off or shut down many of its international brands over the last decade. Opel and Vauxhall were sold to PSA and are part of Stellantis now. Holden simply evaporated...
GM's sole presence in those old markets is now low volume import specialty vehicles for cashed-up bogans such as Corvettes and emotional support trucks.
I couldn't find global brand sales in a hurry though so I don't know how much (or if) GM group sales have contracted significantly.
Edit: Just for laughs, I looked up Silverados near me. Only one wasn't POA. Thankfully they aren't selling very many.
Might be too late; I just tried to order some and got a cancellation notice a few hours later saying they couldn't ship them due to PFAS regulations (I'm in the US fwiw).
uhhhhhhhhhhh should I be concerned?? lol
afaic im shoving micro plastics and what not in my body all day with modern food and wearing modern clothes (didnt old goretex have a big problem?) but is rapha the only one not selling knee pads cuz they are too toxic?
Everything PFAS is getting a clampdown sooner or later. It's becoming the new leaded gasoline.
You shouldn't be concerned about kneepads specifically as those microplastics contain enough PFAS anyway.
As long as we are comparing bikes to cars, I feel like its worth bringing up "sensible" builds and the fact that the industry responds somewhat by offering them. Maybe I am pipe dreaming but if the US had fewer walls around vehicle imports/laws and the companies stopped their cartel behavior we could see the $10,000 "Ripmo AF" Toyota Truck here. I wonder if we will see more automaker behavior from the bike industry in the coming years.
If you live in CA or NY, you will get blocked ordering items with PFAS. I tried ordering some Gore windblock baselayers and was shutdown. You can order from retailers who dgaf. (Overall, I approve of the legislation despite the hassle).
It's fucking stupid to block the sale IMO because the stuff is already made and if it doesn't get sold and used, it'll just get sent to a landfill and enter waterways anyways. Prohibit import into the country, fine, but blocking the sale of these items in CA just NIMBYs the problem. I was unable to buy a set of POC elbow pads from Backcountry & Jenson because they apparently have PFAS, but was able to from Amazon. Last winter we got a super nice Arc'teryx snowboarding jacket (complete with GoreTex PFAS) for my wife for like 50% off but had to ship it to a buddy in OR who forwarded it on to us.
Not to beat the dead horse, but my wife gets these Term Sheet emails everyday about the tech world, and today's was on YT. https://fortune.com/2025/07/23/the-insolvency-of-ardian-backed-mountain-biking-company-yt-industries-underscores-just-how-much-tariffs-have-shaken-the-biking-industry/
Good read, but nothing ground breaking, other than rappers and Walmart heirs at YT parties. It's more the fact it's being covered by such a prominent publication that surprises me.
just as a side note about holden, Holden got bailed out in Australia - which wasnt helped by The damn Union they had, They wanted their almost no skill assembly jobs paying higher than most other jobs in Australia.
Unions in Aus and NZ are serious poison to any company and it's workers, especially the MWU.
I've been apart of several as a worker and man they just hold union meetings to suck as much money from a company as possible without any care to their members actual job retention.(there is kids straight out of school with no skills earning atleast $40p/h.)
Not sure how well unions work elsewhere but here and Australia they are awful Groups(they are essentially their own business)
It's definitely interesting to explore the supplier/quality issues Markus mentioned... But at the same time that sounds like something EVERY brand was dealing with even before covid and then even much worse during and post-covid. But it's kinda interesting to bring that up like, well actually the problem is we could just barely get bikes in to sell (with all the demand!)... While they make bikes nearly 50% off and still haven't sold out of much of anything.
But I know they have a lot of bikes, maybe most listings, as 'coming soon' and those numbers are probably never accurate if online customers are to be believed... But I do wonder how that plays into the V O L U M E strategy of getting out of a hole. If you are ok with slim margins and high volume of sales as your strategy, but you're squeezing your supplier dry of blood in terms of workforce/conditions/demands/requests what have you... It sounds like you create a bottleneck. To where even if there WAS demand (which is fairly logical given representation online and at trailheads) and you were accepting of slim margins... It was never going to work out. You need the popular models (size medium jeffsys and capras i reckon) at all times to try to sell your way out of debt...
Not gonna up or downvote you because I don't think either is warranted. Ages ago, I worked a very end user and industry facing role. I was paid squat. And while part of me didn't mind, part of me was chafed as hell because the union pickpackers were making at minimum $5/hr more than I with considerably better benes. So, I was ranting to my pop about it and he told me one thing that has stuck with me and it was simply, "maybe if they're getting paid more than you for less responsibility the problem isn't theirs for being in a union than it is yours for not being in one." That stuck, and while I never found myself working a union role (yet, ya never know) I never disparaged any union or union worker since.
