J. Cogburn
Senior Member
- Joined
- Dec 3, 2009
- Messages
- 654
- Reaction score
- 15
I popped into Brooks Brothers in DC last night after work. It was the last day of their sale on 1818 suits (two for something close to $1500) and they also offered an additional 25% off if you opened a charge card with them. Seemed like a pretty good deal to me.
And I was in dire need. I have lost 30 lbs. over the past seven months and desperately needed new clothes to replace the tents in my closet. Alas, I have about another 35 lbs to go before I'm where I want to be, so whatever I buy at the moment will only be worn through the summer (if all goes well). I tried Joseph A. Banks to fill this bill, but I'm not wild about how those suits move on me. I was on TV a couple of weeks ago and the suit that fit so well and looked so reasonable on me while standing at attention bunched up oddly at the shoulders while sitting down. I looked like a Soviet-era factory worker. Never again. Brooks Brothers will fill in the gap until I can go bespoke late this summer.
Having scoped out Brooks Brothers suits for a couple of weeks now, I must say that I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, they are no longer boxy, shapeless, or anonymous. Their 1818 suits are cut with some shape; even their boxiest model - the Madison - seems less boxy to me than the Hickey Freemans I tried on a couple of weeks ago while in New York; the Brooks Brothers suits fit me like a glove (all models); and they seemed reasonably well made for a fused half-canvased suit.
But ... the selection is pretty thin. This seems to be par for the course for upper mid-level American suits. No double breasted models save for one (or perhaps two) in the Golden Fleece line (which was out of my price range given the short life expectancy I anticipate for these suits in my closet). The Regent had double vents, but everything else was single vented. Probably 90% of the suits on the rack were navy solid, navy with a couple of different styles of pin stripe, charcoal grey solid, and various greys with various pinstripe styles. No glen checks. No gabardines. No herringbones. No sharkskins. No birdseyes. No tropical houndstooths. No marine blues. They had only one nailhead (in a very light black & white). I'm sure that they know their customers and are putting on the rack those suits that their customers want the most, but still, I recall a somewhat broader selection of suits about 15 years ago when I last bought suits there.
The sales associates were very helpful and the service was pleasant. True, they couldn't pass an even rather basic quiz about clothes that members here might construct to test basic sartorial knowledge, but compared to the SAs I've run into in the higher end department stores and JaB, they are Oriental clothes-masters from the far east. They knew their stock well, the house tailor seemed reasonably good, and everybody smiled and hopped-to-it.
So I give them a B. Given their price point when sales are in play, I can't really complain about the suits. I just wish they had a deeper line-up.
And I was in dire need. I have lost 30 lbs. over the past seven months and desperately needed new clothes to replace the tents in my closet. Alas, I have about another 35 lbs to go before I'm where I want to be, so whatever I buy at the moment will only be worn through the summer (if all goes well). I tried Joseph A. Banks to fill this bill, but I'm not wild about how those suits move on me. I was on TV a couple of weeks ago and the suit that fit so well and looked so reasonable on me while standing at attention bunched up oddly at the shoulders while sitting down. I looked like a Soviet-era factory worker. Never again. Brooks Brothers will fill in the gap until I can go bespoke late this summer.
Having scoped out Brooks Brothers suits for a couple of weeks now, I must say that I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, they are no longer boxy, shapeless, or anonymous. Their 1818 suits are cut with some shape; even their boxiest model - the Madison - seems less boxy to me than the Hickey Freemans I tried on a couple of weeks ago while in New York; the Brooks Brothers suits fit me like a glove (all models); and they seemed reasonably well made for a fused half-canvased suit.
But ... the selection is pretty thin. This seems to be par for the course for upper mid-level American suits. No double breasted models save for one (or perhaps two) in the Golden Fleece line (which was out of my price range given the short life expectancy I anticipate for these suits in my closet). The Regent had double vents, but everything else was single vented. Probably 90% of the suits on the rack were navy solid, navy with a couple of different styles of pin stripe, charcoal grey solid, and various greys with various pinstripe styles. No glen checks. No gabardines. No herringbones. No sharkskins. No birdseyes. No tropical houndstooths. No marine blues. They had only one nailhead (in a very light black & white). I'm sure that they know their customers and are putting on the rack those suits that their customers want the most, but still, I recall a somewhat broader selection of suits about 15 years ago when I last bought suits there.
The sales associates were very helpful and the service was pleasant. True, they couldn't pass an even rather basic quiz about clothes that members here might construct to test basic sartorial knowledge, but compared to the SAs I've run into in the higher end department stores and JaB, they are Oriental clothes-masters from the far east. They knew their stock well, the house tailor seemed reasonably good, and everybody smiled and hopped-to-it.
So I give them a B. Given their price point when sales are in play, I can't really complain about the suits. I just wish they had a deeper line-up.
