Exclusive HfP competition: Win luxury swim shorts, worth up to £220

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• Mr(s) Entitled says:

  14 Dec14 December 04:42

  1st April?

  • John says:

    14 Dec14 December 05:10

    Well the competition seems real enough but swim shorts are a one-use product so not convinced

    • Anna says:

      14 Dec14 December 10:06

      Either you’re confusing them with swim nappies or you have too much money!

• DANIEL MACDONALD says:

  14 Dec14 December 04:55

  At the risk of sounding ungrateful but as a long term reader, am I the only one that finds this a bizzarre feature?

  • meta says:

    14 Dec14 December 07:24

    No, there were several competition offering clothing since the beginning of the site. There was one for shirts last year at this time.

  • Brian says:

    14 Dec14 December 07:51

    Swim shorts are at least linked to holidays, so not that bizarre.

• James says:

  14 Dec14 December 05:21

  Cam swim shorts really be worth £220 ??
  Priced at £220, selling successfully at £220, perhaps, but ‘worth’ £220 !!!!!

  • Cat says:

    14 Dec14 December 07:22

    Isnt “worth” kind of determined by the market forces of supply and demand? If they’re priced at and successfully selling at £220, I think it’s reasonable to say that they worth £220…

  • Zak Johnson (NAECO) says:

    14 Dec14 December 12:24

    Hi James,

    Thanks for the comment – I am reading through them personally as this competition progresses. Hopefully, I can help with this question. I will do my best.

    The first thing to remember is that our product sits in the luxury category and is priced directly in line with other brands in this sector. The quality of the craftsmanship and the final product is not what you would expect on the high street. We are more the Saville row suit vs high street suit – we always offer free shipping and returns so you can see this for yourself with no obligation to keep them.

    The second thing to remember is we are a sustainable brand that pays UK living wages, reinvests in our global environment and uses sustainable low impact materials. All of these factors do increase the cost of goods for us but does make for a brand of the future. A brand we are proud of and a brand with high ethics, values and standards. This is something our customers are also proud of when wearing Naeco products.

    When it comes to prices:

    – Our fabric is ethically and sustainably sourced and produced. We ensure we know that everyone in the supply chain has been treated with respect and fair and ethical working conditions.

    – We don’t just believe in making a sustainable product we also believe in being a sustainable employer. So every member of our team is paid a living wage. We are not a minimum wage employer and we take pride in ensuring we provide stable well-paid careers to our team. You won’t find any zero hours contracts here…

    – We source our materials from suppliers who share our philosophy.

    – We make our shorts with no (or as little as we can) compromise on quality, ethics or sustainability, and we constantly invest back into these areas.

    – We invest in research into new, sustainable materials to reduce the landfill footprint globally. Every pair of our shorts removes 15 plastic bottles from landfill and our oceans.

    – Our products are handmade by master craftsmen and take 2-3 hours to make every pair. Every stitch is thought about and every detail is added by hand to ensure the highest quality finish that you rarely see in swimwear.

    – Finally, we guarantee our products for 5 years ensuring we deliver superior quality and service. We will fix and repair any product that has defected during this time ensuring you don’t contribute to landfill and pollution.

    We are on a constant journey to improve every aspect of our business; from the designs and colours, to sustainable materials, construction, durability, repairability, messaging and marketing, supply chain speed and customer service. We have continuous improvement programs to bring you a consistent and delightful supply of the most sustainable and well-constructed shorts, and the planet.

    Ultimately, we aim to provide the very best value to ‘you’ (our customers) creating a premium and sustainable product; good for you and the planet.

    And finally, when making choices about what clothes to buy for you and your family please consider:
    – Cost-per-wear always makes investing in quality over quantity worthwhile!
    – Sustainability should be a priority, not an afterthought.

    I know it is a long reply but I do like to ensure people are informed and I give you and your comment the time it deserves.

    I hope this has helped to understand our pricing model and how we create our garments at Naeco. We would love to have you as part of the Naeco journey so please reach out with any questions you may have in the future.

    • TT says:

      14 Dec14 December 14:34

      Pay £220 for a pair of shorts and become part of the elite save the world club? Please stop, newsflash, stop buying products that use plastic as packaging. I Have not even a bin full of plastic and carton per quarter of a year at late. That is making a difference. I want to make a difference, you want to make a killing…..I have news for you: Its not gonna work, as per Peter Jones” I will not be investing) I do however have my popcorn (on a 5 quid non plastic plate) o my knee, as this is a most enjoyable read to finish the working week!

• MileStalker says:

  14 Dec14 December 05:30

  Totally bizarre!

  Head for Swim Shorts anyone?

  • Brian says:

    14 Dec14 December 09:32

    Bottoms for Swim Shorts?

• Paul says:

  14 Dec14 December 06:33

  £220 for swimming trunks!!!!!!

  My wife says for that price I had better get the models body too.

