Alexander Leathers
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I think that is about time that I comment on the allegations being made about me on other forums. I was hoping that I would not have to do this as frankly I find it completely depressing.
As everyone knows, we had a relationship with Aero Leathers and of course at the time this meant that we had a relationship with Will Lauder who was running the business. We bought and sold Aero jackets like many other retailers did. We were proud of our relationship with Aero whose reputation was world class.
When Will left Aero, we were treated disgracefully and falsely accused of many things by the new incumbents. Two years ago I was interviewed by the police and provided them with stacks of evidence about invoices received and paid**. I gave them a full audit trail and satisfied them that I had no case to answer, and have never been contacted by them again.
Given the way we were treated by the new management, we decided that we would no longer actively promote Aero on this Forum, so we took the Aero thread down. Anyone who knows us and the way we do business will also know that we are extremely open and honest about the way we work and how we do things, demonstrated by this forum where we provide a level of information that few, if any, other businesses do. This openness is now being used as evidence that we had some sort of special and devious relationship with Will. This view is being propounded by at least one member of this forum, and both Paula and I find that extremely hurtful. Anyone who has actually had business dealings with us – supplier or customer – will, we believe, vouch for our honesty and integrity.
When Alexander Leathers was founded, we – again like many other retailers who had previously worked with Aero – started buying and selling their products.
About 3 weeks ago I was phoned out of the blue by Will’s lawyer. We had a number of conversations and I provided all of the evidence that I had given the police a couple of years ago. He felt it would have a material bearing on the case and wanted to call me as a witness, but his request was turned down by the Court. We have no idea why.
Suffice to say, Paula and I are confused and deeply hurt by the false and ignorant comments being made and have no idea what we have done to deserve this spiteful treatment.
We really hope that we don’t have to comment on this subject again. We would just like to get on with our lives and do what we love doing, which is designing, finding, making and supplying some of the best articles of clothing that can be found, and having fun with you whilst we do it.
EDIT ** Refers to both IH and Aero invoices. Since writing this, I have been contacted by Aero who point out that they can only find one invoice raised by Aero to Iron Heart. As you may know, Aero sold Iron Heart and Flat Head clothing which we supplied them. Aero paid a number of IH invoices but after a while got behind on payments, I was not particularly bothered as I was taking their product. At some point Will and I agreed to contra some Aero goods supplied to us against some of what we had supplied Aero. I gave full disclosure of this arrangement and supplied all the available documentation to the Police when I was interviewed.
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Looks great @zatenm , I've had mine on today, taking advantage of the unseasonably crappy weather.
Cheers @Megatron1505 Looks like it's the same type of weather is continuing today, so mine gets its second day out - lucky break for me personally….!
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@Giles , as always your honesty and openness is appreciated. Your friends and customers will know that you are certainly not dishonest, and any allusion or allegations which says otherwise are completely false.
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When I was reading the comments over there it was very clear those people had no idea of your strong ethics and transparency. I don't think for a second anyone here would believe you've taken part in any schemes; your history - and your books prove otherwise.
I am saddened to read your name/IH/Paula being pulled into this, but as you've said, have nothing to be afraid of, other than time sunken that could be spent on more enjoyable/productive endeavours.
Kindly.
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Since writing the post re: Aero above. I have been contacted by Aero. I have made the following edit to that post.
EDIT ** Refers to both IH and Aero invoices. Since writing this, I have been contacted by Aero who point out that they can only find one invoice raised by Aero to Iron Heart. As you may know, Aero sold Iron Heart and Flat Head clothing which we supplied them. Aero paid a number of IH invoices but after a while got behind on payments, I was not particularly bothered as I was taking their product. At some point Will and I agreed to contra some Aero goods supplied to us against some of what we had supplied Aero. I gave full disclosure of this arrangement and supplied all the available documentation to the Police when I was interviewed.
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Giles,
FWIW, I have not seen any evidence thus far that you or IH engaged in any wrongful conduct. Will Lauder (“WL”) may not have properly accounted for IH’s dealings with Aero before his departure (I have no idea), but that is not IH’s responsibility absent complicity by IH (and I have not seen any evidence of complicity). It appears that you/IH have cooperated with the investigation of this issue.
My primary criticism concerns your suggestion that WL’s misdeeds do not affect Alexander Leather (“AL”).
Whatever Will Lauder may or may not have done, has little bearing on what Alexander Leathers are doing. The court action was against Will Lauder as an individual and nothing whatsoever to do with Alexander Leathers.
Respectfully, and based on what I have read about the three week trial, I strongly disagree. According to the trial testimony summarized on TFL by someone who sat through the entire trial, AL was a central component of the trial. By way of example, according to the summarized trial testimony on TFL, it appears that:
• WL attempted to broker Sandy Alexander’s purchase of Aero;
• When Ken Calder rejected Sandy Alexander’s bid to purchase Aero, WL stole Aero’s jacket patterns (after tasking an Aero employee with replicating the patterns over a six month period); and
• After he was caught stealing from Aero, WL founded AL (with Sandy Alexander) and employed the stolen Aero patterns at AL.To be clear, my understanding of the above-stated claims is based solely and exclusively on the trial summaries posted on TFL, I have zero personal knowledge of any of the foregoing, and I have no idea if the foregoing is accurate. That said, if the reports of the trial are accurate, WL’s wrongdoing – for which he was criminally convicted – is clearly and inextricably linked to AL.
Moreover, one of AL’s founders, owners and managers is now a convicted criminal and, importantly, he was convicted of stealing from one of AL’s competitors. That cannot be ignored. If AL allows this convicted criminal to remain with the company, that would speak volumes about AL. IMHO, AL should employ all available remedies to disassociate itself from WL. Anything less suggests that AL condones WL’s criminal conduct. Of course, any ex post facto disassociation would not remedy AL’s prior involvement/wrongdoing, if any, nor absolve AL of liability/responsibility, if any.
As to IH, WL was clearly a key component of IH’s relationship with AL. WL established the relationship with IH, was actively involved in the design and creation of the joint venture jackets, and was IH’s primary contact. WL was IH’s guy. Thus, IH did business with a criminal. As stated upfront, I am not presently aware of any evidence that IH knew that WL was a criminal. However, IH now knows that WL is a criminal. IH also knows that AL’s founder, owner and manager is a criminal, and he was convicted of stealing from a competitor. Assuming IH was completely unaware of WL’s criminal conduct prior to the trial and conviction, IH is guilty of nothing more than unknowingly doing business with a criminal. This is not the first time that someone unknowingly did business with a criminal, nor will it be the last. Now, IH must decide how to proceed in light of recent events.
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Damn, this makes me glad that I don't participate in any other forums.
same here…
Amazing...That's amazing that you, Giles and you, Paula, have to...jesus my poor english... justify or explain yourself on your own forum...
8 years now that i make some order or whatever with you and...nothing has changed! Still very beautiful person! Building a buisiness with respect & humanity! Why there is more than 5000 members on this forum?!? Me, i know why!!
Peace & Love!Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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defined terms in an IH forum post… too much for my small brain, lawyers always write so proper!
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If it doesn't affect the product, why should I care about legal wrangling?
Some people care about the character and integrity of the people they do business with.
