Aero Leather Clothing trial update

[HoosierDaddy]

Didn't I read in the testimony that Amanda and Holly seemed to clash somewhat after Holly questioned or offered to innocently help WL with a better eBay program before his shady auctions were revealed..??

 

[AdeeC]

I tell you this, when I read that WL started a petition to keep Ken out of the factory, I was astounded. Surely, as the owner, Ken has every legal right to go whenever he wants. Surely just starting a petition would be grounds for dismissal? I'd have taken the petition and fired every name on it. But, y'know, I'm kinda petty that way.

If as suggested WL was planning to poach the staff for AL then a petition would have been another manipulative tactic to help compromise the staff and back them into a corner. If your boss puts a petition in front of you, it would be hard to resist. No one wants trouble with the boss if they can help it.

 

[Superfluous]

As I review the underlying events, I cannot help but focus a bit on Toohey's involvement. WL let Toohey make jackets using Aero's machinery. Why? What was the purpose? What leather was Toohey using? What happened to the jackets that he made? What happened to the revenue from the jackets made by Toohey?

At or or about the same time that WL was organizing a mass exodus from Aero to AL, WL was allowing Toohey to make jackets at Aero. Thereafter, WL helped to create AL and, low and behold, Toohey became AL's Managing Director. Coincidence? I think not!

 

[Sloan1874]

I tell you this, when I read that WL started a petition to keep Ken out of the factory, I was astounded. Surely, as the owner, Ken has every legal right to go whenever he wants. Surely just starting a petition would be grounds for dismissal? I'd have taken the petition and fired every name on it. But, y'know, I'm kinda petty that way.

It was Edith Yardley who started it, WL and AS didn't sign it themselves - make of that what you will - but yes I'm told that it took the partner of one of the machinists to point out that they would face disciplinary action as a result of it and so they pulled their necks in.

As far as I know, JM is still at AL, he wasn't fired. He certainly knew all about the storse stuff, though he and the others insisted they never saw Will take anything. As far as JL goes, it's hard to know what happened or why, but Michael Rocks said that Lauder looked upon the staff payroll as a problem and was constantly trying to cut numbers, so I guess his wife would be a relatively easy subtraction to make.

Toohey's involvement is unclear, in as much as he had worked for Aero before but had left some time earlier - the 90s, I think. It could well be that Lauder was simply helping his mate out by letting him earn some money off the books using Aero's facilities and materials. The 108 jackets he made, as far as I know, were sold under the Aero label, mainly steer ones, and it's believed the majority went down south to London for sale there. Given the question mark over the number of cash in hand sales made by Lauder during his time as MD, I'd say it's difficult to know where the money was going, especially if the jackets were being made by somebody who wasn't officially on the payroll.

 

[Edward]

Daily Mail readers are of a certain vintage, so Suzi's catsuit is a bit of an icon of that era...

I rather think Jimi Hendrix might have scared the horses a bit in Mailland too.

Because everyone in the UK remembers that catsuit! Hell, even I remember seeing her on Top Of The Pops doing "Can The Can" - and I was 6! And I thought she looked cool - and like a star. Which she was.

First I saw of her was on a repeat off Happy Days, in which she appeared on and off as... a leather-clad, female bass-player. Which I'm sure was a stretch. Sadly, I think she's gone a bit senile: last I saw of her was an interview in the music press a couple of years ago, in which she claimed that there had been "no" female bass players other than her.

 

[AdeeC]

It was Edith Yardley who started it, WL and AS didn't sign it themselves - make of that what you will - but yes I'm told that it took the partner of one of the machinists to point out that they would face disciplinary action as a result of it and so they pulled their necks in.
As far as I know, JM is still at AL, he wasn't fired. He certainly knew all about the storse stuff, though he and the others insisted they never saw Will take anything. As far as JL goes, it's hard to know what happened or why, but Michael Rocks said that Lauder looked upon the staff payroll as a problem and was constantly trying to cut numbers, so I guess his wife would be a relatively easy subtraction to make.

