Quiet Storm

Does anyone have pictures of what's available? I think I'm going to need some stuff.

Panther

Puzzles me why they don't do a better job marketing the apparel...

There's quite a market for this stuff......ie. Cigarette Apparel....

Chris Sunkin

I've met some performance boaters who have never heard of Apache and alot don't know much nor have ever seen one. The guy I bought my Cig of of had never heard of the brand, nor did a Cafe owner I met last year,

And, Cig will probably make more boats this year than Apache ever did. Kids love those Cig oval shirts. What kid would bug their dad for an Apache shirt?

Lastly, Mark doesn't even seem to want to build the boats- why dick around with the peanuts of an apparel line?

Nykamp

Chris, did you not notice he is building a new 50.

Chris Sunkin

Yeah, saw the thread. Isn't this the first boat since the all-silver Tsunami a couple of years ago?

It's pretty obvious Mark has found a business model he's comfortable with- one that satisfies whatever needs he has. He's obviously not looking to be Reggie or Skip Braver.

Panther

Every brand, no matter how many boats they build or have built in the past should have Aparel for the public and available for the public to see..... You can't build a popular brand in a vacuum - Marketing 101...

Chris Sunkin

Yeah, but I don't think that's what Mark is aiming for. He probably builds only when the deal is profitable. He's got his rehab business and whatever he's doing seems to fit his desires. I completely understand and admire him for that. He's chosen to do things his own way. He most likely isn't concerning himself with how to deal with a grossly underqualified workforce, the hassles of production boatbuilding, pinching nickles out of ever-escalating supplier costs and so on. He's got a nice little business that probably throws off a nice income for him. If you look at someone like Fountain, they're building tons of boats, generating lots of revenue, managing a publicly-traded stock and dealing with all the issues of a mid-sized manufacturing company. And, making NO MONEY.

Mark has a niche. I understand this as I have one myself. I have no website, no yellow pages ad, do no trade shows. I don't even have an 800 number. We used to and 80% of our efforts were focused on 20% of our revenues. We got rid of that segment and almost immediately doubled our size and profitability. With less employment.

Can you imagine how many kids & dreamers the people at Fountain & Cigarette deal with every day? That costs money & it's a distraction.

I'm not saying I wouldn't like to be able to buy a cool Apache T-shirt. I'm just saying I understand why he doesn't fool with this stuff too much- or at least I have a theory.

Panther

Thats your theory..

Nykamp

Mark has some real nice clothing, just call the office and they will take care of you. He was going to be getting some new APACHE license plates in when I was there a month or so ago ,so they should be in by now. He also has some really nice pull over fleece's .

ar15meister

If anybody wants me to forward them the email Sherline at Apache sent me with the pictures PM me your email and I will gladly forward it to you.

Adam