Lucky Seven?

For those who are superstitious, seven is a very important number, and you may happily spend hours looking round the web at the various mythical, religious and astrological reasons for its significance.

This company started trading on the internet seven years ago. Perhaps we were lucky striking out early into fairly unknown territory. If you search the web you can find the wayback machine at www.web.archive.org to see a snapshot of what our original websites looked like in 2006.. It's good to be reminded of where the start was, and it underlines the years of change and endeavour since then.

It's essential to keep finding fresh products, and to improve the way they are presented.

The competition in leather business bags and leather luggage is still as great as ever. Although the traditional shops have been closing for years, the ones that remain are really very good at what they do - they have to be!

Also the department stores have upped their game markedly, although their prices must always reflect the cost of bricks and mortar trading. But then most of them work on the internet now, to get the benefit of both clicks and bricks.

Then we've got Amazon. Again sellers there are having to pay around 20% in fees and commission, so their prices aren't the most competitive.

So that's why The Leather Travel Bag Company and The Leather Briefcase Company keep the price as low as possible, and the quality as high as we can find.

Now we are heading for an eighth year. Eight is a very lucky number in China!

But as my much loved old boss said " Son, the harder you work, the luckier you get.

 www.theleatherbriefcase.co.uk

THE RETAIL JUNGLE

Survival of the fittest? absolutely.

T.J.Hughes, Dreams, Habitat, Faith Shoes, Officers Club and many more are names that either went bust or had to take drastic action in the recent past.

The fashionable scapegoat at present is the very swift rise of internet sales, but that is completely wrong.
Tescos and John Lewis and every other professional retailer has just added internet sales into their offer.

Why do retailers go bust? As one of my early bosses told me,
"There's one way to make money, and a thousand ways to lose it!"

The usual overheads are rent, rates, salaries, advertising, utilities.

It's the nasty unexpected things that can happen, like a bigger rival opening nearby, roadworks, flood, fire, theft by both staff and custmers, losing key staff, and again a long list of things you might never consider.

One things for sure, the past five years of really poor economic conditions have really sorted out the retail jungle, and anyone who's left will be looking forward to roaring away when the long awaited upturn turns up!

OLYMPICS ! UNBELIEVABLE !!

Unbelievebly, incredibly, a massively monumental would you look at that all of a sudden world shattering unbelievable run this past you fantastic globally inspiring unrepeatable phasmagorical prodigious world beating extraordinary mind numbingly overwhelming sort of kind of visionary work of genius with talented overtones giving spectacular vibes to the common people futuristically embedding encouragement generationally going forward heritage award to phenomenally gifted participants in Stratford has closed.

Absolutely.

The best bits were found using the red button, where you could find Olympic events on screen, without any commentary.

Congratulations to all medallists.

Especially on being asked moments after success -

"How does it feel...."

and being polite to the questioner.

SHEER NONSENSE

To end the recession the government has had the bright thought that printing money is the solution.
What can you say?

Sheer........nonsense.

The first paragraph of any decent text-book for 16 year olds reading Economics will state clearly that this is not a good idea, and leads to inflation.
The more money that's printed, the worse the inflation that will follow.

Next, having printed the money, an even more grotesque move.
Let's give billions to the bankers.

Can you believe the logic of giving another feast for jackals and vultures ?

These are the low life who messed up the whole system first of all!!

O.K. they retired a few bad eggs.

But the circus management that remains is scared witless of doing anything, particularly lending when times are hard.

So the simple answer is...

GIVE SOME MONEY TO THE PEOPLE!

Reduce VAT and reduce income tax now.

Result, retail and housing picks up.
Mr and Mrs Hard Working Family get that lovely old "feel good" factor.

Cars get bought.
Furniture and carpets are replaced.
Holidays are taken,

We like holidays ...holidays mean demand for travel bags.

Just off to pack.

NOW WE ARE SIX !

Our main website is 6 years old this summer.

With the help of a thing called the wayback machine I've just been reminded of the range we offered in 2006, consisting simply of two categories, briefcases and travel bags.

Progress and development have been rapid.

We now offer ten ranges.

Travel bags for example has become two sections, cabin bags and larger luggage.
Briefcases additionally include ladies briefcases, computer cases, folders and folios.

