UTMC

Interesting article.
http://www.latimes.com/business/autos/l ... tml#page=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The power of "Lifestyle" accessories, eh?

Hm.
A curious conundrum.
A company that makes it's profits exclusively through merchandise, are they a "motorcycle manufacturer"? Can it be tolerated that the focus of their business model is the merchandise?
HOWEVER
If a company makes tasty motorcycles, but cannot turn a profit on those. But manages to stay afloat only because of the merchandise. If that merchandise is what makes the tasty motorcycles possible. What's going on there?

The LA Times wrote: The company was born in 2006 from the riches of Jennings' piece of the reported $75-million sale of the Australian surf apparel company Mambo.

From humble beginnings with a single storefront in Sydney, Deus now boasts retail outlets at ritzy addresses in Tokyo and Milan, and on the island of Bali, with a new shop set to open shortly in Paris.

Sooo, lets just say that you have tens of millions of dollars to take care of. You can 'spend' it on traveling the world, going to parties, and being admired by those around you. Or you can start a business which happens to have storefronts around the world, throws a lot of parties, and brings admirers to your feet wherever you go. If the business covers your lifestyle expenses of travel and locale, while 'losing' money on paper and lowering your tax burden, you might just consider it a success.

Or it might just be about, you know, the passion.

If the sum of the business model has to include branded teeshirts, cat harnesses and toilet seats on top of the motorcycles in order to break even then it is still viable, especially if the lossy segment is necessary to establish the brand. Such a venture from startup would require a bunch of cash, which this guy has. Whether he runs the business in the black or in the red I suppose he could be doing worse with his riches. Props to him for understanding how to market to the jet set.

I'm reminded of this: LINK: "The Death of the Artist—and the Birth of the Creative Entrepreneur"

I'm not going to fault the guy. He's trying to make a living, just like everybody else. He makes what appear to be some kick-ass motorcycles, but anybody who's ever turned a wrench on a bike knows that it's an expensive and time-consuming process -- I shudder to think what sort've effort goes into fabricating custom parts for those things.

The current economy is such that we all gotta make a living however we can. If Deus can continue supporting their motorcycle habit by selling t-shirts, more power to 'em. I sure as shit won't be buying a $60k motorcycle in this lifetime, but I might spring for an overpriced t-shirt.

Nothing is pure, and artists need to make a living too. His shirts sell because his bikes kick ass, and there's nothing wrong with that.

--Jaeger

What y'all said.

When I determined that lutherie was to be my calling, I didn't realize at the time that I'd be taking a vow of poverty. Maybe I need to sell t-shirts...

Bam a drawing of your avatar on a shirt, I'd bet you could sell a few in J'Oklahoma, no? With an F**K, obviously.

I award zero points to this guy for 'making ends meet', no way, with tens of millions to start with you can do whatever you want, including park it in interest bearing entities and commence the life of leisure.

I do award points for making something that celebrities want. Dude clearly has his finger on something. Give me tens of millions of dollars, I still can't guarantee I could make something Keanu Reeves would want to buy from me.

How do you make a million dollars building custom bikes?

Start with two million dollars.

DerGolgo wrote:Hm.
A curious conundrum.
A company that makes it's profits exclusively through merchandise, are they a "motorcycle manufacturer"? Can it be tolerated that the focus of their business model is the merchandise?
HOWEVER
If a company makes tasty motorcycles, but cannot turn a profit on those. But manages to stay afloat only because of the merchandise. If that merchandise is what makes the tasty motorcycles possible. What's going on there?

Substitute "motorcycle" with "high performance sports car" and "merchandise" with "Cayanne/Panamera" and you have Porsche's business model. How many Boxters have to be sold to make a 911-GT3?

DerGolgo wrote:Hm.
A curious conundrum.
A company that makes it's profits exclusively through merchandise, are they a "motorcycle manufacturer"? Can it be tolerated that the focus of their business model is the merchandise?

Obvious joke: It works for Harley Davidson

Probably not technically accurate, but I do see orders of magnitude more Genuine Harley Davidson™ apparel and bumperstickers than motorcycles.

guitargeek wrote:How do you make a million dollars building custom bikes?

Start with two million dollars.

Someone had to make that joke.

Deuche ex Hipster


Smart man profiting off hipsters to sell trendy bikes.

rolly wrote:

DerGolgo wrote:Hm.
A curious conundrum.
A company that makes it's profits exclusively through merchandise, are they a "motorcycle manufacturer"? Can it be tolerated that the focus of their business model is the merchandise?

Obvious joke: It works for Harley Davidson
.

When I said cat harnesses and toilet seats I was not speaking figuratively, after all.

Toonce(s) wrote:

rolly wrote:

DerGolgo wrote:Hm.
A curious conundrum.
A company that makes it's profits exclusively through merchandise, are they a "motorcycle manufacturer"? Can it be tolerated that the focus of their business model is the merchandise?

Obvious joke: It works for Harley Davidson
.

When I said cat harnesses and toilet seats I was not speaking figuratively, after all.

In all fairness. If a motorcycle company does sell merch, and if that merch were to match a genuine badass brand-image, toilet seats and cat harnesses are among the very few items that wouldn't look like trying too hard.

motorpsycho67 wrote:Deuche ex Hipster

Smart man profiting off hipsters to sell trendy bikes.

Hey, if they're taking money from trust-fund hipsters then so be it. Someone's gotta do it, and fuck knows there's a market for it. As you say, smart guy.

--Jaeger