Mobs of Melly fanatics have devastated the inventory in our Leadville store. Melanzana has manufactured over 20,000 garments so far this year, and we’ve sold pretty much every one. (The 18,606 in the pic above were the numbers as of July 2nd.)
Inventory in the store is PALTRY! We are cranking out 750 to 800 garments per week, including about 500 Micro Grid Hoodies per week. Most of it sells right when it hits the retail floor.
Online sales are on hold while we attempt to stock up. We are also having some technical problems with our new website. We cannot say at this time when we may manage to resume selling online. It could be a long long road, but we promise we will keep plugging away at it.
Sorry, and thanks for the love!
is the tuesday online special is a go?
No, sorry!!
Weak sauce….
Indeed, the online sauce has not been good. We have been crazy busy in our store, leaving no inventory for online sales. Sorry!
Is it possible to make a phone order to be mailed? I live in WA state and my Mellys are showing some serious wear (’cause I wear them all the time).
Hi Amy – We continue to be crazy busy in Leadville and are only able to sell in our physical store at this time – no mail, web or phone orders. Sorry!
Here’s partly why you have no inventory. People buy the stuff and then sell it on eBay for crazy money. Why not just raise prices and you keep the profits to invest in capacity/community so you can spread a lot more love to a lot more people? You could literally double/triple your online prices and still sell out (I would be one of those consumers and bought my first “Melly” piece over 20 years ago). Your products are amazing, but your business model sucks. If you really care for your local community, make tons of money from global consumers, and use that money to invest in local production and local jobs. Your amazing brand demands an amazing (or at least non-crappy) business model.
Hi, thanks for commenting and venting here.
We understand your frustration with seeing our products on ebay. This is a recent phenomenon, and while we have no control over resale of our product, we are keeping an eye on it and trying to discourage the few people who are obviously doing it. It is worth noting that the smattering of NEW Mellys on ebay and poshmark are an extremely small percentage of our overall sales volume, so it truly does not have a direct effect on our inventory or availability.
As for our crappy business model…
Our prices are fair, and our profit margin is healthy. Charging 2x or 3x for our products might work for a bit but clearly would not be sustainable over the long run. We are not a luxury brand.
We are growing and investing aggressively: this year alone we spent a quarter million $ to expand our building, add equipment, and hire and train a bunch of new employees. Production is up 54% over last year, on top of the 20% average growth that we have been maintaining for over 20 years!
On the other hand, we accept that we can’t serve every “global consumer” that is out there. That’s a lot of fleece. We angle for healthy growth, we are not looking to become a global brand, and we may never be able to get back online. We are a locally scaled apparel company that manufactures and sells in a way that is good for our employees and our town, is not wasteful, and adds value to our product. That is the boiled down version of our business model, sorry it sucks so bad, but I hope that you can appreciate it anyway.
Yay Melly! Kudos
Great response and great business philosophy!
On a different note, rumor in the ultralight backpacking world says you may be developing a more lightweight microgrid fleece? Is this true? Would it still be the same grade microgrid?
Thanks for being awesome!
Thanks B! We can’t reveal what we have in development, but a new version of MG would probably not be much lighter. There are some new options for max warmth-to-weight fleece that we have been testing…
Your former ankle socks were the best ever! If you are no longer selling them would you mind sharing the name of the retailer who does? I live in CT, so an online supplier would be best. Many thanks.
Glad you like em! We still sell them in Leadville, but they are made for us by Save Our Soles in Broomfield Colorado – check their website, they sell some similar styles there (but not exactly the same).
Hi! Just poking around here on the website AFTER I sent an email. I see here that you’ve thrown the store order list away for the time being and only selling face to face in the store. Got it! I’ll watch the traffic lights on the product page and dash up to Leadville for my next Melly.
Thanks!
I have one of most everything you sell. I have had the hoodies and socks and pants for several years and……I love them and they love me. No need to buy more, but when I get back to Leadville, I’ll make and appointment…just to say thank you!