Satchels and shoulder bags, Italian briefcases and travel bags have all arrived.

The superb Ruitertassen collection has its own page.

And there's great scope for the future!

Here's a story [ Yes he's off on one again! ]
One of our regular suppliers decided to impose RRPs on all their retailers in March this year.
This meant an item we were selling at £110 MUST BE SOLD FOR £135.
Why?
Because other sellers were really upset that our company was "under-pricing" !!
So we packed up that brand's stock and sent it back.

Only we decide what is good value for our customers.
Forty years in retailing teaches simple lessons.
Dreaming about big profit margins in a competitive market is....dreaming!

Literally days later two manufacturers approached us to see if we wanted to work with them.
Next week the "WESTAWAY" range will offer more top quality merchandise for our customers to review.
Our styles, our quality, and definitely at our prices.

Thank you to all our clients over these past years.
Every day over 30% of our webshops visitors are previous buyers, or returning viewers...and we won't disappoint you.

PS "Now we are six"...is a short poem by AA Milne...worth a look!

LEATHER BRIEFCASES, INSPIRED BY ITALY !!

Meandering round the internet I decided to check some of the largest stores that sell leathergoods on the web.

One top national store group currently offers two truly unexceptional items -
a half-flapover, top handle, single compartment leather briefcase and an attache case, the ultimate British classic style in their ....

"COLLEZIONE INSPIRED BY ITALY"

Oh dear.

Whilst this is not misrepresentation, it is a wild clutch at the straw, endeavouring to connect Italian design flair to two quite ordinary products, the first made in Calcutta and the second in Shenzen.

However they are in good company, because most retailers are either ignorant of the truth, or "economical" with it.

When you see these phrases "Italian leather" "Italian design" "Italian style" the seller is implying the item comes from Italy.
Italian leather is exported to China, for bags to be made.
Italian designs and styles are copied all over the world.

The product IS NOT MADE IN ITALY...but the seller does their utmost to imply the connection.

If you see a Visconti "Monza" luxury Italian leather purse or "Milano" wallet, have a guess where they are made please.
Great brand, excellent value, superb quality - Italian as a curry.

In the same way, why on earth do sellers offer "free delivery"?

There is no such thing in a normal commercial transaction.
If the post or a courier service is used, it is paid for.
By the customer.

The retailer either sells it for £10 + PP, or £12.99 delivered price.
The buyer pays.

Come the sales, there's the wonderful "we pay your VAT" - think about it - more nonsense.
Genuine 80% reductions - from an original price that was hugely inflated upfront!
And so on.

OK - here's the point.

In this website if it says it was "Made In Italy" that's true.
It's plain that it costs you £6.95 for your purchase to be packed and delivered.
A reduction is genuine, and it's evident why the price is lowered.

Inspired?
Not really.
Customers are rarely taken in by exaggerated claims and daft offers.
Truth is the best policy.

You'll find an excellent choice of leather business cases here. www.theleatherbriefcase.co.uk

GOOD HOUSEKEEPING

Those happy souls who read my blog regularly will know how my mind works.

Good housekeeping is fundamental to every individual, family, business, organisation and country.

The great empires of history, Chinese, Egyptian, Roman, Moorish and onward - all of these - reaching into modern times, were based on sound and simple principles.

As long as they stuck to those principles, they prospered.
When the leadership lost that vision, they faltered and fell.

Let's ask why "Good Housekeeping" magazine has remained at the top since 1885.
There's probably one near you - open it and it's quality is plain to see.
Excellent interesting honest journalism, at a time when some newspapers stoop to desperate and criminal acts!

This country has been set back by the politics of the 1990s.
Politicians placed presentation above truth.
The national credit card was over-spent by an accountant who could not add up.
Banks were not trustworthy, moral values were degraded.

Good house-keeping was not even sneered at - it was forgotten.

So now you, me, every company and organisation must pay the price of forgetting the basic rule - don't spend what you can't afford.

Again, my regular readers know that I'm coming to an extremely narrow minded and very selfish conclusion, which often involves leather bags. [ Oh My Gosh]

If you care to look at our webshop, you'll see a new range on sale.
Only new to us...
Ruitertassen started making bags in 1925.
Why these bags are sold as "antique collectables" in many countries is very simple.