His wife's pay was made up for in other ways and she didn't have to work. I wonder if she received a severance package?

 

[Big J]

As I review the underlying events, I cannot help but focus a bit on Toohey's involvement. WL let Toohey make jackets using Aero's machinery. Why? What was the purpose? What leather was Toohey using? What happened to the jackets that he made? What happened to the revenue from the jackets made by Toohey?

At or or about the same time that WL was organizing a mass exodus from Aero to AL, WL was allowing Toohey to make jackets at Aero. Thereafter, WL helped to create AL and, low and behold, Toohey became AL's Managing Director. Coincidence? I think not!

Yeah, #Steve_Toohey_of_Alexander_Leathers has slipped mostly under the radar in this trial.
The current MD of Alexander Leathers is a former Aero employee, who, whilst not employed by Aero, was being let into the factory at 4 a.m. by convicted criminal Will Lauder, and the two of them founded Alexander Leathers together.
There's more to that story than has been disclosed in court I'd wager.
Steve Toohey must know who Alexander Leathers mystery designer and pattern maker is.
I e-mailed Alexander Leathers for information about thier designer a week ago. Still no reply.
I e-mailed Alexander Leathers a week ago to ask if MD Steve Toohey is the same Steve Toohey that Will Lauder was letting into the Aero factory at 4 a.m.

Still no reply.
I think Alexander Leathers investors/owners need to understand that thier factory management are tainted, the staff they poached from Aero are tainted, and thier mystery designer is likely non-existent, making thier designs of dubious origin. The brand is so badly tainted, they should consider scrapping it, scrapping thier tainted staff, and employ new management and designers with original ideas IMHO.
If they do that, then they stand a fighting chance of re-branding the operation and taking some market share.
The way things stand, there are just too many question marks over thier whole set-up for me to consider putting my hand in my pocket for thier products.
They just don't have anything like the customer good-faith that Aero has.

In fact, for me to ever consider owning an Alexander Leathers jacket, I would need proof that it wasn't made from counterfeit or stolen Aero designs. I would need to meet the designer, and he would have to be able to show me his preliminary sketches, and design detail diagrams. I'd want to see photos of the design in its development stages that showed how the design evolved as it went from being a sketch on a piece of paper, to final version going into production.
That's what I'd want for my money.

 

[ProteinNerd]

Personally I think its time this thread was locked. There is nothing more productive to come of it, the trial is over, he has been convicted and sentenced and there is no way in Hell that anyone from AL is going to make any sort of official contribution to this thread or probably TFL forum again.

I think its time we all moved on and focused on appreciating quality leather jackets again.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Personally I think its time this thread was locked. There is nothing more productive to come of it, the trial is over, he has been convicted and sentenced and there is no way in Hell that anyone from AL is going to make any sort of official contribution to this thread or probably TFL forum again.

I think its time we all moved on and focused on appreciating quality leather jackets again.

Has AL ever posted on the FL..?? I don't remember any of their posts.
Yes..I think some of us seem to be repeating ourselves with possibly big expectations that will never happen.

 

[ProteinNerd]

Has AL ever posted on the FL..?? I don't remember any of their posts.

I thought maybe they had...but I might be confusing them with our old friend Drifter Productions...

 

[Big J]

I thought maybe they had...but I might be confusing them with our old friend Drifter Productions...

Who are 'Drifter Productions'?

 

[ProteinNerd]

He is/was someone associated with AL somehow...it was never quite clear exactly what his connection was but he claimed to be the AL rep in the USA or something like that.

He also used to sell AL jackets on eBay under the name Aero Adventures to get around the whole trademarked name restrictions eBay put in place. He included Aero Adventures in the title name so people searching for Aero jackets would get a hit for his listings even though they were AL jackets.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Who are 'Drifter Productions'?

