Podium Master Thread

[Vlad]

This thread is the Podium Master Thread for you to discuss intel on product offerings at the Podium event.

For reference, here's a brief primer on Podium Order (PO) vs Special Order (SO):

Podium Order

i thought pos aren't really an "order" yet, until it is approved by paris, hence they can only "cancel" it after the order has been placed by the sm (not the client).

According to my sas, whom have explained the whole podium process with me quite clearly. (things can differ a little from country to country, but i think the general picture is the same)

1) regular clients submit/express their "wishlist" to the sms before they go off to paris at each podium. But you don't have to do it in jan/jun, you can tell them i really want x anytime, say in march (just after the feb podium), and the sm will just have to note it down, and then order it at the next podium (july), so the wait to see whether this order has been approved is, of course, a lot longer than say, if you have told the sm in jan. At this point, this is still a "wishlist", not an "order". I know people like to say that "i am going to order this and that", but bare in mind, nothing is an "order" until paris has approved it, before then, it is still your "wishlist".

2)the sms take this wishlist to the podium with them, and see what's availabld to order, then match this with the wishlist and submit their orders for the next season. (feb for aw, july for ss)

3) once these orders have been approved by paris, they will become an "ordered book/list", which are all the items that the store will/should receive for the entire coming season. Hence, everything on this list is "approved", so if your item appears on this list, then it is now an order. So your sm will be able to tell you whether the item you have asked for has been approved or not at this stage.

4)as you can see, this order list is for next season, so there is at least a 6month wait for whatever you've ordered. Some people said they've only waited a month after they have submitted their "order", but to my understanding, it is not the item that the sm has ordered for this client at this particular podium, it is merely an item from the current or past season, which hasn't been spoken for, and has just arrived and happened to match the client's "wishlist", hence, was offered to this client, so she didn't have to wait for the one which the sm has ordered for next season to arrive.

5)sometimes, things that the sms have ordered just never arrive at the store for no reason, some are actively canceled by paris, some are delayed for more than 2 seasons.(aka pending orders from previous seasons) so i guess, you can call all these scenarios as an order being canceled by paris.

6) clients are generally told that pos take 6months ~2 years to arrive, because the order can be delayed for many seasons, but most of the stock should arrive within the next season

7) special order is a totaly different route, and hence whatever i have written does not apply to sos.

8) every country has a different policy for their "waitinglist" or "list" (however you want to call it)

a) some store let a very small amount of client to choose from their ordered stock list for the coming season, (but you can only choose from certain colours/leather/size/hw) so the chance of getting what you have chosen is very high.

B)some stores from time to time ask their clients what they want, and keeps a list of client name with their "wishes", and may use this as their guide at each podium, but you can submit your wishlist in ss11, but sm might not have ordered it till ss12, so you dont' know how long you'll wait for this item. Not everyone can go on this list.

C)some stores (like taiwan) let everyone put their wishlist down, you don't have to be a regular client to submit your wishlist. It is a merely a record of clients who wants b/ks. They don't use it to make orders at the podium, it is not an order list, not a waitinglist, it does not mean you will get this item for sure, it is just a client list, just in case one day a vip turns down a bag that the sm has ordered for her, the sas will then go to this list, and call those who also wanted the same bag.

9) can you change your order once it has been placed at the podium? I am not 100% sure about this, but my guess is no, once it is ordered by the sm and once the sm has left paris, it can't be changed. But if you are lucky, if there's something else that matches your criteria in the same poidum ordered list, and hasn't been spoken for, then the sm might offer that bag to you, or if you are a vip, they will re-order it for you at the next podium.

Ok, keep in mind, this might not apply to all stores and even whatever the sm has ordered, might be altered by paris without prior notice. (ie changing the hw, or the size or the leather etc)

Special Order

I have explianed previously how POs worked; Now I will explain how the current SO works in my country:

SMs are informed the number of b/k they are allocated for next season at each podium. Say a store has 50 b/k, it is up to the SM how many b/k she/he wants to order at the podium. For example 40 was ordered, then the store has 10 quota available for SOs. Which is why SOs are usually ordered after the SMs have returned from Paris. They are also not allowed to order anything "regular" through SOs now, ie if it was available to order at the podium, then such bag should only be ordered at the podium and not hogging up another SO quota. Appeareantly this rule is quite recent.

As we all know, since last year, Hermes introduced this SO online system, which allows SA to submit their applications online and it also tells us what can be ordered. (ie, if it was not an option on that system, then it is not available to order) This system puts a limit on many criterias, so we are not as free as we were in the past to order whatever we want. If you want to order something even more special, then it is customised order, which is so rare that each store only gets 1 quota per season or year (can't remember sorry)

Unlike in the past, you can have many options to play around with the bag in different colours. Now you only have 5 options.