Just like human beings, there are good unions and bad unions. My brother is a union firefighter, and that union goes to bat for the members making sure the city rightfully has to pay for disability and injury caused by a hazardous line of work. I work at a construction company in the office, and we have union crane operators who earn on average a lot more than I do (non-union salaried), but I don't begrudge them for that. I have job security even in recessions and they get no hours when there's no work. When we go to "right to work" states, we still use union operators and pay them more than local prevailing wage, per our union agreement. It makes us less competitive at an hourly rate, but on the other hand it lets us hire the best operators because we pay more, so we have higher productivity. On the other hand, when we go and do projects in certain states with fairly corrupt unions (*cough* New York), everyone loses out there except the union bosses.
I agree but for some of ours, We have guys putting Stuff in boxes or moving something A to B in a room etc on $40/ph.
previous job: (for reference I was in a management position) our entry Labor Wage is $29, which everyone gets at min, Which IMO is considerably to high and Gets close to many of the guys who have been there and loyal for 20 years+.
as a side note From connections (friends etc) - 18 months ago a meat works was told to cut costs or plant Will shut - the Union pushed for higher wages at that plant and leaked MWU meeting said they didnt care and that was the companies fault(for a Falling Meat price margin market ) so instead of Keeping their members employed They Had them jobless at Xmas'24 - 600 people out of a job a few weeks before christmas. https://www.stuff.co.nz/rural/350432833/declining-sheep-numbers-last-straw-smithfield-plant
'declining sheep numbers' is The media excuse to prevent the Digging.
which is essentially what happened to Car Manufacturers in Australia being Toyota, Ford and Holden.
Please dont get me wrong, Im all for Fair pay/wages But often It's just taking the piss.
PSA NOT A UNION POLITICS THREAD
As mentioned, Unions can be tough. They also can be pretty great for workers safety, health care, unfair labor practices, etc.
I hear many complaints about work regulations these days and how tough they are. We need practical laws, of course. We also need to remember that almost of those work protections were written in blood.
curious why people are downvoting?
are they happy Their these groups are doing their best to make sure people lose their jobs?
I was purely pointing out, Unions while good for most, can also be the opposite depending on whos running them.
Wheeeeeeeee!!!
Since YT is being discussed in depth here, I figured a link to today's launch of the new Decoy would be appropriate: https://www.vitalmtb.com/product/guide/e-bikes/yt/decoy-67731#product-reviews-653291
A statement from YT regarding the current restructuring:
“We are currently undergoing a legal restructuring to put YT Industries on a strong and sustainable path for the future.
If you placed an order before July 15th, please note that—due to legal regulations—it may be part of the restructuring process and will be reviewed individually. Our customer service team is already reaching out to affected customers to provide clarity and support.
Orders placed on or after July 15th are not affected and will be fulfilled as usual.
With the launch of the new DECOY, we’re excited to give you a first look at what’s next. This is just the beginning. Availability will be shown as ‘Coming Soon’, as we continue to stand by our policy of not offering pre-orders. Stay tuned — more bikes are coming soon!
*this only affects GmbH (EU), our USA entity remains unaffected.”
The only union we should be talking about is the one run by Steel City Media.
We’ve all seen the “clarity and support” email they sent out. LOL
At least they finally read the room and released a Bosch motor e-bike.
I'm just waiting for some typical SoCal guy to buy the core 1 and then swap out the fork (and then sell me that beautiful white Bomber)
I am loving the roast session on the other site about them promoting the new decoy amid all this
Posted a comment on the other site, but this statement is pretty shitty "If you placed an order before July 15th, please note that—due to legal regulations—it may be part of the restructuring process and will be reviewed individually."
No, YT, you made the choice to prioritize short-term cash flow by screwing over customers. There are well-established legal options for protecting customer payments from becoming part of an insolvency estate. You could have used an escrow or trust account from the outset, structured payments to transfer only upon delivery, or at the very least paused sales and issued a clear warning once insolvency was on the table. These are proactive, legal mechanisms companies use to protect consumers, and you deliberately chose not to use them. Instead, you ran a flash sale to rake in cash from unsuspecting buyers, knowing full well their payments had zero protection. Legally, they’re unsecured creditors now but that’s because you chose that path.
Bike Rumor reporting Intense exiting UK and EU markets "citing ongoing economic challenges in the global cycling industry."
Somehow incredibly not surprising.
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