They have made excellent bags as a standard - operated with good house-keeping principles - and we are delighted to be able to offer you a product that should be in your hands giving good service for many years.

Ruitertassen - an investment in leather, worth saving for.

See the range here. www.theleatherbriefcase.co.uk

THE BUDGET - WHAT IS THE POINT?

Politicians do love to talk and posture, and the Chancellor of The Exchequer has a wonderful dramatic platform every year.

In fact he likes it so much he'll slip in a mini-budget wherever possible.

The recent event was labelled by the media as "THE GRANNY BASHING BUDGET" !

Is it any wonder that on the honesty perception scale journalists and politicians compete for the lowest place?

One proposal out of dozens is inflated to banner head-line status.

However far more important was the increase of the tax threshold to over £9200. That's the measure that will put £200 a year into millions of pockets.
Think about it.

My personal view is that a flat rate tax of 20% should be paid by everyone, starting at £12000 p.a.
No other grades or per centages.

It works well in many countries.

It strikes fear in the hearts of all bureaucrats as it could reduce 72,000 pages of tax law down to one side of A4!

Cannot see the Brussels brigands accepting that.
Can I asume that everyone knows that the EU's accounts have not been approved by their annual audit for the last 20 years?
Did I hear the words gravy and train?

If the EU Commission went on strike, would you notice?

Anyway, as my readers will recognise this column has narrow self-interest at it's heart.

Let's get to the real question.

What is the point of a politician who uses the same battered old attache case year after year, waving the old relic at the cameras with a triumphant grin?

We have quite a good selection, brand new, quality leather, starting at £79.95......

WHERE DOES THE LEATHER COME FROM?

Having been asked this question many times over the years, the simple answer is -
From the hide of the animal.

No-one can say this is an English, Brazilian or Italian leather with any degree of certainty.

Here's the latest information of cattle populations - top 10 countries.

India        282m
Brazil       187m
China       139m
USA          96m
EU             87m
Argentina    51m
Australia     29m
Mexico       26m
Russ Fed    18m
S.Africa      14m

But here's the top six countries producing tanned leather

China, Italy, India, Brazil, Korea, USSR.

In other words, the hides are often shipped to another country for processing. For example one UK company buys hides in Eire, ships them in refrigerated containers to a tannery in Italy, and re-imports the finished leather to the UK.

Remember that leather is a by-product of the beef and dairy industries.
The hide typically is just 5% of the value of the animal.

Just to finish off the basic facts, finished leather is used in these products

65% footwear
15% furniture and automotive
15% clothing
5%   leathergoods

In this webshop products are carefully described.
If an item is made in Italy that is made clear....although the leather may have come from any where in the world as shown above.
Italian tanneries are rated the best.

The Chinese products that are made with leather imported from Italy could be described as "Italian leather bags", which is true but misleading...so they are always described as made from Italian leather.

80%+ of the world's leather goods are now made in China...now that's something you may be certain of!

Here's an excellent selection of leather briefcases to choose from. www.theleatherbriefcase.co.uk

Lemmings

Lemmings are small rodents, notable for prodigious breeding, often followed by mass migrations to find new food sources.

They obey a herd instinct, and will attempt to overcome any obstacle in their way.

If this is a cliff....the story is true...they charge straight on, into the sea, and swim till they perish.

What made me think of this?
I'm fascinated by business, and why companies rise and fall.

Tescos has just lost 20% of it's share price...due to reduced turn-over at Xmas which has been well-publicised in the "Daily Lemming" and on Lemming Channel XX.
[ Proprietor  - Lord Rupert of Fleece the Lemmings-on-Sea. ]

Warren Buffett [ the legendary investor ] was buying into more Tesco straight away.
Upped his holding from 3 to 5% I believe.
It's an excellent company, with tangible assets, great management and frankly it's like buying £10 notes for £8 each.

Do you remember 6 years ago when Friends Reunited was sold for £175 million?
Latest figures value it at just over 3% of that...just £5.2m...ouch!
Great idea, but it was a fad...and peaked...and fell off the cliff.
There was no real long-term substance to it once people had used it.

