We love talking to gardeners. But right now we are very focused on trying to get these products back into production. I've prepared this Q&A for longtime fans of the product or for previous customers of Florian Tools, so you can better understand us, why we are doing what we are doing -- and what we cannot and will not do.
Florian Questions
Yes, anything that creates unnecessary risk of business failure. We are going to be very cautious about re-introducing these products. In the capitalist system businesses wear out and shut down. Sometimes families grow tired of the ball and chain of a multi-generational business and want to pursue other interests. Sometimes a changing world makes a business no longer "functional" in its existing form. Since we do not know the exact reasons Florian shut down operations, we have to look hard at costs, at retail pricing, at go-to-market methods and production methods, skeptically, but with reverence for the brand. It is very important not to throw the baby out with the bathwater -- our challenge is to bring back the quality and shed any problematic factors.
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Not at all. Maybe some new colors. We have all the plastic molds, all the tooling, all the specs, all the inventory. We will not toy with this awesome product unless we can make it even more durable, more American-made or more unbelievably awesome. I would rather raise the price to $100 and sell one pair a week than reduce quality one iota.
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Probably. We have the inventory and tooling for those products too. We may even put up a "pre-order" page to gauge how much demand there is for each product in the past Florian line-up. We have to do this gradually though - so it can be done in a way that is good for business and good for the customer.
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No. We are an Illinois-based corporation that has never had any stake in the American Standard Company and our contract with the Florian family specifically excludes any legal connection to their corporations or obligations. We are just fans of the Florian product, like you. If you have any remaining business with the previous owners of Florian Tools assets, we encourage you to contact them by other means.
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No we are not. But as entrepreneurs, we respect any creator that can make a business out of nothing, or invent a product that benefits humanity. We also respect a story that goes for over 80 years! I may not be a Florian, but I may be the right person to continue the legacy of quality and functionality of this brand.
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Florian pruners were engineered and created to serve very specific purposes. Steuart Florian had his wife in mind, so he designed a pruner that fit a smaller hand -- used ratcheting leverage to cut easier -- and was ultra-lightweight so it could be easily pocketed or carried by his wife around the yard. The weight issue was solved by designing fiberglass-filled Nylon handles. Not because they are cheap - because they are light!!! Put a pair of metal pruners in you pocket. If they don't stab right through the fabric, they might literally pull your shorts down! By the way, Florian has had stainless steel and metal versions of the ratcheting pruner for years, but true aficionados of this product know that metal construction is not necessary or even desirable in most home gardening situations.
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Before agreeing to take over manufacturing of this product, I purchased all of the Chinese knock-offs, counterfeits and wanna-be's I could find. I also evaluated Taiwanese imports, many of which are made of metal. It boggles the mind how someone can set out to copy something, and yet miss fundamental specifications, measurements, ratios and virtues that make the original product great. For now, the Florian Ratchet-Cut Pruner is still in a class all its own.
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As our best salesman, Wayne Ball, likes to say. The competition knows what their product is worth, and we know what ours is worth. At Illinois Supply Company we like products that are so good they are unobtrusive in your daily life. A Mag-Lite Flashlight lasts forever. A Yeti Cooler keeps ice frozen for days. A Florian pruner cuts and cuts and cuts and cuts. It does what its supposed to do so well, you forget that its affordable, that its warrantied, that its ultra-light. Because it is so good you don't have to think about it at all.
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