1) single colour in a SO only colour/leather

2)Bi-colour:
a) Exterior in one colour, and lining/piping in another colour (if contrast piping is requested, it has to go with the lining colour. No contrast in piping is accepted)
b) Exterior in one colour, and lining, straps, handles, piping in another colour
c) Exterior in two colours (3 sides/ colour) and lining, straps, handels, piping is the same as the sides.

3)tri-colour:
Exterior in three colours, (2 sides/colour) and lining, straps, handels, piping is the same as the sides.


So, we can no longer get a tri colour in exterior in one colour, straps handles in one and lining in another.

You can still choose the hardwares and the stitching. But again they have a list of available colours for stitching should you want to choose another colour other than the default stitching.

They also removed the option of exotics from SO (as of late 2011). So we will see less and less of tri and bi colours exotics now (I am not sure how these can be ordered now, I didn't ask)

Box was also not on that list (as of late 2011), so box can only be ordered at the podium.

Chevre is only available up to size 30 for Birkin.

The SAs have a list of available colours/leathers, so you can only pick from that list, anything that's not on the list can't be ordered.

You can mix and match any colour as long as they are on the list.

The system will give you an instant approval and also give you a not so accurate ETA date.

However Paris can still cancel it BUT they don't generally do so. So once you are on the sytem, you are quite safe.

What I have just typed doesn't apply to anything that was not ordered through that SO system.

(As of late 2011) The wait is also much much shorter than the past, both of my SOs which were ordered through this sytem, arrived within a year, one of them only took less than 7 months.

Here's an explanation of Podium vs Rack.

 

[papertiger]

Liked bleu nuit very much and you are right, juss it is very much like bleu marine.

duna, think this color might be for you!

This colour is echoed in the RTW of this season

 

[thyme]

I am going to be very naughty and say I suspect the leather suppliers cannot replicate the exact shade each season. Eg every green/ blue and orange/red is a variation on a theme and so given a new name. Even different batches of the same colour look different to me. Haha!

Colvert/ Bleu Baltique
Pivoine/ Crevette/ Flamingo/ Jaipur/ Lipstick
Plomb/ Graphite
Atoll/ Turquoise etcetera

hmmm..i suspect it is H who can't produce the same colours on the leathers as each batch of leather is different. Saying that, it didn't stop them from calling rouge H and raisin the same although they look different from different years...

I thought H colours the leather themselves rather than the suppliers. I once watched a H documentary on an SQ flight and they were interviewing the H colourist. All she does is mix colours! And she was surrounded by buckets and buckets of different colours..looks rather fun! like working in a painting class everyday..

 

[MSO13]

hmmm..i suspect it is H who can't produce the same colours on the leathers as each batch of leather is different. Saying that, it didn't stop them from calling rouge H and raisin the same although they look different from different years...

I thought H colours the leather themselves rather than the suppliers. I once watched a H documentary on an SQ flight and they were interviewing the H colourist. All she does is mix colours! And she was surrounded by buckets and buckets of different colours..looks rather fun! like working in a painting class everyday..

If it was the same documentary, she was the colorist for the scarf printing colors which is a very intense and special job. Tanning and coloring hides is a really smelly, messy business-I don't think H does it at their workshops but I don't know who does it. Generally it is from the suppliers.

 

[juss]

hmmm..i suspect it is H who can't produce the same colours on the leathers as each batch of leather is different. Saying that, it didn't stop them from calling rouge H and raisin the same although they look different from different years...

I thought H colours the leather themselves rather than the suppliers. I once watched a H documentary on an SQ flight and they were interviewing the H colourist. All she does is mix colours! And she was surrounded by buckets and buckets of different colours..looks rather fun! like working in a painting class everyday..

Hermes buys their hides already colored from supplier companies who do not work exclusively for Hermes. There was a thread about these suppliers long time ago somewhere on PF.

 

[thyme]

Hermes buys their hides already colored from supplier companies who do not work exclusively for Hermes. There was a thread about these suppliers long time ago somewhere on PF.

If it was the same documentary, she was the colorist for the scarf printing colors which is a very intense and special job. Tanning and coloring hides is a really smelly, messy business-I don't think H does it at their workshops but I don't know who does it. Generally it is from the suppliers.

thanks. in that case, it is not H who is churning out 50 shades of blues/salmon pink orange reds each season...its the suppliers! i wonder if one supplier just produce blues, another just purples. another just pinks etc.... the blues supplier must be the most profitable!!

 

[juss]

thanks. in that case, it is not H who is churning out 50 shades of blues/salmon pink orange reds each season...its the suppliers! i wonder if one supplier just produce blues, another just purples. another just pinks etc.... the blues supplier must be the most profitable!!

As far as I remember they buy multiple colors from the same suppliers, it is rather leather type that is different from one supplier to another. Therefore they source leathers for different types of products from different supplier (like for baron there was a specific supplier). Will try to find that discussion thread... But my SA is guessing that it is difficult for suppliers to obtain the same shade exactly so the colors every season are slightly different. The big question is why they just don't go for a completely different colors!!! Lack of imagination?