So, let me forecast, that Facebook has got all the investor lemmings in tow.
How many $billion is it worth !!
Did you know it's lost millions of accounts in North America recently.
What is it's long term attraction...how does it make money?
Advertisement revenue is a highly volatile income ...

Whichever way the lemmings are going, look very carefully in the opposite direction.

BAD NEWS FROM COLOMBIA

Looks like there won't be any Colombian bags this side of Xmas.

My supplier is notorious for delays / excuses / misunderstandings, but eventually along come these very nice bags I cannot find elsewhere.

He obviously uses the same business approach to his leather suppliers and others in Colombia.

For once I believe his excuse for the delay.
The bailliffs have called...and all our consignment [ paid for - ready to ship ] has been impounded.

So for you, my faithful patient customers - some who have waited months for the right suiter or travel bag - yet another disappointment from my company.

My sincere apology.

One thing I hope you will take from this is that we've done our best to keep you informed.
AND - I'm going to keep every enquiry on my memory board because:-

1. I'm trying to contact the people who've got "my" goods, and see what's possible.
2. I've been in the fashion trade long enough to see many a company back in business the next day!

Please note our UK business is unaffected.

More news as soon as I have it.
Joss 0208 404 6451

Funny thing happened on the way to the Leather Briefcase Company

I've heard some excuses for late delivery, to which I can now add that the courier has locked himself out of his own van today- fairly common, so it was bound to happen to us sooner or later.

Less usual, also on my list, the fire at the oil terminal on the M1 - closing the motorway for days.

Or - the truck has been taken for forensics by the police - someone introduced illicit goods into the consignment.

The container was washed overboard in the Bay of Biscay...look it up...this happens all the time! 
There's 29,000 rubber ducks fell off a ship in the Pacific 19 years ago, which are still landing on beaches all round the world!

My personal favourite - VERY UNFUNNY AT THE TIME! - we flew in a very big urgent consignment from Calcutta, and the air-freighter was an old Russian Iluyshin.

When it landed in Gatwick, it was impossible to open the cargo bay.
The doors were jammed solid.
I think they burnt a hole in it - it took two days to get to the goods, and we paid a hefty penalty for a late delivery.

Still, what else can you do for a bit of excitement, when you sell luggage?

10 weeks to go...

Most retailers are geared to taking their major turnover in the 8 weeks before Christmas.
We're no exception.

Right now I'm reviewing every description / price / photograph....checking we have enough cartridges for the office machines etc.... a day in December can equal a week's takings in June.
Hopefully all the prep will allow things to run smoothly.

About Tuesday Dec 20th the annual buying rush will be over. Big question is whether the purse strings will be loosened - and if so - what's left to spend.

I could have been a teacher...on second thoughts I'll not mention that again!

FAILURE GUARANTEED.

Some years ago, I had to give a very short introductory talk to a meeting of worthy citizens.

They'd been well watered and fed, and were waiting for the main event to appear, and trying to stay awake and look interested.

"I'd like to announce that Tony Blair has resigned as Prime Minister, and Gordon Brown has immediately called for a General Election to confirm that he and New Labour should continue to govern."

The effect of my opening words was electric.

As the meaning sunk into the many minds in the room, I timed my next statement carefully...

" I'd like to announce it...but of course it couldn't possibly have happened".

Great merriment and applause followed, and some people still ask me to functions to this day to make after dinner speeches.

And the point is...

"All political lives end in failure" was the prediction and verdict of a man who has been voted as one of the 100 Greatest Britons....and whose political career fulfilled his own words.

As politicians struggle to run the business of Europe, [ or anywhere ] we can expect failure.

Politicians should make laws, police should enforce them.
Businesses should make money, and provide good employment, pay taxes, to be spent by public servants who know that "good house-keeping" is the only target!

Too simple?

Fluff my Mugbook

A well worn joke with my closest, is that I'm studying hard to become a High Court Judge.
What this means is I'm losing touch with reality, that's if I wanted much to do with it anyway.

So what if I couldn't recognise Madonna if she walked in the room?
Who cares what goes on in East Enders?...especially when you were born and lived in Barking for 20 years!

Now Mugbook and Fluttering appear to be vital to the air that I breathe.
Or was it Face-Up and Tooting?

It seems to me that the human urge to accommodate the LCD...that's not a drug, it's the Lowest Common Denominator... is more prevalent than ever.

