Check out this Parachute Bag from William J. Mills & Co made of cotton duck canvas. The bag has been made for the last 20 years and sold exclusively at the company’s Greenport location, but now it looks like they’ve brought the bag to the masses with online ordering. Pick one up for $225 in a variety of colors at the Wm. J. Mills & Co. online store.
What’s really cool is using Archive.org to view their web page just two years ago before they became the brand du jour and see how their prices have changed:
http://web.archive.org/web/20080427011653/shop.millscanvas.com/theduffelbags.html
The worst offender is the Sag Harbor duffel, which has gone up a whopping $91. Hilarious.
Guy;
Prices at Mills did go up. Historically the bag line at Mills was simply a filler, during the winter months. When we decided to begin actively selling the bag line outside our Greenport location, it meant making bags all year long. Therefore, those bags have to compete for time in the sail loft with other products. In other words, they have to return equivalent margins. That is just reality.
In the world of business, Mills is a micro business. The staff is very small and historically the cost collection for these products was not as good as it needed to be. The duffel line is a good example of a bag that was under water in terms of cost versus price. We had a choice of increasing the price or withdrawing the product from the market.
As to being the “Brand du jour” I don’t know. We made a whopping 130 duffel bags in 2009. If you think that volume has made us cocky or bold, that truly would be (I’ll use your words) “hilarious”. We are very limited. almost boutique production. I hope someday you can come see or loft.
After our price adjustment in 2009 was done, or pricing has stabilized and will remain there. We don’t like to raise prices, because it has a significant effect on the number of people that can afford our bags, but we are committed to making the product with our workers, in our village. Labor cost is the single largest input in our price model. We could reduce the price of the bags by having them made elsewhere and reduce cost it even further by going overseas, but then it wouldn’t be a Mills bag. It isn’t the Mills family that makes our bags, and it isn’t the label that defines the bag; the bags are made by our sewers, most of whom have been with us for their entire working lives. They will continue to make our bags and we will get by selling fewer bags. We have been the “brand du jour” as you call it, for 60 years. In the beginning, we sold flat bags 50 years ago for 2 dollars each. People would take one and stuff their money in a jar out front. We only knew we sold a bag because the dog barked.
We continue to evolve and we ask for your patience while we try to figure this all out so we can make a living and you continue to have access to the products.
Tom Beatty
Wm. J. Mills & Co.
Well, color me surprised to have received an answer straight from the horses mouth. I appreciate the explanation