Club Monaco: Adventures in decent clothing and horrible marketing

[ma1]

I was just in the eatons center location and it's amazing how much they've retooled to be like jcrew. I honestly couldn't tell the difference aside from the name on the front.

Right down to having off-brand accessories like persol sunglasses, shoes from marc mcnairy and bags from ernest alexander. Even the way they display their clothes is the same.

 

[irbe]

Originally Posted by ma1

I was just in the eatons center location and it's amazing how much they've retooled to be like jcrew. I honestly couldn't tell the difference aside from the name on the front.

Right down to having off-brand accessories like persol sunglasses, shoes from marc mcnairy and bags from ernest alexander. Even the way they display their clothes is the same.

Hrmm u saw the McNairy shoes at eatons?

 

[dieselman89]

Originally Posted by ma1

I was just in the eatons center location and it's amazing how much they've retooled to be like jcrew. I honestly couldn't tell the difference aside from the name on the front. Right down to having off-brand accessories like persol sunglasses, shoes from marc mcnairy and bags from ernest alexander. Even the way they display their clothes is the same.
Yes I agree they are trying to make an italian-looking J Crew. Stuff isn't as good quality but it goes on sale quickly!

 

[SOMD]

I've only been in a couple Club Monaco's (and quickly walked out) but what age group/demographic are they aiming for? They don't seem to be very stylish, just very expensive. Is it casual clothes geared for 40 and 50-something's?

 

[Dr Huh?]

Originally Posted by SOMD

I've only been in a couple Club Monaco's (and quickly walked out) but what age group/demographic are they aiming for? They don't seem to be very stylish, just very expensive. Is it casual clothes geared for 40 and 50-something's?

20's to 40's sounds about right. As for being stylish, I guess that depends on what you consider to be stylish. At the very least, Club Monaco tends to be tasteful. It seems to rely on basics, with a subdued colour pallet and more attention to fit than most mall brands. The main knock against it is that the clothes are maybe not worth what they're priced at.

 

[Donut]

Originally Posted by Dr Huh?

20's to 40's sounds about right. As for being stylish, I guess that depends on what you consider to be stylish. At the very least, Club Monaco tends to be tasteful. It seems to rely on basics, with a subdued colour pallet and more attention to fit than most mall brands. The main knock against it is that the clothes are maybe not worth what they're priced at.

This and sometimes they have more interesting designs like i saw a paint splatter gradient sweatshirt there once which reminded me of the geller one except not as nice.

 

[89andy]

anyone notice if shorts are being marked down yet? Want to grab some but not for the retail price of course, haha.

 

[dieselman89]

Originally Posted by 89andy

anyone notice if shorts are being marked down yet? Want to grab some but not for the retail price of course, haha.

Their shorts are great. They are better fitting and offer more options than competitors JCrew/Banana/Zara

 

[Timbaland]

Originally Posted by 89andy

anyone notice if shorts are being marked down yet? Want to grab some but not for the retail price of course, haha.

I've only seen the cord ($49), cargo ($29), and a yellow pair ($29) on sale. The other ones are still at full price at the place around me. Although it seems the one by me is slower to mark down prices than other locations.

 

[pickpackpockpuck]

CM to start carrying heritage brands:
http://ny.racked.com/archives/2011/0...ing_rustic.php

 

[Master-Classter]

I'll +1 to CM having changed their style quite a lot of the years. Back like 5-10 years ago they were all about simple classics. So black, white, grey, navy cream. Mostly solids with some very simple patterns. everything relatively slim and trendy but not too much. Sort of yacht club meets runway. Plus every season they'd have 1-2 crazy colors (pink, yellow, teal, etc).

nowadays they've started doing much heavier fabrics and unusual textures like suede, tweed, etc, a lot more details like pockets and unusual buttons, functional cuffs, etc... my first thought on seeing the stuff from the past year was to check the name on the front of the store because it looks like a merger of JCrew, Polo, and the GAP.

their pricing was always a bit higher than was worth it but within a single price drop or two I would buy. Now their 'regular' prices are even higher ($30+ more on every pant and shirt), and then they do crazy heavy discounting so I don't even bother buying until it's rock bottom.


I miss the old CM. And their Heritage stuff isn't filling the gap either.

 

[liq2]

I was just in there and scored some pretty simple slim blue khakis marked down to $29. Looks like all the colors were marked way down. Was surprised that the pair I got was tagged a 32" when I wear a 34" in everything else. Also had some serious sticker shock on their basic cotton navy blazer, $275! Thought that was pretty steep, even for them.

 

[Meis]

Originally Posted by liq2

I was just in there and scored some pretty simple slim blue khakis marked down to $29. Looks like all the colors were marked way down. Was surprised that the pair I got was tagged a 32" when I wear a 34" in everything else. Also had some serious sticker shock on their basic cotton navy blazer, $275! Thought that was pretty steep, even for them.
not really... Jcrew charges about the same for a similar sort of blazer and the CM one is generally going to be nicer (plus the student discount that you can pretty much always use, unlike jcrew's)

 

[dieselman89]

Originally Posted by Master-Classter

I'll +1 to CM having changed their style quite a lot of the years. Back like 5-10 years ago they were all about simple classics. So black, white, grey, navy cream. Mostly solids with some very simple patterns. everything relatively slim and trendy but not too much. Sort of yacht club meets runway. Plus every season they'd have 1-2 crazy colors (pink, yellow, teal, etc).

nowadays they've started doing much heavier fabrics and unusual textures like suede, tweed, etc, a lot more details like pockets and unusual buttons, functional cuffs, etc... my first thought on seeing the stuff from the past year was to check the name on the front of the store because it looks like a merger of JCrew, Polo, and the GAP.

their pricing was always a bit higher than was worth it but within a single price drop or two I would buy. Now their 'regular' prices are even higher ($30+ more on every pant and shirt), and then they do crazy heavy discounting so I don't even bother buying until it's rock bottom.


I miss the old CM. And their Heritage stuff isn't filling the gap either.
CM is always changing. You can't even compare where they were a year ago to what their stuff looks like now. They are super super trendy and right now the trend is JCrew style so they are jumping on that.

 

[swisschalet]

Do they still carry Barbour Internationals in the Canadian stores?