Twiggy Forrest

[China]

Bravo to twiggy Forrest, no matter what you think of him he is doing what many others should be doing bringing Australia back to Australia

[RSD]

Bravo to twiggy Forrest, no matter what you think of him he is doing what many others should be doing bringing Australia back to Australia
Can you enlighten us a bit more?

[markharrison]

Can you enlighten us a bit more?

He bought the R M Williams company. If I recall correctly, it was previously owned by Louis Vuitton.

As far as it goes; that's fine. That said, the previous owners probably saved it from extinction.

[China]

Twiggy Forrest has purchased R.M Williams from the private equity group L Catterton group it is now fully Australian owned again.

[RSD]

Twiggy Forrest has purchased R.M Williams from the private equity group L Catterton group it is now fully Australian owned again.
Ah OK - that is some good news - and indeed well done to Twiggy! We could use a few more people like that!

[Beardy]

Not wanting to take anything away from Twiggy because he’s doing a great job but you have to ask about the rules and financial environment that we have created here that these iconic Australian companies end up O/S in the first place

[rwbuild]

Not wanting to take anything away from Twiggy because he’s doing a great job but you have to ask about the rules and financial environment that we have created here that these iconic Australian companies end up O/S in the first place

The environment is the greedy none caring share holders and the rules are influenced by the big end of town

[Glider]

I wonder if Twiggy is planning to bring the manufacturing back onshore. They're a pretty expensive pair of boots now and certainly not farm boots. Think I'll stick with my Blundstones.

mick

[Chesand]

I wonder if Twiggy is planning to bring the manufacturing back onshore. They're a pretty expensive pair of boots now and certainly not farm boots. Think I'll stick with my Blundstones.

mick

From what I read, they are made here now and he has assured staff that it will stay that way.

[Beardy]

I am fairly sure they are made in Adelaide and have about 100 staff

[Beardy]

The environment is the greedy none caring share holders and the rules are influenced by the big end of town

Not disagreeing with you but it is the government of the day who sets the rules to allow these types of dealings to take place.
I don’t think you can blame the owners/ shareholders etc as they are only doing the best they can for their circumstances and who here wouldn’t do the same.

[Sir Stinkalot]

I am fairly sure they are made in Adelaide and have about 100 staff

Along with Rossi boots ..... Adelaide at the forefront of manufacturing.

[China]

Glider I don't know what clarifies a boot as a farm boot, I have personally owned several pairs of RM Boots, ( made in Salisbury South Australia) The current pair have seen years of service on the opal fields and have been resoled
They are expensive I would still pick Australian made over foreign made Blundstones

[Bob38S]

Mine just about worn to death both here and overseas.

They are so old style that they came with leather heels, very noisy and were replaced with rubber, great.

My only issue these days is finding an old fashioned “boot” maker as the ‘lastic sides have given up the ghost and need replacing.

[woodPixel]

Its interesting.

Only yesterday my son (23) asked me about various governances and the core monetary/social policies that sit behind philosophies such as communism, socialism and capitalism (and the in-betweens). It wasn't a deep question, for it was only asked <ignore this="" bit=""> (ignore-this-bit) because of the US Presidential Debate and the irrationality by one of the ... representatives</ignore>.(/ignore-this-bit)

It was interesting, for I was explaining the core tenets of Marxism (without the USA-hysteria that they "think" is Marxism).... afterwards it had me thinking. I like to spend an hour in solitude to do this each day.

The aspect of "workers should own the means of production" kept coming back to me, especially within the issue of share ownership. Made me wonder, why, if a workers job is so important, do they not invest more into the share market (capitalism) to own the production of the business (Marxism). If not their own business, but someone's business.

The issue of RM Williams being rebought by an Aussie is a good one. True capitalism will sell an asset to the highest bidder. Borders should be irrelevant (although, as we all know, they are not). This had me thinking, why don't the 100 WORKERS buy the company THEMSELVES and ensure they retain a job under their own terms.

It makes one think.

They didn't.

And that there, was my answer.

[China]

Most likely they (The 100 workers ) could not find $200,000,000

[markharrison]

The aspect of "workers should own the means of production" kept coming back to me, especially within the issue of share ownership. Made me wonder, why, if a workers job is so important, do they not invest more into the share market (capitalism) to own the production of the business (Marxism). If not their own business, but someone's business.


It is indeed a conundrum.

The problem is (in this particular case) is broader than the capital needed to own and operate a boot factory.

The R M Williams brand by itself is worth far more than the factory that makes their boots. However, the factory without the brand probably would be only marginally profitable. You may be better off working for wages than being a (part) owner of a boot factory.

Then there is the rest of the operation of warehouse(s), stores, et cetera.

The other thing about the whole chain of transactions that triggered this discussion that I barely touched on is this: The company may have well folded entirely if another owner had not stepped up to buy RM's earlier.

As it is, the company is still running without an interruption in trading. The brand value has been maintained (and arguably improved) and the boot factory is still operating and employing people that make a very fine product. The process was not ideal, but the outcome is better than what looked like the inevitable outcome.

[NCArcher]

why don't the 100 WORKERS buy the company THEMSELVES and ensure they retain a job under their own terms.



Because TF paid 190 million dollars for the company. Thats nearly $2M per employee. I don't know about you but even checking down the back of the couch I can't scratch up $2M.
Although I might go and check......just in case.

