Samson historic

[Brokennock]

Valerie asked me to forward the following post:

As I am not a member of this forum, and it has been brought to my attention that Flying Heart Millinery has been mentioned in some posts, as proprietress of FHM I would like to state that I have not been and will not be party to any of the comments made regarding Samson Historical. Furthermore, I have not been nor will not be involved in any litigation involving Samson Historical and would appreciate it if the parties who have made reference to Flying Heart Millinery would cease and desist said references immediately and in the future. I appreciate all members’ considerations of my request. Best regards, Valerie Long, Flying Heart Millinery.

If I'm not mistaken, the posts in question have been removed at the request of the person who posted them.

Of course it would be nice to have some more female input around here. Maybe some involvement in your area of expertise?

 

[Zonie]

If I'm not mistaken, the posts in question have been removed at the request of the person who posted them.

Of course it would be nice to have some more female input around here. Maybe some involvement in your area of expertise?

I'll second the vote.
We need people with experience in making clothing to contribute to the forum.

I'm sure there are some secrets that the professionals would not want to share but to have a few pro's giving some general guidance and comments about making ones own clothing would be greatly appreciated by all.

Who knows? Some of our members might be so grateful they would go out of their way to buy well made cloths from the professional that gave them some useful help as a form of payback.

 

[Christine Scanlon]

I'll second the vote.
We need people with experience in making clothing to contribute to the forum.

I'm sure there are some secrets that the professionals would not want to share but to have a few pro's giving some general guidance and comments about making ones own clothing would be greatly appreciated by all.

Who knows? Some of our members might be so grateful they would go out of their way to buy well made cloths from the professional that gave them some useful help as a form of payback.

If there are specific questions you would like to pose to myself, feel free to do so by messaging my Facebook business page which is Romantically Bent. I’m always happy to help folks out, whether it’s choosing fabrics, construction or fit. Even though I’m a clothier I love the education side and am always happy to help folks who want to make their own. I don’t follow this thread really, so that’s the best way to ask myself personally. I know there are several 18th century sewing pages on Facebook and that’s the platform I use most. Hope that helps!

 

[Schiwapew03]

Of course it would be nice to have some more female input around here. Maybe some involvement in your area of expertise?

What type of female involvement are you looking for?

Specifically, this thread was asking about customer service and quality of Samson Historical. I have purchased from them--womens clothing and of course, as I mentioned, playing cards. I have also purchased other camp accessories and shoes. All the clothing items I have purchased are wonderful. They all contain the proper tags, which I know was discussed previously. Samson Historical, as well as most of the other businesses that were previously mentioned in this thread, are local to me. I see them at the 20 or so reenactments that I attend every year. This weekend, when talking with Abbie Samson, she mentioned that it is their goal to not turn away an aspiring reenactor because they don't have clothing that fits. As a larger woman, I find that extremely admirable. Their mens clothing line fits mens sizes 34-60, while their womens line currently goes up to 2XL, though I hear she may be adding some additional plus sizes for the ladies!

I can also vouch for Christine Scanlon of Romantically Bent. She is an excellent seamstress and is always willing to help trouble shoot any sewing issues I have, even if it means she's helping me rather than making a sale. As someone who is slowly learning, I greatly appreciate this! It seems sometimes that so many vendors are just out to take your money, even if they aren't selling the proper item for your persona, but Christine does not do that. She has actually helped me choose proper garments for my persona, rather than upselling me to a more expensive but less accurate item. Wonderful customer service that I greatly appreciate!

 

[tenngun]

I don’t know for sure what Zonie was thinking and I’m not a moderator. But I know personally on any subject on this forum I would appreciate a ‘distaff’ perspective.
The more the merrier.
American history belongs to all Americans and the greater the cross section of Americans we can bring in to our sport and share with on places like this forum the better our sport will be. We are a tad long on grumpy old men.

 

[Zonie]

When I suggested it would be nice to have some of the professional clothier's help our members, I was not talking about doing it in this topic.
This area of the forum is to discuss various Vendors and Manufacturers. We have a dedicated area for discussions on clothing in our Reenactment area called Clothing. That would be the area suitable (no pun intended) for talking about the types worn and how to make it. For those interested, follow this link to get to the Clothing index page.

https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/forums/clothing.83/

 

[Brokennock]

I do not and will not have anything to do with Facebook.

