Brooks England stops online sales of ‘Made in Britain’ saddles to UK shoppers – because of Brexit

I read it on a review of their factory... it said 'The saddle’s journey begins in the rolling and verdant hills of Great Britain and Ireland, where the sea-borne chill of the British Isles produces thick-skinned cattle, perfect for a flexible but stiff seat. (This is also where the toughest sole leather for shoes comes from, and it’s why English shoes tend to be heavier than their Italian counterparts.) Hides come in anywhere between 5.5 to 6 mm thick — a bit wider than a pair of nickels — and are then dyed with plant-derived pigments by Tannerie Masure, the same Belgian tannery that’s been treating Brooks leather for more than 25 years.

https://craftsmanship.net/the-best-bicycle-seats-on-the-planet-a-factory...

Very few British factory made shoes use English sole leather (or even particularly good quality veg tan as the price for the real deal is too high) and cow hide can be good amount thicker than 6mm - depending more on the age of the animal than the weather to be honest, hides are a by product of the meat industry so cows don't often get to grow that old. English/Italian shoe construction is a style difference more than locality, much of the upper leather used in the U.K. is tanned in Italy anyway. I suspect the Brooks review is mainly fluff

So, what's your insight if you don't believe the below?

I've worked in the leather goods industry for 15 years, I run a business manufacturing high end goods and I source leather from tanneries and merchants all over the world 

I hoped that might be the case.  Thanks for sharing your experience.  I have a bit of a fetish for decent mens shoes...and I could stare at them for hours!  Pity we can't meet up for a beer these days!

I think the assembly of both is in the UK, though local content is far from 100%. The first BMW Mini engines came from that well known centre of automotive excellence Brazil.

Somewhere in Selle Royale there will be a bean counter who worked out that it was cheaper to centralise distribution. Companies of much size are run by hierarchies of control freaks, many of whom don't trust things they can't see. This gives rise to odd decisions or things arising from unintended consequences.

I've worked for small and large companies over the years and often been amazed by head office edicts - such as all new hires in a 50,000 people organisation must be approved by the CEO (that lasted about an hour), or that major system changes could be done on the fourth Thursday in November as no one is working then.

Shall we keep a tally? So far we have Canyon, Dutch Bike Bits, Brooks. Are there any more? And we'll check back at the start of Feb?

BTW I am genuinely not making a point here - let's see if this is short term over reaction by a few companies or if there's a real problem.

Edit: just checked the dates that things are supposed to change: 11 Jan for Canyon, no date for Brooks, Dutch Bike Bits seem to be gone forever.

I'd like to see a follow up article at the start of February.

My hunch is that the bigger companies will adapt and resume normal service soon enough but a few low volume suppliers may decide it's more hassle than it's worth.

People having hunches based on their Tory/Vote Leave agenda is how we've got into this mess in the first place.

I look forward to getting rid of Johnson's Vote Leave mob, never having to listen to their lies again, and having a decent, honest PM who is actually focused on the good of the country.

Not as accurate as the Remain hunches.

I can still remember those 800,000 job losses immediately after the vote.

Who could forget the massive fall in house prices too?

Let's see what happens in a month shall we.

Rich_cb wrote:

Not as accurate as the Remain hunches. I can still remember those 800,000 job losses immediately after the vote. Who could forget the massive fall in house prices too? Let's see what happens in a month shall we.

So much stawmanning. 
The problems that were forecast as a result of Brexit could only take place after Brexit took place, which was only a few days back. A simple distinction that Brexiter seem to really struggle with. Like most facts come to think of it. 

Still yet to hear of any tangible benefits from leaving despite asking Brexiters for 5 odd years now. 

Those forecasts were made for the 2 years after the VOTE.

If you have any degree of knowledge about the EU you will be able to identify advantages and disadvantages of membership.

If you can identify disadvantages of membership then, lo and behold, you can identify benefits of Brexit.

If you're unable to think of a single disadvantage of EU membership then you're either biased, ignorant, stupid or a combination of all three.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploa...

Honestly, a shorter list would be EU based stores who are still shipping to the UK, I have only found one so far (bike inn), everywhere else isn't delivering to the UK. Fine, use UK retailers you say? Stock levels here seem terrible, many out of stock items, only available in Europe, well, or not now.

I tried to order something from bike-discount.de last week and the UK seemed to have been removed from the list when filling out my address. I emailed them and got a bit of a non response about the 'rona and a link to the DHL website.... I went elsewhere in the end and haven't checked back since

Excellent, I look forward to it.

Thanks for engaging BTL too.

Because you can’t imagine a reason does not mean that there isn’t a good reason.  There is a possibility that those who have been operating this business successfully for many years might know more about it than you do.

Yep - I can go with that.  I decided a long time ago that I wouldn't go into saddle-making, or supply chains. 

HarrogateSpa wrote:

No doubt someone who voted Leave will be along...

Statistically, I suppose, more likely than not.

HarrogateSpa wrote:

Brexit is idiotic.

No doubt someone who voted Leave will be along in a minute ...

Hi.

This isn't about Brexit, per se. It's about our Remainer civil service. If we're the only country in the world doing this, maybe we're wrong.

Are you high? 
you voted for it, you own it. 

We're the only country in the EU leaving the EU.  Maybe we're wrong.

Youd have to dig into see if there were any EU grants to encourage employment in that region of Italy, much like the car factories in Wales/North East of the UK, the EU often indirectly encouraged such cross border supply arrangements,one thing you can be assured of is it didnt cost Selle Italia any extra money to do that ,at least till now, however illogical it might seem.

What does surprise me is businesses with worldwide distribution chains who are totally familiar with form filling (it's mostly electronic thesedays) VAT & customs,shipping around the globe, who are then claiming this Brexit situation completely flummoxes them,not from political point scoring but from a business model position,despite having had 3- 4 years to prepare for even the worst case no deal scenario.