Well, since 12 people gave your post a thumbs up, and considering the magnitude of vitriol for MF that I read in the original thread about the bankruptcy, it seems only appropriate to address the "awkward question." I'm smiling and chuckling while typing this, btw. It's all good, happy to respond. Prep the
When Muley Freak Eric was convicted the 2nd time, and what I came to believe to be wrongly so, it was certainly a step back moment for me and the business association. There was not a contractual obligation in place so the decision was certainly made by the team, but ultimately I was the one responsible for keeping the brand in the store.
The saying "where there's smoke there's fire" is not lost on me. I get it, we have all made mistakes, but the same style of mistake, TWICE? Hard to stomach, hard to believe.
I heard a lot of what people had said about the situation, called a few people in the industry for their thoughts. I then called Eric to get his side of the story. Figured it was only right to hear him out. After 2 or 3 lengthy conversations and some consideration of the court evidence, I felt like he was being wrongly accused by the state and the gentleman whose property he had been hunting on.
At that same time, BlackOvis had recently lost the opportunity to sell FHF with the buyout by Meat Eater, and Marsupial, which according to Jim was because of keeping up with demand but I believe was in part due to the Adak bino harness project we had undergone a couple of years prior, and (this is my own opinion, no evidence to prove my accusation as it pertains to Marsupial) IMO due to some pressure from a competitor in the retail space urging Marsupial to not sell to BlackOvis. (I heard from someone in a different company in the industry that the retailer in question had told this manufacturer that they would buy all of the inventory BlackOvis would normally buy in a year if the manufacturer would cease to sell to BlackOvis). I digress.
Needless to say, from a category standpoint, the MF bino harness was the best seller in that category and in part I made a business decision to keep selling his harness for the numbers sake. Employees were split, some telling me to drop MF, others telling me to keep MF. For better or worse, I kept his product on the website.
I personally like Eric and think he's a dedicated father/husband and what I deem to be a good person. Has he made mistakes? Sure, but who am I to cast the first stone. Is he way stoked on Eric? Yep. Could he tone it down a bit? Sure. Is he quick to lash out to defend himself? I think so, and perhaps that is why it can appear like he's in the wrong. I certainly have a different style about myself.
He is super passionate about his brand, his family, and his company. At the end of the day we made the decision to keep selling MF product. If BlackOvis lost a lot of business due to that decision, I get it and don't fault those that chose to avoid BlackOvis because of the decision.
FWIW, If you look at the filing, he's out around $145K. Not chump change for sure. I think it's the most of any "small" non-corporate entities.