He posts here on occasion selling Alexander jackets mainly on eBay using the Alexander name...and also the Aero label to get more hits on his auctions.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Oops..missed your last post PN.

 

[Big J]

No, thank you both!
That's interesting.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Yeah..kinda deceptive wouldn't you say?
Several members criticized him about using the Aero name but he never responded.
Come to think of it...He might as well advertise 'Aero' jackets made by AL. Wouldn't be too far off....

 

[tropicalbob]

He's apparently from Arkansas, but he lists on his resume under "Languages Spoken" the word "Gaelic." And I thought I had some funny stuff on my resume.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Funny..!!

The Celtic language of Ireland & Scotland...

[video=youtube;sWBUnixqX5g]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWBUnixqX5g[/video]

 

[Superfluous]

Who are 'Drifter Productions'?

https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobbylanphier
https://www.linkedin.com/pub/robert-bob-lanphier/12/253/379
http://www.styleforum.net/forums/posts/by_user/id/165084
http://www.drifterproductions.net/Welcome.html
http://stores.ebay.com/drifterproductionsltd/

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/show...R-who-Jacket-in-Horween-Chromexcel&highlight=

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/show...upply-Horween-Chromexcel-horsehide&highlight=

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?71816-Aero-ebay-frustrations

 

[Edward]

Drifter hasn't been seen in these parts for a long time. I think the last time he was around there was a fairly frank exchange of views between him and some on the forum over some issues - if memory serves, this included debate over an AL-made jacket Drifter had on eBay under his original "Aero Leather Alexander Leather" listing approach. Someone on there also tried to poo-poo the notion that Ken drew up the design for the Bootlegger, and that it was Ken's contact, not Will's, which led to the film involvement (in response to Drifter's implication in he ad that the buyer would be buying a jacket from the people who designed and made the one in the film). The thread might still be around somewhere.

These days, Drifter doesn't mention Aero in his sales. I presume either the lawyers or eBay got to him.... Any question of trade mark infringement completely aide, it's against eBay's own rules to use a brand name not belonging to the product you're selling in your auction details. Same for both a dealer selling new jackets, and anyone selling a second hand jacket as "AL not Aero" or "Eastman not Aero Buzz Rickson Real McCoy's". I recently saw "AL made by ex-Aero staff", which is also a nono as the issue here is not passing off an non-Aero as an Aero, but using the Aero mark to pull in more views.

Has AL ever posted on the FL..?? I don't remember any of their posts.

Not officially, though I suspect that there have been a number of posts made unofficially by employees of AL, or on their behalf by friends of the company. As to making a statement about the Lauder conviction and sentencing, I can't imagine them coming in here to make it. If they do make another statement, their website will be the place to make it. They'd be well advised not to make another statement like the recent "Aero are telling people not to order from us" claim. To be honest, I'm surprised their legal team didn't nix that from the off (I should imagine the legal team didn't see it until after the fact), but the company have done similar before. The original "about us" when it first launched was a screed about Will, including a statement to the effect that all sorts of allegations had been made that were defamatory, and he would clear his name. Somebody had the good sense to nix that one too, though again it should never have gone up. But hey ho. Either we'll see a statement early this incoming week to the effect that the company had an employee who was very naughty in previous employment, that they are shocked and horrified, and that they don't condone.... want to move on.... et cetera.... or they'll decide that this isn't well-enough known in their potential market, and just get on with trying to build up the company. What we're more likely to see soon is, I think, a publicity drive for the rebranding as "Simmonds Bilt"... At least, I can't see why they'd go to the effort of officially changing the name and then never trade under that name. Also possible that Simmonds Bilt could focus on producing jackets for other brands rather than direct sales - like the Nigel Cabourn stuff and Iron Heart. AL doesn't seem to have set the world alight exactly by producing jackets under their own label, so perhaps producing for other labels might work better for them. [huh]