cautionary tale....

http://business-bankruptcies.com/cases/piloti-inc

hmm....rumors of a hostile takeover that failed and then this....

Quote
heymagic
http://business-bankruptcies.com/cases/piloti-inc

hmm....rumors of a hostile takeover that failed and then this....

Those of us with out noses crammed against proverbial grinding stones while on drugs and raising kids are maybe missing some or all of the backstory..
Like all the back story..

Somebody is actually named Rimmer?

Since you ave your finger on the pulse of whassappeningnow, why don't tell us ignorantes what this is what the corn-xetion is etc.

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John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

OOOoooooooooooooooooooooooOOOh.
The plop sickens.

---

John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

I thought about that this morning....doh!!

Rimmer is the money behind DirtFish as I've heard. He apparently had an interest in Piloti also. Rumor (not confirmed ) is he called a note due on Piloti in order to get the assets. That is just a rumor..Rimmer rumor..as opposed to rimmer humor..the filing isn't a rumor so something went south. Hopefully it is all above board and just a sign of the economic times.

I have a friend that just lost a boat load of commercial property to a financial deal. Privately financed, someone else wanted the property. That guy bought the note and called it due immediately.

Private financing can be a godsend or a nightmare depending . Of course so can conventional business loans.

Piloti has been a supporter of PNW rally events for years. Kevin Beard grew up in Aberdeen and I've known him since he started driving. The whole family were friends and customers. I hope this works out for him.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/16/2012 12:32PM by heymagic.

Beard as in dark blue 510 that got sold to the Italians as a recce car, that Beard? Piloti sounds Italian, they have Italians in Aberdeen?

What is Piloti?

---

John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

I see the name "Rimmer" and can only think of the character from Red Dwarf....

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---** To be in compliance with the Anarchy **---
Jorden R. Kleier
Baraboo, Wisconsin, USA
1990 Mazdog Protege 4WD
1973

Don't remember the 510 unless it was Butch Jobsts car.

Piloti is/was a growing shoe company making driving shoes and regular wear style shoes. kevin wnet to design school years ago, always a car guy. I remember some of his interior designs and whatnot. Somewhere along the line he ended up working for Nike/Adidas or one of those guys. Think he went to Yurup at some point. I lost track of him until he started Piloti and showed up at Olympus. Car guy and shoes, worked for him and company was gaining worldwide prominence. Hope it works out.

http://www.piloti.com/History-W14.aspx

That's a bummer but I applaud Beard for trying. Hard market to break into an shoe manufacturing is crazy expensive.
We figured around $250k to start production of one individual shoe in multiple sizes. Marketing and distribution and and and... Hard business to get into.
If anyone has some way to get ahold of a Piloti business plan I'd love to get a copy of it!

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Grant Hughes

Tough times for shoe mfrs. I just heard Lasco (new startup) closed up this week, too.

It IS sorta a saturated market that is primarily driven by marketing....

Wonder if Grant had considered getting his poor old Xratty going again and making some Grantkana videos and going viral on Youtube, the millions would just flood in then.

---

John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

Didya see Lasco's price point? The style wasn't really there in my opinion either. They were cool shoes, but not that cool.
Piloti failed because the market is not there really. It was a good effort and at least here in Colorado, many rallyists are still sporting their Piloti shoes on a regular basis.

Shoe business is a tough business, especially a niche market like motorsport shoes. The market is missing retail outlets because it is not a market that has large retail needs. Anybody ever been to SubeSports? I know the local somewhat successful drag racing shop here doesn't carry ANY apparel.

Production tooling depending on the construction can vary. Costs for tooling are anywhere from typically $1500-6,000 PER SIZE, and in total for production tooling, lasts and first orders, I normally recommend a new brand has approx 100-200K available. Minimum order quantities you would likely be looking at 5000 pairs per style, 1200 pairs per color. Design only costs are typically 2500-3000 per upper, 3500-4000 per outsole depending on complexity.

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Grant Hughes

Well thats a bummer, had a few pair myself and thought they were actually pretty good quality and also made a great rally driving shoe.

I think Rimmer also plunked some ching on shark tool storage in addition to Dirtfish and Motoring Unlimited. MU and moreso Dirtfish have been going through some "fine tuning" so to speak. Bob Morris was out quite a while ago, now Lund is out... I heard they brought in some ex- microsoft corp worrior type.

Quote
Gravel Spray
Well thats a bummer, had a few pair myself and thought they were actually pretty good quality and also made a great rally driving shoe.

I think Rimmer also plunked some ching on shark tool storage in addition to Dirtfish and Motoring Unlimited. MU and moreso Dirtfish have been going through some "fine tuning" so to speak. Bob Morris was out quite a while ago, now Lund is out... I heard they brought in some ex- microsoft corp worrior type.

NAW!!!!!! Long term PNW who has always been active back into the mid 80s, master technician, tactical genius, inspriation to all around, expert on sway bars, astute business mind Lund out!!!!!!!?????


Who'da thunk it.

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John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

Pete....really?? Lund out?? Someone asked the other day what he was even doing there, I didn't have an answer.

Quote
SgtRauksauff
I see the name "Rimmer" and can only think of the character from Red Dwarf....

Well?
Who else could it be?

In some way it makes some kind of logic.

---

John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.