Talk:Paul Jr. Designs

Clothing line

I don't think clothes with only the company logo of a custom bike building business is considered a goal of the company. The clothes seem to be offered only to satisfy fans and customer demand. Mlpearc powwow 01:31, 11 June 2011 (UTC)

I totally disagree. The evidence is clear on the website - the company sells apparel and other branded merchandise. What there is no evidence for, but you can be pretty certain of is that these products form the bulk of the company's revenue outside of its TV programme fees. This is a merchandising company first and a motorcycle builder second. --Biker Biker (talk) 01:39, 11 June 2011 (UTC)

It might never be possible to know. Jesse G. James has a big mouth and bragged to more than one media outlet that more than 60% of West Coast Choppers revenue came from merchandising, and further that even at $150,000 they lost money on each bike. Not everyone is like James and private companies don't have to tell us what their books say, and maybe Paul Teutul, Jr. will keep his mouth shut.

Common sense can help you guess: number of bikes sold (or claimed to have sold) times theoretical high sale price. They would need to make a profit of at least a few hundred thousand per year to meet payroll for 7 employees, plus who knows what overhead. I'm guessing a lot of overhead, since this company runs on hype and that means bling. That's a lot of very expensive bike to sell in a weak economy. But you can easily make that kind of money with T shirts and hats and key chains. And TV royalties.

This is not a bad business model by any means, and it is eminently respectable. Several sources favorably compared Jesse James to Martha Steward or Coco Chanel, who are widely admired for their marketing skill and business prowess. Companies that make money selling motorcycles are few and far between, and most new motorcycle ventures fail in a few years. All the new ones in the last dozen years failed, if memory serves. Falcon and Confederate motorcycles work furiously to build a brand identity and get good media attention, for very good reason. Harley saved the company in the 80s by becoming a 'lifestyle brand' with a very large portion of profits coming from T shirts and so on, and Ducati wisely imitated them.

My point here is that it's neither good nor bad to say they're primarily a branded merchandise and clothing company, or primarily a motorcycle company. There's nothing wrong with making most of your revenue from T shirts and it violates NPOV for us to judge that it is wrong. If Paul Teutul, Jr. is to be the next Martha Stewart, there's nothing to be embarrassed about there.

I would keep digging in magazines like Inc. or Advertising Age or other business, marketing, or advertising media to see what they say. It's doubtful the motorcycling media will give us more than fluff about bikes.

I'll look and see if I can find good sources myself. --Dennis Bratland (talk) 02:50, 11 June 2011 (UTC)

After reading your comment Dennis Bratland, I would be ignorant to disagree. Thank you for your time and explanation. Mlpearc powwow 03:17, 11 June 2011 (UTC)

{{Main|Paul Jr. Designs bikes}} redlink

Please see Wikipedia:Hatnote#Non-existent_articles. Hatnotes like {{Main}} are for articles that already exist. WP:WTAF. --Dennis Bratland (talk) 21:03, 27 July 2011 (UTC)