 

[thyme]

As far as I remember they buy multiple colors from the same suppliers, it is rather leather type that is different from one supplier to another. Therefore they source leathers for different types of products from different supplier (like for baron there was a specific supplier). Will try to find that discussion thread... But my SA is guessing that it is difficult for suppliers to obtain the same shade exactly so the colors every season are slightly different. The big question is why they just don't go for a completely different colors!!! Lack of imagination?

interesting..so do the different leather suppliers each make their own blue atoll, blue pale, blue glacier, tuquoise etc...they must get it from somewhere else? otherwise how do they ensure at a minimum the colours look consistent at least...

 

[duna]

As far as I remember they buy multiple colors from the same suppliers, it is rather leather type that is different from one supplier to another. Therefore they source leathers for different types of products from different supplier (like for baron there was a specific supplier). Will try to find that discussion thread... But my SA is guessing that it is difficult for suppliers to obtain the same shade exactly so the colors every season are slightly different. The big question is why they just don't go for a completely different colors!!! Lack of imagination?

That's what I'm thinking!!!

 

[QuelleFromage]

Blue nuit is very very dark. Almost like black.

Bleu nuit is my favorite of the new colors. To my eyes it is MUCH darker than bleu marine. When I was choosing an SO I actually had an SA hand me black and bleu nuit swatches together thinking both were black. I would have ordered bleu nuit if it were available in chèvre.
You know the way bleu marine (and indigo to some extent) look black in dark lighting and blue in other lights? Bleu nuit is the same, only it is always a dark, dark blue - at least in the one large bag I have seen it is still very dark even in bright sunlight. It looks exactly like its name: like the dark blue of a night sky.

Personally I love these colors that aren't black but can substitute for it, and work with anything that black does. I love Plomb as well, which I don't think looks anything like Graphite.

 

[chicinthecity777]

Bleu nuit is my favorite of the new colors. To my eyes it is MUCH darker than bleu marine. When I was choosing an SO I actually had an SA hand me black and bleu nuit swatches together thinking both were black. I would have ordered bleu nuit if it were available in chèvre.
You know the way bleu marine (and indigo to some extent) look black in dark lighting and blue in other lights? Bleu nuit is the same, only it is always a dark, dark blue - at least in the one large bag I have seen it is still very dark even in bright sunlight. It looks exactly like its name: like the dark blue of a night sky.

Personally I love these colors that aren't black but can substitute for it, and work with anything that black does. I love Plomb as well, which I don't think looks anything like Graphite.

This. I thought it was black too until we read the label.

 

[perfumegirl01]

Bleu nuit is my favorite of the new colors. To my eyes it is MUCH darker than bleu marine. When I was choosing an SO I actually had an SA hand me black and bleu nuit swatches together thinking both were black. I would have ordered bleu nuit if it were available in chèvre.

You know the way bleu marine (and indigo to some extent) look black in dark lighting and blue in other lights? Bleu nuit is the same, only it is always a dark, dark blue - at least in the one large bag I have seen it is still very dark even in bright sunlight. It looks exactly like its name: like the dark blue of a night sky.



Personally I love these colors that aren't black but can substitute for it, and work with anything that black does. I love Plomb as well, which I don't think looks anything like Graphite.

Is bleu nuit darker than indigo?

 

[QuelleFromage]

Is bleu nuit darker than indigo?

To my eyes, yes, quite a bit. I am really wishing I ordered it!

 

[Monceau]

hmmm..i suspect it is H who can't produce the same colours on the leathers as each batch of leather is different. Saying that, it didn't stop them from calling rouge H and raisin the same although they look different from different years...

I thought H colours the leather themselves rather than the suppliers. I once watched a H documentary on an SQ flight and they were interviewing the H colourist. All she does is mix colours! And she was surrounded by buckets and buckets of different colours..looks rather fun! like working in a painting class everyday..

The tanneries dye the leather to the customers specifications.
Most of the tanneries have been purchased by various Houses - Hermes owns several now, including d'Annonay for calf. I believe Tanneries Haas is still independent, which supplies Hermes and others with Barenia, among other leathers. LVMH is now the majority owner of Heng Long, which is the supplier for many Hermes croc skins.
The grab for the tanneries started several years ago, when leather prices began to increase. Since they purchase skins from the same tanneries, what differentiates the leather from one house or another? I really do not know- perhaps a grading system.
I do know that Tanneries Haas is a supplier for Hermes, but they are also a supplier for Longchamp and others.

 

[duna]

After looking through the blue colour thread in the reference libraby, it looks to me like Bleu Abysse is the closest to the old Bleu Marine: can anyone confirm???

 

[juss]

To my eyes, yes, quite a bit. I am really wishing I ordered it!

What did you order in the end? I remember the discussion and your dilemma