  • Zak Johnson (NAECO) says:

    14 Dec14 December 12:25

    Hahah you might do…

• Nigel the pensioner says:

  14 Dec14 December 06:34

  I suppose 12 bottles go into small size and 15 into extra large?
  Whilst i sympathise with the concept of reducing plastic, isnt the UK banning plastic straws rather like us turning up to a tsunami site with a dust pan and brush?!!
  £220 for a pair of swimming trunks?? Even my posh ones from the signature turtle emblem people with the label on the back dont cost that much!!
  Good luck with these Zak…

  • Rich says:

    14 Dec14 December 08:39

    Straws are a good start because although the small, they’re

    a) very hard to separate in the recycling steam
    b) pretty painless to do without, and
    c) easily replaced for single use (paper) or multi-use (metal)

    • J says:

      14 Dec14 December 09:04

      Paper straws have a much higher carbon footprint in production, so there is a risk to the change. Doing without is probably best, and great for the dental industry!

      • RussellH says:

        14 Dec14 December 11:02

        But paper does bio-degrade satisfactorily, when not recycled, but these synthetic polymers do not – they just degrade into smaller and smaller bits.
        Yes, they will finally decompose, but we are talking many hundreds of years before that happens.

        • Rob says:

          14 Dec14 December 11:28

          The thing with recycling is that most people don’t understand it. Take paper. Virgin paper used here most likely comes from renewable forests in Scandinavia and the manufacturing process is powered by hydro electricity which clearly has no emissions.

          When you throw your newspaper in for recycling, it is recycled in the UK using a very energy-intensive process which – due to UK electricity production – will use the remaining coal fired generation capacity and, after that, gas. Over the whole life cycle, not recycling paper in the UK may actually be better.

      • J says:

        14 Dec14 December 11:11

        Absolutely, I’m not advocating one over the other. Just the that the choice isn’t as clear cut as it is often presented.

  • Zak Johnson says:

    14 Dec14 December 12:12

    Hi Nigel, thanks for the comments. Your pretty spot on 12-15 bottles depends on the size of the shorts.

    I agree our price point is in the luxury bracket but we make everything here in the UK to ensure quality but also fair and ethical working conditions and contributing back into the British textile and manufacturing industry. Each pair of our shorts takes 2-3 hours to make and this level of care and attention is part of what you would be paying for. I fully appreciate these are not for everyone but if you ever want to see them being made please do reach out.

    Thanks for the comments and joining the debate!

• TT says:

  14 Dec14 December 06:45

  Now I have read it all ” every stitch is handcrafted for your comfort”….. never have I ever stood in a swimming pool thinking ” something is wrong with the stitches of my trunks here!”…. honestly some people!

  • KP says:

    14 Dec14 December 08:04

    LOL!!!

  • Rob says:

    14 Dec14 December 08:06

    Handstitching is more effective than machine stitching – you should read some tailoring blogs, try Permanent Style for starters.

    • Oh Matron! says:

      14 Dec14 December 09:03

      The second machine stitching starts to fail, you have a catastrophic failure. Hand stitching is much more robust.

    • Callum says:

      14 Dec14 December 11:17

      “you should read some tailoring blogs” – I can think of several billion things I’d rather do before I read a tailoring blog!

      • Rob says:

        14 Dec14 December 11:21

        Perhaps this is where you’re going wrong Callum? Perhaps spending a bit more time researching and appreciating genuine craftsmanship would add some richness to your life.

      • callum says:

        14 Dec14 December 14:03

        Ermmmmmmm, no. I’m not remotely materialistic (no pun intended), and while I wouldn’t go as far as to say I’m proud of it, it’s certainly not something I want to change.

    • TT says:

      14 Dec14 December 14:17

      Ok so I read some of this blog, and still I will not spend a household shopping budget for a month on a pair of shorts! A lot of corporate drivel and a link to a blog is not going to change my mind!

      • Zak Johnson (NAECO) says:

        15 Dec15 December 13:22

        Sorry, you feel that way TT,

        I am definitely not trying to persuade you to become a customer. I just thought I would join the conversation personally so people could get answers if they wanted them. I know this industry quite well and really take an interest in everyone’s opinions.

        I wanted to fairly answer questions. I dont think I have given corporate drivel at all, I apologise if you feel that way as that is not how I think we come across. I answered passionately about an issue I am keen to fix. I have explained price points, manufacturing prices etc for anyone interested that’s all. I find it a really interesting debate.

        Have a great Christmas

        • Alan says:

          15 Dec15 December 13:35

          I’m glad you did. Personally I’d never spend that amount on an individual item of clothing (except for perhaps specialist items like a ski jacket) I appreciate there’s plenty that would and also found it interesting hearing about what you’re doing!

  • Zak Johnson says:

    14 Dec14 December 12:18

    Haha agreed, you may not have thought it at all – when we designed them we just wanted to take care in making them so they lasted the test of time. I am a kitesurfer and put my shorts through their paces – but they also put me through my paces after wearing them for 8 hours on the water I found even top brands to not be as comfortable. That’s why I designed them with sport in mind mixed with European style. It was the small details like the internal elastic on your legs – this chafes in some brands and was something we avoided using by making our mesh lining stretchy which removed the need for this. Really appreciate the feedback though!

