What are the greatest menswear brands of all time? - Page 19

Originally Posted by Klobber 

If using mass market arguments, then Hugo Boss deserves a strong shout. They invented the fused jacket and approximately 95% of all suits sitting on store racks are entirely fused (I count half canvassed / single floating chest piece canvas jackets as part of the fused catergory).
While fusing is despised in this forum, this cheap production technique made suiting affordable to the masses where traditionally a man could typically only afford one or two suits.
However, to call Hugo Boss a great menswear brand would be pure blasphemy.
To rectify this, I think a stronger emphasis should be placed on design versus marketing genius. Just my two Deutschmarks.

Originally Posted by JensenH 

And from which P.R. article or autobiography did you gleam this?
Interesting inference. Are you saying that ethnic-sounding surnames should never be used? That it is something shameful and should be hiddened from the public?
FWIW, I have been assumed to be Jewish because of my pro-Israel stance.

Originally Posted by JensenH 

RL deserves to be #1 if the ranking criterion is solely based on gross revenue, followed by the likes of Nike, Gap, Levis, Zara, and H&M.
.

Originally Posted by YoungAmerican 

It will be one list, and it will be largely arbitrary. But there are already some great ideas I'd left off our first draft - Burberry, for example. Which I think deserves to be on the list for inventing one of the most important staple clothing items, and keeping the brand relatively important outside of that.

Originally Posted by YoungAmerican 

I think that the perspective will be American, but we will at least try to have some representation for fashion. Probably at least some of the fashion folks who've really changed trends in more traditional circles (Cardin, YSL, Thom Browne, Armani) and some representation from the folks you mentioned, plus maybe an Antwerper or two.

Originally Posted by YoungAmerican 

That's a really interesting list, Fok. There was already a "Top 50 Streetwear Brands" list, so we'll be focusing on tailored clothing and to some extent the accessories that go with them, but I somehow didn't have Calvin Klein on our draft list (duh), among others.

Originally Posted by YoungAmerican 

Generally speaking, we will try to include tailors/makers whose work is as significant as brands... just try to achieve some balance. Obviously, it will to some extent be arbitrary.
So probably the greatest Savile Row tailors - Poole, Huntsman, Gieves & Hawkes - maybe a Savile Row revolutionary like Nutter or Boateng. For example.

Originally Posted by LA Guy 

You forget that Jil Sander was all about luxurious fabrics and extremely expensive construction to make a seemingly plain garment very attractive. I was looking at some of the stuff Menichetti did for her first menswear collections, and there was a reason that a simple moleskin shirt jacket cost $450, in 1998 dollars. That same piece today would probably sell for close to $1K. I'm actually reminded of this because I recently got hold of some vintage deadstock Jil for my wife, and the construction on the skirts is impeccable, and the materials used were beautiful and expensive. So, you could easily say that J+, the materials for which would charitably be described as "garbagio", falls into the same category. The cuts of the jackets were superficially similar, the end..

Originally Posted by Saturdays 

Interesting thought crossed my mind, is the brand great if nobody knows about it? A random joe-schmo won't know what Kiton is. Hell most people I know don't even know what RLBL and RLPL are. How can a brand be great if people don't recognize it? Most people don't even understand what the BB logo stands for.
Anyway, we'll never agree what criteria to use, unless OP really answers since this is for his article.

Originally Posted by JensenH 
Are you saying that ethnic-sounding surname should never be used? That it is something shameful and should be hidden from the public?

Originally Posted by JensenH 


Are you saying that ethnic-sounding surname should never be used? That it is something shameful and should be hidden from the public?

Originally Posted by romafan 

Has Pierre Cardin been mentioned yet?

Originally Posted by romafan 

Has Pierre Cardin been mentioned yet?

Originally Posted by NORE 

You are an idiot in a very large way.

Originally Posted by unbelragazzo 

What's McDonalds' Purple Label? Or even Polo for that matter. For most people, Polo is very expensive. McDonalds is cheap for most people. Kirkland or H&M or Forever 21 would be the McD of fashion IMHO, not RL.

Originally Posted by JensenH 

Please refrain from posting until you have learned to recognize rhetoric.

Originally Posted by rach2jlc 

We're so in sync on this sometimes it's scary; I had a whole different post written when I mentioned Jil above, qualifying it EXACTLY with the mention of fabrics as a key to her appeal. I edited it back to avoid another "wall of text" and let it stand, as my overall point was the same.
As for old JIl, it is amazing how "expensive" it was at the time, but how relatively reasonable it seems today. I could pull the tags on some of my old JIl "tailor made" button downs, which were $275 back in the day. You can't even get a tshirt for that now. Likewise, some of the old bags in buffalo, elk, and other nice skins were $1100-1400.
The two most expensive, comparatively, items I ever bought were a pair of YSL Hedi silk karate pants, which I think were $620 or so back in 2000... and the black painted blue jeans from 2003 Follow Me. I also bought an embarassingly bad, but extremely well constructed, Gaultier sailor sweater from the Rue Vivienne store long, long ago that cost more than the plane ticket to get me to Paris. THAT sweater got a lot of jokes... I think my sister has it now. (haha)