Am 35 years old and for the last 20 years the company has been on the ropes....
Its a dying industry, No one wants crystal anymore when you can get a good Ikea Wine Glass for £1.30.....
Might be an iconic Irish Brand but when you ain't making money, it ain't worth keeping....
BTW - Top 10 recognised Irish Brands in UK
Guinness 17%
Baileys 16%
Westlife 10%
U2 9%
Magners 6%
Jameson 5%
Boyzone 3%
Kerrygold 3%
Ryanair 3%
Murphy's Irish Stout 2%
Waterford are high end and high value manufacturing, that offers high skilled employment. Why would anyone to fed up with it?
So was our Carpet and Weaving industries.... People no longer want them...Originally Posted by White Horse
If the stuff ain't selling, it ain't selling.
The Waterford Crystal demographic is dying.
U2, Westlife and Boyzone??!!!! Christonabike, we are in very serious trouble!
Fianna Fail - The Loss of Sovereignty Party.
Will the bearded ones demand that it be nationalised as a pre-condition to agreement on the partenership talks?
I heard one say yesterday on radio that it was a fantastic brand. I'm sure his house is full of the stuff.
It should be nationalised and used to manufacture affordable glass products for the people
The brand has been systematically slaughtered over the years and no real attempt was made to appeal to other demographic sectors with the exception of the John Rocha designs - and much, much more could have been done. Instead milking the cash cow, for Darby O'Gill romanticist sectors of the US and other overseas "Irish" has now come home to roost.
There are plenty of high end, conservative brands that have moved with the times or made significant inroads to other sectors that could have been learned from. I suspect too that the entrenched cultural aspects of the company have also played their part in sapping the energy from any would be investors\enterprising individuals that have taken their toll. Waterford has long been on multiple business course case studies of how not to do things and it is said that it will likely end up being no more use than academic learning but I suppose if it does that, it will be something although I will be surprised as it seems not to be an Irish thing to learn from our mistakes.
As for the comparison between Waterford and IKEA - I am already tired of IKEA and the fupping place hasn't even opened!
We are "they"
It's not dying anymore than Rolex, Cartier or Bulgari are dying. Waterford sold 180 million worth of product in the US alone last year.
Has anyone ever seen the items produced by Swedish manufacturers Kosta Boda or Orrefors?
Should Waterford have gone down this route?
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