[Bradders]

Is it weird that Third Rock's advertising and use of influencers makes me want to avoid their products like the plague?

[mark20]

Not at all. For the amount of bollocks that pops up on my social media I don’t even know what their products are

[MischaHY]

Is it weird that Third Rock's advertising and use of influencers makes me want to avoid their products like the plague?

I also find 3rd Rock's marketing rather vacuous which is a shame considering the limited experience I've had of their products has been positive.

Really the idea of using a livestreamed comp to feature your new product range is actually pretty great. It's just the tag line and the way it's been conceptualized as a 'fashion show' which feels odd.

[Danny]

I don't think 3rd Rock's approach is any more vacuous than using "professional climbers" to flog togs. It's probably more effective too, especially if you can't convince climbing A listers to pose in them, and would otherwise be stuck with a range of poker-faced 8B climbing A list wannabes who think the world owes them a living.

[tomtom]

For me the issue is that 3rd rock is trying not to be vacuous (or giving the impression of trying not to be vacuous) but is...

The "holding up a can of energy drink/cbd gummies" approach of certain pro-climbers is pretty clearly what it is....

I dunno - for me 3rd Rock's advertising is a turn off - but I am more 3rd Age than Rock.... so probably spot on then :D

[AMorris]

a range of poker-faced 8B climbing A list wannabes who think the world owes them a living.

As someone who knows one of the people taking part in this, this is a pretty unfair accusation to throw at them. I haven't got a great deal of time for whatever it is that 3DR are doing here, but this is a pretty uncharitable opinion of a bunch of people who are already benefitting from sponsorship by 3DR and probably had this idea pitched to them in a very attractive manner.

[erm, sam]

Anyway. 3rd Rock are a climbing brand marketing to climbers, so OT. As far as I can see it is an imaginative idea that is quite interesting. All good to be slagging of Hermes or Chanel doing some stupid bags but quite a different thing to be moaning about a small UK brand doing something different.

[Will Hunt]

I think we can recognise the Nathan Barley nature of the event and poke fun at that without having to slag the jobbing climbers taking part, for whom it must be a bit of a laugh.

[SA Chris]

The name still makes me think of John Lithgow every time I read it.

[tomtom]

Anyway. 3rd Rock are a climbing brand marketing to climbers, so OT. As far as I can see it is an imaginative idea that is quite interesting. All good to be slagging of Hermes or Chanel doing some stupid bags but quite a different thing to be moaning about a small UK brand doing something different.

Thats fair enough - wasn't meaning to enter a forum pile on...

[36chambers]

Anyway. 3rd Rock are a climbing brand marketing to climbers, so OT. As far as I can see it is an imaginative idea that is quite interesting. All good to be slagging of Hermes or Chanel doing some stupid bags but quite a different thing to be moaning about a small UK brand doing something different.

After the "climb on wet grit no matter what" instagram post fiasco, I was left wondering whether 3rd Rock actually knew anything about climbing.

[Danny]

a range of poker-faced 8B climbing A list wannabes who think the world owes them a living.

As someone who knows one of the people taking part in this, this is a pretty unfair accusation to throw at them. I haven't got a great deal of time for whatever it is that 3DR are doing here, but this is a pretty uncharitable opinion of a bunch of people who are already benefitting from sponsorship by 3DR and probably had this idea pitched to them in a very attractive manner.

Tongue firmly in cheek old bean. I also happen to know a few people who are sponsored by 3rd Rock, one of whom puts out excellent content and is also pretty fucking good at rock climbing. I've no issue with the better than me but still not that good crowd—plenty of them do interesting things and have interesting things to say on social media. Equally, I do know a few miserable arseholes who are very capable but will never be good sponsorship martial because they seem to think the occasional blurry photo and big grades sell togs. 

The subtext to this 3rd Rock conversation reads to me like "influencers only climb 6B but are effectively sponsored". If the aim is to reach more climbers and sell more togs, then going the influencer route seems pretty sensible to me.

[Bradders]

If the aim is to reach more climbers and sell more togs, then going the influencer route seems pretty sensible to me.

Totally agree with that, I was just saying it completely turns me off and I was wondering if it was just me being weird 

[Danny]

I reckon your feelings on this would be in line with the majority on this forum Bradders. Including me to some extent. Though it depends. I find a lot of the A-Lister content on Instagram to be anodyne AF and, grades aside, nearly indistinguishable from influencer content. I do like the platform though. Plenty of gems amongst the choss.

[duncan]

Split as off topic, may logpile.

[Danny]

You've lost me there Duncan. But hey, moderate away. 

[mark s]

I've seen them on either Facebook or the gram. I have never clicked the link as it doesn't appeal to me. Seems to be more and more product pushing, not just from the elite which I don't mind so much as climbing is their income. The nobodies pushing crap products and pretending to be some sponsored wad is too much for me.

[duncan]

The original thread is healthy piss-taking of non-climbing companies jumping on the climbing bandwagon plus a few side-swipes at the likes of TNF. I didn’t feel the 3rd rock posts were about climbing-going-mainstream-weirdness other than, possibly, the fashion show. It read to me as a bunch of guys piling into a small climbing company operating in a slightly different way to what they were accustomed to.

For what it’s worth, I’ve been a bit nonplussed by 3rd Rock marketing but I recognise I am very far from their target customer.

[Teaboy]

Christ, perish the thought that something as important as climbing should be made to appear vacuous!

[YorkshireTea]

I don't really have owt against this comp thing and definitely nowt against the climbers taking part, a good laugh I bet and cool to have the chance at a comp at the moment.

