need a refresher on the Oxxford Crest - Page 2

Don't waste your time with Oxxford, it's crap.

In your opinion, Tomasso, If Oxxford is crap, then all other clothing brands must also be crap ranging from crappy to extraordinarily crappy.

Perhaps bespoke is the best way for you to go by far, Tomasso.

I think Tomasso was joking. IIRC, he is a long term, very satisfied Oxxford customer, as are most who have used them. Nobody makes everybody happy.

Since that is the case, then my extraordinarily sincere apologies to Tomasso and everyone on SF and AAAC for being a pompous jerk, not just to Tomasso, but to everybody on SF and AAAC (just in case you ask, this most definitely includes my extraordinarily sincere apologies to you, iammmatt).

Could you mean Jack Simpson, who's something of an upscale designer? He used to be affiliated with Oxxford. I think I've seen very nice stuff under his own name at a Last Call -- someone said his own-label stuff is now made by someone like Martin Greenfield or Rocco Siffr- sorry, Ciccarelli.

I think you are right, he has a video on on utube that I saw a while back.

Perhaps our notions of 'dramatic' differ. I always felt that my Crest jackets were a bit too blocky and square. I have seen the cut look much better on others though.


Thanks; it took a lot of tweaking to get it to look like what you see. At the end, the results were a little to imperfect and a little too-hard won to be worthwhile. To be fair, much of what's 'wrong' with Oxxford has nothing to do with Oxxford itself and has more to do with the limitations of MTM. Someone with a more 'standard' body could probably fare much better than myself. However, it was the specific customer service and communication problems I later experienced that really killed Oxxford as an option for me.

The wider lapels were an option I had to specify. They are Oxxford's traditional peak lapels; they now offer a more contemporary, younger lapel shape that is much narrower and has no belly to speak of. The older ones are much better, in my opinion.


Oxxford is like Lexus to me in some ways. Very reliable and well-built, but the styling is always derivative, sometimes just odd, and less than "well-informed," as you say. It would go way too far to say Oxxford is 'bad' (in fact, I think it is very 'good' in many ways), but it has significant deficits that are worth noting when considering similarly priced options. They need a more coherent and consistent styling direction. I think they should not be afraid of looking 'American' and stop trying to borrow from Brioni or Kiton.


Going to Naples would have a been a serious pain in terms of time and money had I not been able to drop by during a vacation. To Oxxford's credit, for many, it does appear to be the last stop on the MTM route before going bespoke.

I agree that is worth a try. An example of what you are saying:

I have about ten or so made in Italy Oxxford shirts, some Crest, some not, that I picked up from Filene's Basement circa 2002. They are puzzling because they are dead ringers for Kiton shirts, down to the flat, brown hensfoot-stitched buttons, internal labeling, gusset treatment, etc. In other words, garden variety RTW Neapolitan aimed at retail consumers outside of Naples, but with Kiton features.

I have always wondered:

1. Did Kiton make these shirts for Oxxford? That seems quite an odd partnership.

2. If not, did Kiton and Oxxford source these from a common Neapolitan maker at that time?

3. If neither 1 or 2, then why would Oxxford sell shirts so closely mimicing distinctive superficial stylistic features of a Kiton shirt? (I'm thinking here of the buttons particularly, which are exactly Kiton's style.)

Actually, why 1, 2 or 3 unless they were trying to do what you are pointing out?

The main difference between the Oxxford shirts that I have and the Kiton shirts that I have from the same period points out a theme that I see with Oxxford: the bodies on the Oxxford balloon quite large compared to the Kiton shirts in the same neck size. In other words, somewhat a stylistic incoherence: neither a RTW expression of a bespoke Neapolitan shirt, nor an unapologetic American trad.

(At this point, the Oxxford-o-phile will ask, "Why did you get the shirts, then? My answer is, many of us go through a Borrelli-ish phase, some leave it, some don't, and at $40/shirt from FB, I remain fond of them despite their flaws.)

A few months ago, I picked up an early 60s (I think) Oxxford coat from an SF member that had been retailed originally out of Maus and Hoffman. I feel that it is the about least stylistically conflicted Oxxford that I own.

To balance this somewhat, I think that Oxxford odd coats in their Gibbons model can look quite good, and most Oxxford db looks very good to me. I own both. I also own some rarely worn Oxxford that I plan to disown inexpensively on the Sales Forum to those who do not have the same viewpoint that I do.

I am pretty much in bespoke mode these days, but I retain a lot of affection for Oxxford as the big RTW/MTM home team.

- B