• Cat says:

  14 Dec14 December 06:46

  Am I the only one that thought this was a good thing?
  I can’t be the only HfP reader who’s had to stop swimming (repeatedly) to peel a plastic bag off her arm in the Andaman Sea? I’m all for anything that reduces the number of plastic bags and increases the number of turtles!

  • Anna says:

    14 Dec14 December 06:51

    Absolutely a good thing but I don’t know anyone who would pay £220 for swim shorts! They’re going to get dunked in salt water, sand and sun cream for starters.

    • Cat says:

      14 Dec14 December 07:19

      … and after a few thousand years of salt water, sand and suncream, they might actually start to break down!

      Synthetic fabrics tend to be quite durable. I have several pairs of hiking trousers made from various synthetic fibres, they’ve been put through the paces pretty thoroughly many, many times, and the only pair I’ve ever had to chuck were the ones I destroyed by slipping on a scree slope on a volcano in Guatemala, landing on hot rocks below (my guide didn’t tell me that the scree slope was sitting on top of a lava flow…), and the shorts melting.

      Saying that, I wouldn’t pay £220 for the swimming shorts either, but I’m clearly not their target market.

      • RussellH says:

        14 Dec14 December 11:07

        Nice to come across someone else who has walked up an erupting volcano in Guatemala – only on HfP, I would think!
        Which volcano were you on? We were just on the lower slopes of Agua, grass, not scree, but at night, so that you could see the red-hot rocks coming down the hill towards us.
        In retrospect we must have been completely mad.

      • Cat says:

        14 Dec14 December 18:15

        Only on HfP! True!

        It was Pacaya I think, back in 2009. We hiked up to see a lava flow, but had to hike across another lava flow (covered in scree) to get to it. Madness, but then again hindsight is always that perfect 20:20 vision that otherwise eludes me! Luckily the synthetic fabric melted and shrunk in on itself, rather than melting on to my skin! I did have some pretty bad blisters though, and had to fly back the following day on Iberia Economy. Sitting down. All day long.

        I’ve never tried so desperately for an upgrade in my life!

  • Brian says:

    14 Dec14 December 07:37

    Yeah, but these shorts are made of bottles, not bags…the thing about projects like this (or using bottles to make fleece jackets) is that they use bottles, which are readily and frequently recycled anyway, not solving the problem of all the other plastic packaging that DOES go to landfill or the oceans…

    • Zak Johnson (NAECO) says:

      14 Dec14 December 12:29

      Thanks for the comment Bryan,

      Your correct we do use bottles – bags not so much in our fabric but do make up a small percentage. Bottles, fishing nets make up the majority and these are actually collected from specific ocean areas. We really are removing them from oceans and not just stopping them at landfill. Unfortunately, 8 million tons of plastic goes into the ocean and was the reason I set out to make a product form it. It is a long journey and we currently only make shorts but who knows what the future might bring. We use bottles in our marketing as it is easier for a consumer to identify with rather than giving metric metres of garbage removed.

      I hope that helps. Thanks for joining the conversation.

  • BJ says:

    14 Dec14 December 10:44

    Cat, you’ll probababy be happy to hear that the Thai National Parks Authority have banned tourists from Maya Bay, and due to success of this they are now considering similar in other islands and marine reserves that fall within the Parks. The problem is not solelly tourism though, much of the blame resides with Thais too.

    • Cat says:

      14 Dec14 December 18:29

      Happy, and hope that one day they will open again. I’ve never been to Phi Phi because I heard such dreadful stories about crowds (which you know I hate!) and paradise lost. Maybe the other tourists will forget…

      Part of the problem is sheer tourist numbers, as well as tourists who are a bit ignorant of the environmental problems they create. I remember one Selfies-in-the-Sunset obsessed group of Korean ladies in the Gobi desert – we were doing the same circuit at the same time, and for a week, they refused to use the long-drop toilets in the ger camps, and we would encounter their solid and cotton-wool based waste 30m from our tents in the morning, as well as toilet paper and wet wipes blowing in the breeze. A whole world of ewwwwwwwwww.

      Saying that, I suspect the vast majority of the plastic straws in the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand come from the buckets of European and N American tourists at full moon parties. I remember Hat Rin Bay at dawn being just plastic straws and slightly yellow-tinged sea as far as the eye could see. More ewwwwwwwwww.

  • Zak Johnson (NAECO) says:

    15 Dec15 December 10:47

    Hi Cat, thanks for the positive feedback. Really appreciate it. We predominantly use bottles, straws and fishing nets in our fabric construction but bags do play a percentage. This is due to the nature of the fabric we are producing – we need it to be long-lasting and durable.

    If you have any other questions feel free to get in touch.

    Zak
    P.S your trip sounds incredible… very jealous!

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