English Leather Discontinued???

[masonjarjar]

I read this on Fragrantica. Then I checked eBay. Can you believe this?!?! I swear this screen shot is not a joke!
I'm glad I have a nearly full bottle of vintage. Also glad that Avon leather can be had for a song (for now..) Good lord!

I will not pay such prices but I'm darn sure stopping at some drug stores on my way home.

 

[Graybeard57]

Hadn't heard that. I wonder if it's true? From time to time, stories about shaving gear being discontinued turn out to be false.

 

[Snurgblat]

I don't believe it. No different than all the threads on here going back years about how Williams Mug Soap was being discontinued.

 

[Mick]

And to think I did not like this scent as a young man.

Boy was I wrong

.

 

[RayClem]

When I was a young man growing up in the 60s and 70s, English Leather by MEM was one of my favorite fragrances. The scent was originally designed to smell like a WWII leather bomber jacket, a most wonderful aroma.

A year ago, I decided to try a bottle of the Dana stuff. I detest the current formulation. I do not know what Dana did to the formula, but the recent fragrance has none of the leathery goodness of the old scent. Since the new formula has lost its roots, I would not be surprised if it was discontinued. Perhaps they will back the original formula; wouldn't that be awesome, even if it did cost more.

I experienced a similar change with British Sterling. The original formula launched in the mid 60s was wonderful. A bottle I purchased a year ago is horrible. The regular version by Dana just does not do the original formula justice. Fortunately, Dana has come out with a variation of British Sterling called H.I.M Reserve Cologne that I find to be a wonderful fragrance, even if it does not duplicate the original.

 

[masonjarjar]

It's such a classic, I'm sure there are thousands of men that only wear EL. I'm very skeptical, but that eBay business is crazy. And you can't find any regular priced on Amazon either.

 

[redslayer8585]

Ebay is weird sometimes. Here's another auction for English leather. This must have unicorn tears in it that have been blessed by the pope!

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[Bryanl]

I started looking for English leather at Wal-Mart, target and such seems to be scare.

 

[masonjarjar]

I found some 3.4 oz bottles at a local Drug store chain. I picked up one of each. Maybe it's nothing, I've wanted an aftershave anyway.. they'll remain unopened until this is all sorted out. I'm not flipping them yet lol.

 

[The Nid Hog]

When I was a young man growing up in the 60s and 70s, English Leather by MEM was one of my favorite fragrances. The scent was originally designed to smell like a WWII leather bomber jacket, a most wonderful aroma.

A year ago, I decided to try a bottle of the Dana stuff. I detest the current formulation. I do not know what Dana did to the formula, but the recent fragrance has none of the leathery goodness of the old scent. Since the new formula has lost its roots, I would not be surprised if it was discontinued. Perhaps they will back the original formula; wouldn't that be awesome, even if it did cost more.

I experienced a similar change with British Sterling. The original formula launched in the mid 60s was wonderful. A bottle I purchased a year ago is horrible. The regular version by Dana just does not do the original formula justice. Fortunately, Dana has come out with a variation of British Sterling called H.I.M Reserve Cologne that I find to be a wonderful fragrance, even if it does not duplicate the original.

I agree on both counts. My older brother wore English Leather, and I thought it smelled great. I gave the Dana version a try and I thought it smelled nauseating. The variants (now discontinued, I think) are fine--both lime and musk smell good to me. But the basic EL strikes me as a sweaty mess.

My dad always wore British Sterling and I was shocked at the nasty, metallic smell of the Dana. I'll have to check out the Reserve, if I come across it.

 

[Canadian Mountain Man]

There's always Stetson.....

 

[jaxstraww]

I found some 3.4 oz bottles at a local Drug store chain. I picked up one of each. Maybe it's nothing, I've wanted an aftershave anyway.. they'll remain unopened until this is all sorted out. I'm not flipping them yet lol.

If it is the Dana stuff you won't get as much. Secondary markets especially in othe countries will have tons of the stuff

Best to find MEM Company versions. Same for Brut, Aqua Velva and Old Spice. Non vintage just doesnt have that classic scent we remember.

Makes sense. Some of the ingredients are probably hard to find, expensive or have some sort of negative health deal that screams sue me.

Sent from my Samsung S8+

 

[The Nid Hog]

I have a couple of bottles of English Leather. Some Dana, some pre-Dana. If anybody is interested, message me. I'll be happy to box them up and send them to you after the holiday.

 

[guyakaguy]

Say it ain't so. I'm hoping this is just panic caused by rumor, but if it's true it's a sad day. I haven't been wearing English Leather for as long as some people here have, but it's been a star player in my cooler weather wear for almost 20 years.

If it truly has kicked the bucket, or should I say been murdered by Dana, I'll get through it; I certainly won't be paying more than $20 for an 8oz bottle of either. What's funny is I was just contemplating getting some more as my 8oz aftershave AND cologne have been getting pretty low.

I'll be waiting this one out patiently, but certainly not holding my breath.

 

[Featherweight]

I'm the one who posted it on Fragrantica. It's a weird situation.
Dana has resumed offering it on their own website. As of December, it was unavailable.
However, when you try to find it for a reasonable price elsewhere (Amazon, eBay), it is suddenly unavailable at reasonable prices. The cheapest 3.4 oz cologne is $29.99.
Dana seems to be "throttling" the supply. It's a reasonable $12 on their site.
Whether this is due to an impending discontinuation (not enough supply left for broad distribution, with newer bottles no longer being made) or some other reason I'm not sure. But given the circumstances, it's not looking good for English Leather.