There is an entire subforum dedicated to clothing in the reenacting section. A female perspective anywhere would be a nice addition. The opinions, viewpoints, and guidance that could be offered by a pro seamstress in that subforum or the craftsman subforum would be valuable.

 

[Zonie]

I agree with you about Facebook and I know a lot of people who don't use it. IMO, there's too many "me, me, me" people on it who are mainly interested in seeing things about themselves published for the world to see.

That's why I suggested to Christine that she would be more than welcome to our dedicated Clothing section of the forum (and any other place here she might want to contribute to).

 

[BP rules!]

I have bought repeatedly from Samsons and they are by far the leader in our hobby right now!! I wont go anywhere else. The customer service you get from them is out of this world, you couldn't ask for a better group of people and for a young couple to make such an impact on our hobby is outstanding in my opinion! This is what we need more of in our hobby is young people dedicated to history and to making what we do a passion of theirs to keep bringing out new products! What we don't need is jealous business owners knocking these people down because they are outdoing them. Instead we should be embracing them for keeping what we're doing going and use their energy to help promote what we do and to make our hobby/lifestyle better!!!

 

[NW Territory Woodsman]

I have bought repeatedly from Samsons and they are by far the leader in our hobby right now!! I wont go anywhere else. The customer service you get from them is out of this world, you couldn't ask for a better group of people and for a young couple to make such an impact on our hobby is outstanding in my opinion! This is what we need more of in our hobby is young people dedicated to history and to making what we do a passion of theirs to keep bringing out new products! What we don't need is jealous business owners knocking these people down because they are outdoing them. Instead we should be embracing them for keeping what we're doing going and use their energy to help promote what we do and to make our hobby/lifestyle better!!!

I definitely agree to your well said post sir! Well said.
Their brown breeches I got are outstanding quality for the best price. Matter of fact, I'm so impressed I'm going to get their green FnI waistcoat. I'm going to start shopping here more!
Again, BP rules, Im with ya!
NWT Woodsman

 

[Brokennock]

Thanks for sharing. I think the whole thing is a shame.
We need more of these businesses, not less. It is already too difficult to find and get these types of products.

 

[smoothshooter]

Their prices look pretty good. For example their garters are listed at $9 and I couldn't find a pair at Fort Fred in April for under $12. $95 for wool breeches is pretty standard. Their cooking equipment looks pretty well priced too, and I hope they have some good suppliers as several of the items that I'd be interested in throughout their online offerings are currently "sold out".

LD

Could that be because their products are imported, with occaisional shipping or production delays?

 

[springfield art]

Thanks for sharing. I think the whole thing is a shame.
We need more of these businesses, not less. It is already too difficult to find and get these types of products.

So true! The craftspeople that stepped up from the CW & Rev War communities, that got involved in importing and having items made overseas, really fueled the hobby...along with the made-here-by artisans! Clothing makers, publishers, &c.

 

[Brokennock]

The import stuff is a good way to allow people with limited funds to get started in this world. And, imports are historically accurate, much of the material culture of Colonial America revolved around imports and overseas trade. As long as a machine sewn import isn't being passed off as a hand stitched domestic product I don't see anything wrong with it.
This whole mudslinging contest is sad.

 

[tenngun]

Good hand sewn looks like machine sewn or even finer. I do a lot of hand sewn but it’s no where near taylored products in the day. On a good day maybe on par with a ten year old just learning.
If you got a steel barrel in your gun you best not complain about machine sewn.

 

[Christine Scanlon]

Thank you so much for your kind words, Brokennock. I love the educational side of events and very much enjoy what I do. I’m saddened by these events, and it’s my hope that we can all just enjoy the hobby.

 

[springfield art]

Good hand sewn looks like machine sewn or even finer. I do a lot of hand sewn but it’s no where near taylored products in the day. On a good day maybe on par with a ten year old just learning.
If you got a steel barrel in your gun you best not complain about machine sewn.

I believe "stitch counters" is the term for those that examing stitching with a microscope, and thus miss the purpose & fun of re-enacting in the first place...