Anyway, if anyone ever reads this, I'm unashamedly interested in high standards.

Life is short.

It gets shorter every passing day.

Trivial pursuits like Facebook and Tweets - damn, that will set me back on the High Court Circuit - may be fun...but they're a waste of valuable time.

Must go and see if the cricket is on....

VITAL STATISTICS...

Like every retailer, I keep a careful watch on the number of customers coming through the door.

The recent troubles on the High Street brought an immediate surge in numbers.

And a wet bank holiday is very good for internet retailers!

One area of our business is growing particularly fast.

Our overseas visitors have increased by 50% in the past year, and now place orders more readily.

We put this down to several factors.

Firstly, we do offer our goods world-wide - some retailers can't be bothered.

More countries are developing computer based retailing, and buyers are becoming more confident.

The UK currency means attractive prices...although we still think the euro is very much over-valued!

Always intrigued about some of the facts that arise.

Here's some that we find specially interesting.

On average, customers from Estonia stay longest in our webshops, and look at the most products...followed closely by Finland, Sweden and Denmark.

Norway, Ireland and Greece are next on the leader board.

At the other end...our only visitor from Tajikistan [ you can pick that out on the map I bet! ] looked at just 5 pages in 30 minutes!!! either a very slow reader, or he went to make a cup of tea...

The mention of which....

Do we have a shop?

Any thoughts of returning to a "bricks and mortar" outlet took a big backward step last week.

Hundreds of High Street shops and stores damaged, and some will close permanently.

Thousands more outlets lost vital trading days, and now will need to review their security and staffing levels.

Our visitor count doubled, and we had an excellent week, as shoppers stayed home and searched for products on the PC.

With one in seven UK shops empty, I wonder why landlords never reduce their rents?

That's the only way we could be tempted...

One Box, Add String...

In those far off days of the 1970s, when quite by chance I found myself selling bags, my first boss introduced me to the technical side.

What a bag is...a box with a piece of string attached.

Now, as I was not the most gifted in the sciences, this impressed me as an area in which I could flourish.

Indeed, for the next month, I happily explained to my customers that this was what they were buying.

And clutch bags, being all the rage, had the ADDED BONUS...there was NO STRING TO BREAK!

No wonder they were laughing when I left their shops.

I could cringe...but it was all part of growing up.

No-one taught me how to sell - I just had to pluck up courage [ and a very heavy pair of suitcases ] walk 200 yards from the car-park on a wet day, to find the owner of the shop had forgotten the appointment and gone fishing.

But if I hadn't cut my teeth on that, who knows?

When I decided to open a webshop in 2005, one of the technical team told me he'd done lots of webshops, and none of them had added up to anything.

He now uses our webshops to show new clients how it's done.

For those of you that have read this far, when I write the book about starting and running your own business, the simple truth is that you need to have abundant courage, and you never stop trying.

In fact trial and error is the best teacher there is?

As long as you want to learn!

Fings Aint Wot They Usetobe !

Spent a few days away last week with an old friend in the bag trade.

In the 1970s I used to visit regularly the factory run by Jack, his brothers and father in Hackney. In those days there were dozens of manufacturers making bags in the East End.

Not one remains.

Every item The Leather Briefcase Company sells is imported.

China, India, Colombia, Italy, Portugal, Morocco are our main sources now.

There are still a few manufacturers left in the UK, and they're able to compete by making top brand products on a shorter lead-time.

I'd like to feature "Made in England" in our webshops, as it's something I'm asked for often!

Anyone out there?

Is It Fair Trade?

We are placing orders with a small group of workers in Morocco.

Having supplied the designs and advised some new techniques, we hope we can give them regular work and a reasonable price for the goods.

It's a personal relationship, and we will do everything to make it a success.

However, when checking round, we were dismayed that "Fair Trade" is not all it seems.

Quite simply, the large organisations who have encouraged tea and coffee farmers to supply them in the West, do not really control the production properly.

"Mr. Big" still moves in and takes a cut, or says he's paying the minimum wage...but is lying.

Be assured, if we say that an item has been bought directly on a "Fair Trade" basis, that is the absolute truth ! We want our customers to have an excellent product, and to improve the working conditions of our suppliers.