Let me mention also that in 2012 I purchased an 8 oz bottle of the new formula. I almost never use it. I still have 7.5 ounces left in the bottle. I've noticed a few interesting things:

1. the color of the cologne has darkened by a few shades, from being almost clear to now being a medium amber color, closer to the vintage color
2. the scent has changed, it isn't as sharp and chemical as it was when new, and seems smoother, a bit more mellow, with its citrus notes not as intense
3. from the bottle, this now smells more like vintage, whereas when new it smelled similar to vintage, but also significantly "fresher" with sharper citrus

 

[Shave_Rat]

While I am a big fan of the vintage/classic EL, there are a lot of other AS/colognes out there still I also like. So, if it's gone, so be it, and if I bump into an easy score of it I'll grab it. If not, I'll miss it, but like any other discontinued product, it won't end my world. lol

 

[masonjarjar]

I'm the one who posted it on Fragrantica. It's a weird situation.
Dana has resumed offering it on their own website. As of December, it was unavailable.
However, when you try to find it for a reasonable price elsewhere (Amazon, eBay), it is suddenly unavailable at reasonable prices. The cheapest 3.4 oz cologne is $29.99.
Dana seems to be "throttling" the supply. It's a reasonable $12 on their site.
Whether this is due to an impending discontinuation (not enough supply left for broad distribution, with newer bottles no longer being made) or some other reason I'm not sure. But given the circumstances, it's not looking good for English Leather.

Let me mention also that in 2012 I purchased an 8 oz bottle of the new formula. I almost never use it. I still have 7.5 ounces left in the bottle. I've noticed a few interesting things:

1. the color of the cologne has darkened by a few shades, from being almost clear to now being a medium amber color, closer to the vintage color
2. the scent has changed, it isn't as sharp and chemical as it was when new, and seems smoother, a bit more mellow, with its citrus notes not as intense
3. from the bottle, this now smells more like vintage, whereas when new it smelled similar to vintage, but also significantly "fresher" with sharper citrus

Thanks for the input. I did notice a recent label change, so it would seem extremely weird to discontinue an item so soon after revamping the presentation, color, etc. A change back to being closer to vintage would be wonderful, if they actually keep making it. There are a few bottles still sitting on my local drug store's shelf at normal prices, I haven't checked anywhere else in town.

 

[BigLeegr]

The local Shoppers Drug Mart (Canada) has these in gift sets on clearance for under $10, in case someone wanted to stockpile some.

 

[guyakaguy]

I'm the one who posted it on Fragrantica. It's a weird situation.
Dana has resumed offering it on their own website. As of December, it was unavailable.
However, when you try to find it for a reasonable price elsewhere (Amazon, eBay), it is suddenly unavailable at reasonable prices. The cheapest 3.4 oz cologne is $29.99.
Dana seems to be "throttling" the supply. It's a reasonable $12 on their site.
Whether this is due to an impending discontinuation (not enough supply left for broad distribution, with newer bottles no longer being made) or some other reason I'm not sure. But given the circumstances, it's not looking good for English Leather.

One of the things I thought was odd about the supply of English Leather, especially over the last 5 years or so, is that I've yet to get an 8 oz bottle that had the new label on it, but I have been getting mine online.

Why I think it's odd is that my wife bought me a gift-set for Xmas, back in 2014, that had a 1 oz bottle of English Leather with the new logo. I hadn't seen the new logo prior to the fall of 2014 so we'll say, for all intents and purposes, that the bottle (and potentially the product inside) underwent a change in the late summer to early fall of 2014. Practically all b&m stock, of all sizes, from this time until the present had the new logo. I restocked (online) my 8 oz aftershave in the fall of 2015 and my 8oz cologne in the winter of 2016 - both came in old-stock packaging with old-stock bottles, over two years after the change.

I'm pretty sure that there isn't any shortage of supply, considering I got non-current (approximately 5+ years old) product twice in the last couple years, 2 1/2 - 3 years after the packaging/logo was updated. Both of these were purchased from major online retailers, which had the updated product in the listing. I also see a TON of old-stock, old logo, bottles in the ridiculous auctions, which I was about to say nobody would be crazy enough to buy, but:

You've got to be kidding me, unless they're getting shill bid, which is against eBay policy (and the law). Prior to December it's hard to find one over $30, vintage included.

This smells to me like a supply interruption that's turned into a money-grab, which I will not support.

 

[Featherweight]

I would agree with you on the supply interruption being the temporary cause of a spike in prices (and nosedive in availability), but in this instance that seems like a stretch. This is English Leather we're talking about, one of the most ubiquitous aftershave/cologne brands in the world. I just visited Amazon and Fragrancenet.com, two sites where I could always find a super cheap bottle, and they still don't have any. Cheapest on Amazon is $30, and most are in the $50 - $90 range. Fragrancenet only has the .5 oz size for $5, and even weirder, they only have 1 gift set left. eBay is just as abysmal.

I've never seen a drugstore product like EL go temporarily MIA. Something is up here.