Received this email from Bob at Hot Toppers, Inc.


"Robert Lundquist (info@hottoppers.com) 5:28 PM
To: Barry & Karen

We are writing to you as a good customer of Hot Toppers, Inc.
After 19 years – Hot Toppers, Inc. will be closing our doors .
We developed a product, made it here in the USA and maintained our quality against cheap China copies. After Harley-Davidson insisted that their dealers could only show the China copies – we are giving up the fight.
Our doors will be closing at the end of 2013. If you had your eye on any product, or anything from our collection – you have only a few days left to get it. We will be open for sales through December 27th.
Happy Holidays,
Hot Toppers, Inc."

 

That sucks!

I used them and spent many of $ on some older bikes that I used to own.

I was thinking of getting them for my roadie, but not now. Would hate to buy and only have enough to do half m sled.

YB

 

Another company closing their doors sucks,and the reason given is worse!

 

+1 could not of said it better

 

The hot toppers are very nice quality, but quite expensive. EBay has the cheap plastic covers for 1/10 the price. It's like everything else in our country, people demand the best quality for the cheapest price. What that means in layman's terms is that our American dollars are funding an overseas business. It's a shame.

 

couldn't agree more with you. where are us Americans going to work? everything being made overseas and cheaper everyday. nothing has any quality to it anymore, more and more junk on the market and we are supporting other countries when we have more problems here than we know what to do with. before this country sends any money overseas we should be well taken care of and be riding on gold plated roads. there should not be anyone wanting for anything in our country,such as food,shelter,and the general comforts of life.

 

That is no good. I have used some of their products. I guess no longer. Cheap consumerism trumps quality and patriotism, just sad.

 

That really sux. I wonder why HD said the dealers could only show China products? HD could still make money selling the Hot Toppers, very strange indeed. I own a camo company, and sell camo, going on 9 years now. We started making product overseas as well as in the US, but eventually switched to only US manufacturing 4 years ago. We are the NRAs only sponsored camo company because we make product in the US. Unfortunately, truth be told the US textile manufacturers are all closing down and the ones still open cant fill our orders fast enough. Its one of those decisions we will have to make, go back overseas or eventually go under, unless we sell very limited quantities. Maybe Hot Toppers should look at other options instead of closing down? That's a shame, I hate seeing that. In the retail world, I've heard from thousands of people at shows, on forums, and in stores, "we look for made in USA", but the sad truth is behind closed doors it all comes down to money and the best bang for the almighty $

 

Sorry to read about Hot Toppers. Though their explanation for closing, "Harley-Davidson insisted that their dealers could only show the China copies", raises more questions than answers.

 

Strange that they haven't posted this statement on their web-site:
http://www.hottoppers.com/home.asp