All,
As you have seen from my LinkedIn article, a lot has been made of the position that IJC have taken on the cricket industry. Some have called us hypocrites, some have praised our morality, but most of all, people are curious as to who we will be having on our shelves and bat racks for 2016. So in this post I'm going to reveal who has and who has not made it for 2016, giving some reasons, and how each brands decision was tied back to our original philosophy.
If you haven't read the excellent post Chris made in the other topic, the philosophy basically boils down to this. We believe that cricket companies should either manufacture their own bats, or at least have absolute control over the manufacturing process (whether in the UK or not is irrelevant), or if not, they should be honest and open about this. All bats should be able to be handpicked.
We know that from a business point of view this might not make us the most money, but that's not why I came into this business. I didn't come into this business to be a millionaire, I did it because I wanted to look forward to going into work, to enjoy what I did, and make our customers happy. I left a much higher paying job to start up IJC, and often make decisions which from a cold numbers point of view may seem mad. Often I turn down suggestions from Chris (the hard-nosed Tory capitalist of IJC), who wants to stock something which would probably make us a lot of money, but wouldn't tie in with these beliefs. He wanted to stock GM, by ordering say 20 bats, and then picking the best 15 or so and sending back the rest, but this doesn't tie in with our ethics, and so I happily turned down what is no doubt an excellent product, and absolutely some good profit, so I could be happy in the business I'm running.
So without further ado, the brands we are dropping for 2016 are -
CP - This is a brand who won't tell us where there bats are made from, and we have had suspicions for a while about where they are made, and so we simply cannot have them on our shelves. Very good bats, and sold well (especially the Plus Edition), but we can't preach one thing and practice the other!
New Balance - Perhaps the most controversial. NB now have two of the best three batsman in the world, and will no doubt sell incredibly well. They also are decent value for money, and sold very well for us in the £105 price range last season. They are honest that the bats are made in India, outsourced, but crucially, we cannot handpick the bats. This means we cannot, and no other shop can, guarantee the quality of the bats. Therefore, how can me or my team wax lyrical about these bats if we know in our heart we probably wouldn't have hand selected them? Again, Chris wanted them because he sees it from a business point of view, which would mean we could make more money, but that's not what this is all about for me. So NB bats go, shoes, bags etc will stay.
Mars Cricket - This is a company who offer sponsorships for any Tom, Dick or Harry, regardless of what level of cricket they play. They are also essentially just a "sticker" company, since they make no bats themselves, yet they advertise heavily based on the fact they are UK made, and even have UK stickers on them. Crucially, they say, "designed in UK", or "UK Company", which we feel to be deceptive, and is a major reason we have dropped them from the range.
Spartan - This one is more of a business decision. They've lost Prior, Clarke and Dhoni from the big stage, and Gayle is out injured and now only playing overseas predominantly. We feel this is a brand on the decline, and so have taken the decision to step away from Spartan.
PiriPiri - Again, this is a company who are simply based around their stickers. Not the hardest decision to move away from them. Much like Mars, they also have very little input into the design of the bat, using fairly generic shapes, and the finishing touches and attention to detail just isn't there.
Slazenger - Perhaps the most confusing, and some would say, dishonest of all. Watch my video on the V800, or the V12 Harrow, where there are stickers on the bat which say Made in England, but stickers on the barcode which say Made in India? How can we make sense of that? Further, the bargain bin Sports Direct association doesn't help the cause massively.
And now, the brands which we have decided to stock, and why.
Gray Nicolls - They are perfectly open about where their bats are made, and we have mentioned this in our Made in England vs Made in India video. Also, we handpick from well over 500 hundred bats when we go there, so we can ensure the quality!
Kookaburra - Very, very similar to GN. Open and honest, and we can handpick from numerous, and often unopened, crates.
Salix % HitsHard - An absolutely fantastic set up, one of my favourite days of the year is getting the train to visit Andrew and the team. No arguments here about the provenance or quality of the bats. They didn't sell amazingly well, but we feel they will be a lot better this year, and they tie in with our ethos absolutely brilliantly.
Phantom - Some would call Phantom a sticker brand. We would disagree. Aftab takes time to have a massive input into the shapes and designs of the bats, making them something different, and ensuring there is a coherent range. The attention to detail is also second to none, just look at the Hero junior bat. The embossed stickers, training tops, bat covers etc etc are something which sets them apart. Phantom have also been incredibly popular, and they, too, are open about where the bats are made. We also handpick from them, and the returns and aftercare service is one of the best around. Further, Aftab brings us a lot of his bats for us to sift through, and so the handpicking box is most definitely ticked!
Blank Bats - A forum favourite! They never stick on our shelves for very long, and they are similar to Phantom in many ways. Have never claimed to make their own bats, and are very honest about the provenance. One of their team is also based very locally to us and so we can get a good number of bats to trawl through and pick out the best.
Hell4Leather - Self explanatory really. Matt does it all himself, and we handpick too. Probably the easiest one to explain!
Millichamp and Hall - Very similar to H4L. Handpicking and made in house. I've seen them do it with my own eyes - they have all the machinery, including a press.
Newbery - We know where Newbery bats are all made, they are incredibly honest and open, and we have chatted to them in great length about the manufacturing process. When the Kudos2 pressing issue emerged, we could chat to the guys for a long time about the specifics of the pressing, which sets them apart from NB, or PiriPiri, or Spartan etc. They are all made from the very beginning in England, and we handpick each and every one from their rather beautiful Hove location. In all our years of our operation, Newbery have probably been the most consistently high quality and popular brand, with the most positive feedback from customers. Further, they let us design and shape (and very specific about the shape we were!) our own bat, right down to the grips for this coming season, the toe guards, the size of the back sticker etc etc, and so this is just further proof that they have control over the manufacturing process. We can also get bats turned around within a couple of days when we request for them to be made up, just further supporting evidence.
Chase - This one isn't absolutely 100% for certain, but is looking likely. Another brand who make their own bats and will welcome us to hand pick from them, they really do align with all our principals very well.
CA and SF - I've put these two in the same category for obvious reasons. They both make their own bats (irrelevant that this isn't in the UK), and they are incredibly high quality. We also have a UK distributor from who we pick our bats from. On average we pick about 5 from a selection of between 20-30 depending on the quality, and so the handpicking element is also clearly ticked here. Having these brands also adds some variety to the range, as some people prefer the Asian shapes and profiles.
Adidas - Perhaps the most surprising of the lot. We wanted to add Adidas, as we feel they will be popular moving forwards. The 2016 range is very attractive, and whilst not the cheapest, we do feel the quality is there. We have focused mainly on lower end bats, and Adidas have welcomed us to their warehouse to handpick with open arms. They, too, are honest about where the bats are made (Sondi), and so have made no attempt to deceive the customer.
So hopefully there you can see that my article was not just a publicity stunt, and that IJC has a clear philosophy and ethics behind it, which aren't just about making money. We aren't, however, overly self-indulgent, we still stock a wide range of prices, shapes, brands etc, allowing the customer a very good choice of bats. I doubt many other shops can speak with this authority over their vision and morality behind the ranges.
Most importantly, we can confidently say that every single bat on our shelves is handpicked. How many other shops can?
Paul
Author
Topic: The IJC Philosophy - Which Brands Make the Cut for 2016? (Read 21529 times)