 

[springfield art]

Could that be because their products are imported, with occaisional shipping or production delays?

There's also less overall demand for merchandise nowadays; oldtimers retiring from the hobby in general, and less young'uns coming in. Civil War re-enacting is "soft" these days, and with no big Bi-Cen, Tri-Cen or whatever, things can get slow in the marketplace.

 

[Schiwapew03]

Could that be because their products are imported, with occaisional shipping or production delays?

Just going to put this out there, since it seems like the general thought is that Samson Historical imports everything that they sell...That simply is not true. For instance--the leather garters that you say are only $9 due to being imported are made by them, in house. If you look down at the bottom of the samsonhistorical.com home page, it lists 4 businesses that all appear to be owned by the Samson Family. So, I decided to call and ask a few questions. I found out that Casey and Abbie Samson own all 4 of those businesses, and that Samson Historical started as Samson Family Leather. It was started by Casey's grandfather, and then his dad, Bob Samson, owned the business before Casey bought it. I also asked about products that were made in house verses being imported. It turns out, all of their leather products--drinking vessels, belts, garters, wallets, haversacks and pouches, game boards and pieces, etc-- are made in house. Additionally, all of their women's clothing and a few items in the men's clothing line are made by seamstresses in the USA. This surprised me, as the conversation above led me to believe that all their clothing was imported. I also learned that they publish a few books, a magazine, and carry many other items made by craftsmen in the USA. For instance, they have blacksmiths that make many of their iron items, and a potter that makes much of their stoneware mugs, jugs, and bowls.

In my search for more information, I also came across this video (https://fox59.com/2016/07/28/made-in-indiana-samson-family-leather/) that shows their shop and many of the items they make in house. Now, it was published in July 2016, so that may be before they added many of the additional clothing and historical items, but in my opinion, it still goes to show that they are craftsmen and reenactors first. In our phone call, they even mentioned that they are importing only to keep the prices down so that as a hobby, we can encourage others to join in and have a fairly decent outfit without having to spend thousands of dollars just to get started. This is very refreshing to me, as I remember getting started when I was a freshman in college and could barely afford to buy food, let alone reenacting gear.

 

[springfield art]

Just going to put this out there, since it seems like the general thought is that Samson Historical imports everything that they sell...That simply is not true. For instance--the leather garters that you say are only $9 due to being imported are made by them, in house. If you look down at the bottom of the samsonhistorical.com home page, it lists 4 businesses that all appear to be owned by the Samson Family. So, I decided to call and ask a few questions. I found out that Casey and Abbie Samson own all 4 of those businesses, and that Samson Historical started as Samson Family Leather. It was started by Casey's grandfather, and then his dad, Bob Samson, owned the business before Casey bought it. I also asked about products that were made in house verses being imported. It turns out, all of their leather products--drinking vessels, belts, garters, wallets, haversacks and pouches, game boards and pieces, etc-- are made in house. Additionally, all of their women's clothing and a few items in the men's clothing line are made by seamstresses in the USA. This surprised me, as the conversation above led me to believe that all their clothing was imported. I also learned that they publish a few books, a magazine, and carry many other items made by craftsmen in the USA. For instance, they have blacksmiths that make many of their iron items, and a potter that makes much of their stoneware mugs, jugs, and bowls.

In my search for more information, I also came across this video (https://fox59.com/2016/07/28/made-in-indiana-samson-family-leather/) that shows their shop and many of the items they make in house. Now, it was published in July 2016, so that may be before they added many of the additional clothing and historical items, but in my opinion, it still goes to show that they are craftsmen and reenactors first. In our phone call, they even mentioned that they are importing only to keep the prices down so that as a hobby, we can encourage others to join in and have a fairly decent outfit without having to spend thousands of dollars just to get started. This is very refreshing to me, as I remember getting started when I was a freshman in college and could barely afford to buy food, let alone reenacting gear.

Back in the 18th & 19th Century, scads of consumer products that people used were IMPORTED from England, Germany, France, etc. Just sayin'; came in on sailing ships. Can't imagine why people are 'picking' on poor Samsons. Get a life, folks!