The Ascendancy of J. Crew - all good? - Page 3

I love me some J Crew. I have to wear tall, which REALLY limits my options, they are one of the few stores that speaks to my preppy aesthetic without being foppish. I would love if it VV made clothes in tall, but unfortunately they do not. Not that J Crews label partners will produce anything in a tall, but if the ethos of moving upmarket provides a source or high quality clothing in tall that's not also big, then bring it on.

Thank god I can wear regular shoes, I wear a 12/12.5D, I am just 6'3" and it's ALL torso which is kind of unfortunate (I have a 34" inseam).

This conversation just took a very intimate, and not totally unwelcome turn.

Eddie Izzard reference? Nice.

I like them, but I liked them better when they were quirky. I still have a pair of reversible shorts and a reversible sweatshirt from maybe 1990.

I too remember ordering stuff from the J Crew catalogs in the late 80's and I like a lot of what J Crew is doing and selling these days.

I just worry that since a lot of what they are selling is quite similar to stuff I already own I will be typecast as just being a J Crew wannabe and when this trend ends, as it inevitably will, people will assume I'm still stuck in a J Crew mold.

Then again, I'm still a bigger fan of Brooks Brothers and LL Bean.

I like what J.Crew is doing but I wonder if this will be successful for them.

After reading this I realize that J Crew must be stopped AT. ALL COSTS. And there is only one way to do it.. grab your pitchforks and meet me at the nearest locations....

If you guys are worried about this degrading the exclusivity of your brands, you need to find more exclusive brands. I could buy any of these things from a handful of shops within a couple miles of my house, barring maybe the Belstaff, and I don't live in a good city for shopping (referring to DC right now, not London). It's supposed to be about style anyway, not brand.

Seems like they've tried to upgrade their preppy/ Dawson's Creek college look to a more sophisticated look as their client base grows up (= more disposable income to pay more) and looks to dress in something more than nubucks and chinos.

I doubt in the early 90s you would've seen $600 Alden cordovan at JCrew. Interesting, but they are completely in another territory - no longer niche. Is it a good move in these economic times? Let's see.

This is what I'm curious about. Other retailers seem to have taken a more conservative approach over the last year while J.Crew has taken the opposite.

I'm not so sure JCrew collabs are an attempt to bring those brands to the mainstream, as it is a way of seeking the approval of fashionistas. Most of those collabs, aside from more basic items like Levis and Topsiders, are very hard to find in most stores unless you're near certain flagship stores. On SF, we discuss JCrew carrying Alden's. With friends, I simply hear, "damn, JCrew carries some carry expensive shoes!" What the company really did in the last half of the decade was to really woo the media, icon, celebrities, and other insiders of the fashion world. Once these people found it acceptable, even cool, to rock JCrew, it took off with the masses. The idea wasn't really to sell boatloads of Aldens, as it was more to promote the popularity longwing bluchers. What they end up selling a boatload of are their own JCrew branded Gifford shoes or even the lower end rubber-soled bluchers (although maybe these have been discontinued). I really haven't heard anybody who wasn't already a clotheshorse prior to rediscovering JCrew actually understand any of these items. For most, those collab items are merely a reference for the styles and looks they represent. To them, Belstaffs are the biker jackets. Red Wings are the shoes for the lumberjack look. Barbours are the fancy barn jackets. Longwings and wingtips are all oxfords. Especially irritating, my wife refers to any shoe with brogueing as an oxford. Since they're popular with women now, she's in the market for a pair of "oxfords" too. So I wouldn't worry about these collaboration brands being too mainstream.

Buy their stock (NYSE JCG) and tell me how it goes! LOL