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Well an entire life may be a very long time.

 

Though sometimes there are wonders which happen in very short time.

 

At 28 March 2018 - 19:57 someone could state that he didn’t consider people’s feeling and ignorance on this subject and that he has known all about these bags for more than a year, the history of the skin, the certification, the legality of different types of sources and that his video mentions that the skin is certified, and when one buys a bag with exotic skin, one gets a certificate for its origin.

 

One day later at 21:36 he states that he won’t promote elephant products. History has shown that legal trade will cause an increase in illegal trade too. So, that he has renewed his stand on this produce.

 

At the same time he is able to show certificates from the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust and the WWF thanking him for his donations. Both institutions must be really quick in producing and sending their certificates - 25 hrs. and 39 mins. 

 

Of course it is impossible to assume that those certificates are older - he would have told us about them at 28 March - 19:57, wouldn't he. 

 

Anyway the Devid Sheldrick Wildlife Trust and the WWF are quicker than his own website. The renewed stand on this produce is not mentioned there.

 

BTW and as an reply to m9reno: the website still has the "24hr bag". It is right that the photos of the thing are still promoted elsewhere - but I will not post any links.

 

Wonderful stories for appropriate audiences.

 

The DSWT has the nice feature that, to save on overhead costs, it sends certificates (and everything else) via email, immediately. (Contrast this with WWF, which will send a plush toy etc., which is really money better spent on the elephants.)

 

Here is mine, received less than 2 minutes after my donation.

 

There may be better grounds for scepticism than this, in other words.

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x

We

Well, it is the same photo of an ugly bag, together with a Leica camera, which was promoted as elephant hide on the website caused this thread.

Well that is indeed disappointing. I too can’t find anything about his now stance on his website.

 

Come on Thorsten, wear those ‘Elephant Ambassador’ credentials on your sleeve and website.

Remove any remaining elephant bag images from the website ( if you haven’t already done so) and destroy the bags. No need for a retraction as such, please just make it clear that you do not use any products from endangered species in the production of these bags and why. It could only be good for elephants and business

 

Mark

Edited by MarkP
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...please just make it clear that you do not use any products from endangered species in the production of these bags and why. ...

 

 

 

Neither the website nor the explanations here in the forum imply that he is producing the bags. He is just promoting them.

 

Importation, production and sales happen elsewhere - and there is no sign that they do not go on. 

Edited by UliWer
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Neither the website nor the explanations here in the forum imply that he is producing the bags. He is just promoting them.

 

Importation, production and sales happen elsewhere - and there is no sign that they do not go on.

 

I may be misunderstanding things, but the impression I got from the video was that they were produced to his specifications - because he wanted a bag tailored to his needs. Of course that could just be more marketing spin.

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I think the truth of this reversal is certainly somewhere in between the cynical explanation that he was saving his own hide (pun intended) and the notion that he has had a genuine change of heart.

 

We all live in one or more communities, some of our choosing, some we're born into. Thorsten found out that if he wants to live in the Leica community, there are certain ideas about endangered animals he is going to have to live with. Yes, he has a financial relationship with this community, too, but I tend to think he is mostly living off money from his previous career, and that his sales of lens hoods (to give one example) don't exceed that.

 

I think he could have afforded, financially, to remain aloof, but could he have afforded it--or wanted to afford it--socially? There is a great deal of satisfaction and a sense of identity to be gained from continuing to take part in this community as a welcome presence. That was at stake, so he changed what he is doing.

 

Nothing wrong with that; people relate to each other in this way, and at the end of the day I think the longer-standing members of this forum mostly applied a very appropriate kind of pressure, and Thorsten responded to it--eventually--as they hoped he would.

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I may be misunderstanding things, but the impression I got from the video was that they were produced to his specifications - because he wanted a bag tailored to his needs. Of course that could just be more marketing spin.

Matteo's "Weekend travel bag" looks to be exactly the same as Thorsten's "24hr Bag".

 

On the instagram account I linked to five posts ago, other bags identical to those "made for Thorsten" appear (e.g. the backpacks).

 

There are variations in colour and inside lining, but the shape and overall design makes Thorsten's supposed part in creating the whole line look like spin.

 

Unless he and Thorsten are totally brazen, I suspect that Matteo would refuse if he gets asked now to quote a price for a "special skin" (aka elephant) "Weekend bag" (aka "24hr bag"). But I doubt the reluctance would last if he thought the buyer was genuine.

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Edited by M9reno
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On the instagram account I linked to five posts ago, other bags identical to those "made for Thorsten" appear (e.g. the backpacks).

There are variations in colour and inside lining, but the shape and overall design makes Thorsten's supposed part in creating the whole line look like spin.

I think Thorsten’s intended contribution to these new “Von” bags was never anything more than sticking a red Billingham insert inside.

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This morning i decided to do the usually checks to improve the whole picture.

From the link overgaard.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorsten_Overgaard

From the link official website.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorsten_Overgaard

I made two screen pictures from that webpage.

I think I have a quite good impression of what kind of people this is according to this information.

My gut feeling since many years was right, sorry so say.

Although there is a possibility that this is very naive people but good at logical thinking so to say.

/Ted

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Matteo's "Weekend travel bag" looks to be exactly the same as Thorsten's "24hr Bag".

On the instagram account I linked to five posts ago, other bags identical to those "made for Thorsten" appear (e.g. the backpacks).

There are variations in colour and inside lining, but the shape and overall design makes Thorsten's supposed part in creating the whole line look like spin.

Unless he and Thorsten are totally brazen, I suspect that Matteo would refuse if he gets asked now to quote a price for a "special skin" (aka elephant) "Weekend bag" (aka "24hr bag"). But I doubt the reluctance would last if he thought the buyer was genuine.

Thanks, I missed that.

 

They look identical to The bags Thorsten designed. Business must be bad though, in the second link it looks as if Matteo can’t afford to buy socks.

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I don’t think Thorsten can be made responsible for Matteo’s ethics. That would call for a next action, most effectively by an animal rights group.

The most one can ask is that he reviews his business relationship in the light of responsible enterprise.

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Thorsten saw his reputation, and possibly business, going down the pan; so like any good marketeer he did a backflip and in a matter of days changed his opinion from being a supporter of the use of elephant hide to thinking it’s very wrong. Colour me cynical, but I don’t buy it. I’m sure the elephants will grateful whatever the reason for the change.

His statement reads like one drafted by a particularly skilful politician. Quite clever. The White House should have his number.

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