One thing I did notice with 3rd rock was a tie dye sweatshirt ( https://www.3rdrockclothing.com/collections/sweats-hoodies/products/flare-unisex-overdyed-tie-dye-sweat )that I was sure I'd seen somewhere else. I had a check and yup, I had. The company I buy blank white clothing to tie dye myself sells them pre dyed, 3rd rock prints their logo on and flogs them for £60. A bit lazy but it's good business, if anyone wants one I'm happy to uncut them and print UKB on the sleeve instead 

Excuse the nichest of niche criticisms, not trying to pile on them, they seem to be a pretty decent company and people seem to rate their stuff generally

[SA Chris]

If that is indeed true it seems in opposition to their "uniquely designed" ethos https://www.3rdrockclothing.com/pages/about-us-the-3rd-rock-story

[YorkshireTea]

I can't say for sure but the timing matches and it's a pretty unique design. Maybe they saw it and decided to copy it but it seems odd to pick the same design and colours when tie dye has endless possibilities, plus it's got the same baggy fit.

[YorkshireTea]

Mean to embed the image but failed so https://www.flickr.com/photos/143679324@N05/51141208752/

[Anti]

Mean to embed the image but failed so https://www.flickr.com/photos/143679324@N05/51141208752/

I don't really care about climbing comps or clothing but cripes if that were a big brand I'd expect to see a lawsuit.

[Bradders]

Mean to embed the image but failed so https://www.flickr.com/photos/143679324@N05/51141208752/

I don't really care about climbing comps or clothing but cripes if that were a big brand I'd expect to see a lawsuit.

Doubt it. Surely the company selling them to 3rd Rock know who they're selling them to, and what's then happening to them. Imagine it's really very common in clothing supply chains tbh.

[Anti]

Well, they're not identical so presumably a copy of their design in an effort to avoid paying more? And if it is all above board and not a copy it's flippin' lazy and a bit of a cheek!

This is the company who did a photoshoot a year or so ago on wet grit isn't it? 

[YorkshireTea]

Mean to embed the image but failed so https://www.flickr.com/photos/143679324@N05/51141208752/

I don't really care about climbing comps or clothing but cripes if that were a big brand I'd expect to see a lawsuit.

It wouldn't be if they're just printing a logo on the other sweatshirt as thats the business plan of the other company.

They sell wholesale blanks for other companies to print on and sell, theyve just expanded into tie dye from plain colours. Legally its A ok and not really any different from buying a blank tshirt, printing a graphic on it and selling it, just seems lazier. The selling point isn't the logo on the sleeve, it's the 'unique' tie dye.

[Anti]

I was assuming they have some low paid, freshly graduated designer who saw a cool tie die and did something similar. Giving them slightly more credit than buying stock stuff and bunging a logo on it! Almost hope for their sales pitch it's the first!

[YorkshireTea]

And if it is all above board and not a copy it's flippin' lazy and a bit of a cheek!

I'm assuming the slight difference is down to each item being slightly different and photo editing so above board but a bit if cheek is what I thought. Its the £60 that gets me, a healthy margin when only printing a logo if they get them at the price I could, when they certainly get them for a lot less

[erm, sam]

Don't forget- you are free to set your own brand and make some tees and sweats and sell them for what ever price you think reasonable. You can literally do that when ever you want. You can also not buy the 3rd Rock ones if you think they are too expensive or not very good. Thats totally ok.

[YorkshireTea]

Don't forget- you are free to set your own brand and make some tees and sweats and sell them for what ever price you think reasonable.

Funnily enough, I do exactly that. Certainly won't deny that's probably why it annoyed me a bit as I take the (quite long) time to tie dye and print sweatshirts and sell them for less. One (in my eyes) bad product doesn't make a bad company and like I said in my first message, I don't have a big issue with 3rd rock, they're definitely ethically better than 90% of clothing brands. I don't have experience with them but people seem to think they have good quality products and I buy from the same wholesale brand as these sweatshirts because of quality and ethics

[erm, sam]

Touche!
Maybe you should be selling them for more...

[jwi]

Not to be that guy, but is there a single outdoor brand who design their own patterns for t-shirts and sweatshirts? I just assumed that they all buy low-cost generics from a sweatshop in Bangladesh or Ethiopia and have some aftermarket factory attach their logotype, unless the volumes are so low that it is cheaper to do the aftermarket attachment of logotype in house. The difference in price being explained by how much money is spent on creating a brand image?

It would be cool to hear if some brands actually create their own patterns and have complete control over the entire supply chain from cotton to stitching.

[erm, sam]

I work for a UK outdoor brand. For our graphic tees, the graphics are designed by me or a freelance designer and the supplier puts them on the tees. The tees are made to our design, eg the sizing, shape of armhole, shoulder drop etc and colours are dyed to our spec.
We buy a "standard" quality of Organic cotton jersey. We don't sell enough to develop our own quality of fabric, even if we wanted to.
I think this is pretty common. Stock colours you can buy in small quanities are pretty limited so for any non tiny brand you have to start making them yourself, so to speak.

You might be interested to follow the "Homespun Homemade" project from Community Clothing, they are growing flax and wode in the UK to make Linen and Indigo to make an entirely UK sourced pair of jeans... Cant find a link just now but they have just planted the flax...

[jwi]

nice! I'm a bit surprised tbh!

[erm, sam]

And we use a Fairwear Audited factory with certified Organic Cotton. Easy to assume everything is made overseas in sweatshops but if you choose to buy from brands working with Fairwear you can sleep easy at night.

https://www.fairwear.org/

[YorkshireTea]

I think it's hard as small outdoor brands are more likely to care but also have less funds to have control over such large supply chains. Brands like me and who Sam works for show that well.

I do buy generic white stock but only from fairwear audited factories and made with organic cotton. Its not perfect but its what I can do given my current size. I dye, design and screenprint (waterbased ink) everything myself and donate some of the profits