[markharrison]

Because TF paid 190 million dollars for the company. Thats nearly $2M per employee. I don't know about you but even checking down the back of the couch I can't scratch up $2M.
Although I might go and check......just in case.

:whs:

[woodPixel]

It was only my thoughts. It wasnt my intention to create discord, nor enmity.

Seems strange to pay $2 mill per employee.

Once, I was in IT and during the DotCom, we did a MBO. From memory it was $120k per employee and the biz was an jackpot-ATM.

Why would Twiggy buy under such terms? Perhaps let it fail, buy the ops/name from creditors for peanuts and re-hire everyone.

I'll need to read the articles.

Either way, I'm pleased that an iconic business was "saved". I like the clothing.



edit - It has ~900 employees and an absolutely huge distribution system. Twiggy paid only 9X on profits. This put it into the bargain-bin and an excellent opportunity, especially since he bought 100% and gave all the minority shareholders the flick... R. M. Williams (company) - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._M._Williams_(company)). I'd wager heavily that this will be listed by EOFY. Classic buy-strip-loadupWithDebt-flog....

[Beardy]

Te other aspect of ownership by the employees is not everyone is interested or perhaps capable of investing in and running a business
Apart from differing financial circumstances, aspirations, abilities etc you have people at different stages of their life perhaps approaching retirement so it is of no interest to them .
Personally I would not want to get involved with having X amount of business partners and the problems that would come with that

[Glider]

Glider I don't know what clarifies a boot as a farm boot, I have personally owned several pairs of RM Boots, ( made in Salisbury South Australia) The current pair have seen years of service on the opal fields and have been resoled
They are expensive I would still pick Australian made over foreign made Blundstones

Something which has steel capped toes, doesn't cost an arm and a leg, has rubber soles and heels and slips on and off easily before entering the house. I'd buy Rossis if they had steel caps but have yet to find an Aussie made boot which fits all criteria.

I've also owned RMs for 60 years and as long as the leather remains intact (Photo below), they last forever and are the most comfortable boot around. Back when I was not frightened of falling off a horse, the leather soles on RMs were de rigeur. These days my good pair is for town use only.

483341

mick

[RossM]

Mine just about worn to death both here and overseas.

They are so old style that they came with leather heels, very noisy and were replaced with rubber, great.

My only issue these days is finding an old fashioned “boot” maker as the ‘lastic sides have given up the ghost and need replacing.

Send them back to RMW - they will replace the elastic or, if you want, fully refurbish them.

They also have a current (as of late Oct 2020) a "trade in" deal - send in your old RMW boots & get $150 discount off a new pair.

[Bob38S]

Thanks for that, haven’t heard anything about it but will certainly look into it.

[BobL]

Something which has steel capped toes, doesn't cost an arm and a leg, has rubber soles and heels and slips on and off easily before entering the house. I'd buy Rossis if they had steel caps but have yet to find an Aussie made boot which fits all criteria.

Last I heard is Rossi is Aussie in name only and their roots are made in Indonesia. Some Steel blue boots are also made OS.

Longs similar lines I wouldn't hold my breath in Twiggy's accountants keeping the manufacturing in Oz either.

[Sir Stinkalot]

I was out at the Rossi factory about 12 months ago to get some bargains from their factory outlet store. I wouldn’t be surprised if there cheaper range were manufactured O.S. but from what I could see it was still an operational factory. Also picked up a pair of steel caps, elastic sided, rubber sole with heal, as work site boots!

[clear out]

I went horse riding a few weeks back on a 3000 hectare property near Sofala.
Well I sat on the horse (a bloody tall one!) and it followed the horse in front sedately.
Very relaxing and much easier on the bum than the bike saddle from the previous week’s madness around Mudgee,Dunedoo,Gulgong,Mendooran and Ballimore.Pubs were good.
Always liked horse riding especially when the horse is interested in the job at hand and you just hang on and look like you know what you’re doing.
Some thing else to blame when you bounce off rather than your own stupidity or lack of skill/overconfidence as on a motorcycle.
Lots of stuff I did way too little of back when I was young enough but looks like I need to raid the slush fund for an ebike to flatten out those hills and power thru the sand.

Bit off subject but hey better than the conversations after a few cool drinks with people you’ve known for 50 or 60 years. You can just about number the jokes and stories.
H.

[rustynail]

As a young fella I spent a lot of time looking at cattle bums between a horses ears. The reason for leather soles and heels is to allow the foot to slip from the stirrup backwards if thrown. Nothing worse than a drag round the paddock. The high heels (cuban ) prevent the foot sliding forward through the stirrup and the rider then becoming caught by the heel.

[Sir Stinkalot]

Along with Rossi boots ..... Adelaide at the forefront of manufacturing.

Well .... as we enter our 6 day COVID lockdown the paper is reporting .....

“Rossi Boots will no longer be made in Adelaide, ending a 110-year manufacturing tradition and costing 35 jobs.”

So that is that.

[BobL]

Well .... as we enter our 6 day COVID lockdown the paper is reporting .....

“Rossi Boots will no longer be made in Adelaide, ending a 110-year manufacturing tradition and costing 35 jobs.”

So that is that.

Interesting to see they blame COVID - I suspect it will get the blame for lots of other things too.