Brands that should have a better reputation...

Hey everyone, first post, long-time lurker. Finally decided to join in the fray. Another member posted a thread asking which brands are coasting off their reputation. On the other end of the spectrum, which brands do you think are undervalued? In other words, which brands have not quite caught on, or sell very high quality / stylish clothing, that is not reflected in the cost of their offerings?

The reason that I ask is that most people seeing our clothing are likely not as brand-aware as we are, whereas style and quality are much more obvious to most people. Any gems?

Ok, I'll bite into this one LOL.

Filson luggage and wallets.

I consider Corneliani a good value, even at full retail. And JC Penney's Stafford T-shirts are surprisingly nice. For socks, Gold Toe hold up very well -- much better than some of their tonier brethren, though I admit I'm ruthless with my socks.

Common Projects. While pricey, they are considerably cheaper then the designer sneakers they compete with (and look a lot better than most all of them).

Trask shoes

Allen Edmonds, due the myth of them being blobby "old men's shoes".

I feel like just about every corporate America manager views AE as pretty much the best shoe within his reach.

Lands End ties are not anything remarkable, but I don't think they are widely acknowledged to be even the decent product that they are.

I like my Fratelli Rossetti shoes a great deal - more than I like my Church's and AE, for example. I have found some random Spanish made shoes to be quite good. I don't even remember the brands though. I also have a pair of Henry Beguelin suede shoes that I like a great deal.

Gucci obviously has a fairly stellar reputation in the mainstream, but perhaps not on the forum. However, I have found the quality and styling of the apparel to be quite good on the whole. The same might go for YSL.

The Andrew's ties made in Italy seem pretty good.

Originally Posted by babygreenspots

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Lands End ties are not anything remarkable, but I don't think they are widely acknowledged to be even the decent product that they are.

Lands' End's knits are as good as any I own, including my Charvets. They offer a lot of solids, but sometimes they throw something unusual into the mix. I bought a metallic gold there that might be my favorite tie.

Originally Posted by babygreenspots

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I feel like just about every corporate America manager views AE as pretty much the best shoe within his reach.

I'm confused... you do or do not like AE?

Well, it's a good shoe, but boring and hardly under-recognized since it is the go-to "good shoe" for your average corporate or finance fellow.

@Doc Holiday: I didn't want to tip everyone off about Land's End ties, but they probably knew before me anyway.

Originally Posted by babygreenspots

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Gucci obviously has a fairly stellar reputation in the mainstream, but perhaps not on the forum. However, I have found the quality and styling of the apparel to be quite good on the whole. The same might go for YSL.


+1. Too bad the same can't be said for their shoes.

Originally Posted by Crane's

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Ok, I'll bite into this one LOL.

Filson luggage and wallets.

Agreed. To the general public undervalued cause no one knows of them. But to those who know, their reputation is stellar.

Originally Posted by babygreenspots

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I like my Fratelli Rossetti shoes a great deal - more than I like my Church's and AE, for example. I have found some random Spanish made shoes to be quite good. I don't even remember the brands though. I also have a pair of Henry Beguelin suede shoes that I like a great deal.
The only Spanish shoes I really like are Carmina. There are several other brands, like Yanko and Lotusse (of both of which I have had mixed experiences, and I believe that when it comes to quality they lag behind Carmina, although this is just something I "feel" - I am not an expert on leather quality and shoe construction) and Martinelli (I once bought a pair of Martinelli because it was cheap and they were nothing special, but now I have heard that the brand has been bought by a new company so the quality may increase - or not).
I believe that Spanish shoe industry, trying to compete with the Chinese, is trying to focus on "design", maybe more than on "quality".
So, back to the OP's topic, and when it comes to Spanish shoes, I do think that Carmina should have a better reputation; the "problem" with Carmina is not that it has a bad reputation, but that it does not seem to have any reputation at all! Even in Spain, most people I now never heard of Carmina, and I actually never tried them until I heard about them on this forum!

Belstaff. While they made a lot of jackets for movies, I don't think it's a well known brand - at least not in the Netherlands and I don't read a lot about them here.

Is there a good place online to find out more about Carmina's offerings?