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Brooks Brothers Bankruptcy Thread

dieworkwear

Mahatma Jawndi
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I was talking mostly about the 1818 suit. I'd be curious to see their sales figures at retail and all the steps of discounting they go through over the year. The retail price may or may not be a joke but if customers are conditioned to believe it is the end result is the same either way.

Wouldn't Southwick's closure also be an indication that those suits weren't unfairly priced? If the mark up was much higher than normal, and Brooks Brothers could make a profit on them even on discount, why would they close Southwick and be trying to find a buyer for those factories?
 

othertravel

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It just seems like that BB's pricing is 2.5 + 15%. As mentioned, there's an ubiquitous corporate discount that everyone has access to. Why wouldn't they account for that when they set their pricing?

As for the suits, yes, the 1818 suits do feel very stiff; almost cardboard like. Even the Saxxon ones too. Must be the structure/fusing method they use.
 

othertravel

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Wouldn't Southwick's closure also be an indication that those suits weren't unfairly priced? If the mark up was much higher than normal, and Brooks Brothers could make a profit on them even on discount, why would they close Southwick and be trying to find a buyer for those factories?

But how can they make a profit if they're not being purchased (even at discount).

This a complex issue with multiple variables (some of which you've identified). It doesn't just go down to margins.
 

Viral

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The Armoury is not a good point of reference to compare with BB - their goods are very expensive and they don’t have sales (I know they currently have a RJ promotion which is an anomaly).
 

othertravel

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The Armoury is not a good point of reference to compare with BB - their goods are very expensive and they don’t have sales (I know they currently have a RJ promotion which is an anomaly).

But they have an outlet where all the goods end up. That said, they do a good job of separating the two.
 

Viral

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But they have an outlet where all the goods end up. That said, they do a good job of separating the two.
they also don't have 200+ stores, nor doing $600M in sales, nor are manufacturer of what they sell (they are flippers), nor have the same pricing strategy/model, etc. etc.

They are not alike..........at all.

EDIT: they both sell shirts and ties
 

dieworkwear

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they also don't have 200+ stores, nor doing $600M in sales, nor are manufacturer of what they sell (they are flippers), nor have the same pricing strategy/model, etc. etc.

They are not alike..........at all.

EDIT: they both sell shirts and ties

Depending on the point you're trying to make, you can compare things that are similar or things that are very different.

Method of agreement:

A B C D occur together with w x y z
A E F G occur together with w t u v
——————————————————
Therefore A is the cause, or the effect, of w.


Method of difference:

A B C D occur together with w x y z
B C D occur together with x y z
——————————————————
Therefore A is the cause, or the effect, or a part of the cause of w.


But I'm not sure what point is trying to be made about The Armoury.
 

Viral

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Depending on the point you're trying to make, you can compare things that are similar or things that are very different.

Method of agreement:

A B C D occur together with w x y z
A E F G occur together with w t u v
——————————————————
Therefore A is the cause, or the effect, of w.


Method of difference:

A B C D occur together with w x y z
B C D occur together with x y z
——————————————————
Therefore A is the cause, or the effect, or a part of the cause of w.


But I'm not sure what point is trying to be made about The Armoury.
thx for the breakdown, but I'm not making any point other than to say the Armoury and BB are very different.

The Armoury only came up because someone mentioned about how expensive their retail prices are and I agree with that part.

I would be shocked if the executives at BB could learn about how to run their company from what the Armoury is doing with theirs.......
 

smittycl

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I think I referenced them as a place where I mostly trusted the retail price. That was the only comparison to Brooks, where I am greatly suspicious of the retail price.
 

comrade

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An obvious point is that BB has evolved into a mass marketer while The Armoury
has remained as a specialty shop, not unlike Paul Stuart which has adhered quite
closely to its origins. When I first shopped at BB over 50 years ago, they offered
everything from boys tailored clothing to true bespoke and had only modest seasonal
sales. It didn't hurt that they were cashing in on the Ivy style fad for which they were
"ur" source.
 

compuccesory

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I have a crazy theory about the cut of BB suits. Does anyone else attribute the decreasing popularity of heavily sculpted and structural shoulders in suits and the corresponding popularity in unstructured Neapolitan style shoulders to the changing standard of male beauty?

I never found any of BB's suits to fit my shoulders as my shoulders are wide and bulky and their struturered shoulders always just sort of sat awkwardly on top of them with a lot of unsightly creases, and making my already wide frame look even wider just wasn't a good look. I find that the particular style of shoulder seems to work a lot better on slimmer mend with narrower, thinner shoulders, but a combination of men getting fatter and also the popularity of gym going and the perception of a heavily muscled upper body being attractive (to other men, anyway, never met a woman who cared about it) means that the classically structurerd shoulder just doesn't fit off the rack as many people as it used to when men were thinner.
 

Dadacantona

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I have a crazy theory about the cut of BB suits. Does anyone else attribute the decreasing popularity of heavily sculpted and structural shoulders in suits and the corresponding popularity in unstructured Neapolitan style shoulders to the changing standard of male beauty?

I never found any of BB's suits to fit my shoulders as my shoulders are wide and bulky and their struturered shoulders always just sort of sat awkwardly on top of them with a lot of unsightly creases, and making my already wide frame look even wider just wasn't a good look. I find that the particular style of shoulder seems to work a lot better on slimmer mend with narrower, thinner shoulders, but a combination of men getting fatter and also the popularity of gym going and the perception of a heavily muscled upper body being attractive (to other men, anyway, never met a woman who cared about it) means that the classically structurerd shoulder just doesn't fit off the rack as many people as it used to when men were thinner.

But wouldn’t the traditional BB shoulder, if there is such a thing, be natural, softly structured, lightly padded, whatever? Not sure if that’s true for the current BB models.
 

clee1982

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Yup wouldn’t the original BB be the original soft shoulder
 

comrade

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Yup wouldn’t the original BB be the original soft shoulder

Yes. More"natural" than "soft" In fact very "Neapolitan"
I have some old suits/jackets from the 80s 90s - which no longer fit
from Chipp, another Ivy store. Their shoulders are nearly identical
to my current "Neapolitan" clothing.
 

dieworkwear

Mahatma Jawndi
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