how do Japanese brands like United Arrows, Beams, Ships, and Theory compare?

[AlexMorgan]

I am visiting Japan now and wondering how these brands in terms of quality and cost-quality ratio compare.
They are primarily casual although United Arrows does sell suits, I'm more interested in casual clothes.

United Arrows and Beams seem to be around the same price range
about 50-60 USD for tees, 150 for jackets, etc.
Style wise, United Arrows is quite similar to Uniqlo (very conservative for all)
Beams seems to cater to college age people but I see many middle aged men there

theory about almost double that price.
How good are these brands in durability? the price is significantly higher than low end brands like Uniqlo and GU
I'm wondering if its worth it or I should just stick to global brands.

 

[cchen]

Theory isn't a Japanese brand, though its current owners are Japanese.

I've found that UA, Beams, and Ships generally have good quality products that they sell private label. But you have to be a bit discerning as each of those retailers have several sub brands as well. At the top end of their private labels brands, the products are made in Japan, so very high quality for the price. I usually wait for sale season where discounts can hit 30-60% off.

There's no comparison to Uniqlo and GU - they sell cheap basics, while the retailers you mentioned are mid-premium. Some of the Ships private label blazers are made by Ring Jacket.

I would also look into Journal Standard.

 

[CityMap]

Alot of Japanese here seem to think anything foreign and international is better than their Japanese counter parts
for example they think

Gap > Uniqlo
Lacoste/Ralph/Burberry > Theory
Abercrombie/Hollister > United Arrows

they just continue buying domestic brands because the size of foreign brands are too big.

 

[Kent Wang]

I'm going to Tokyo and want to have a look at these shops. They have so many locations. Is there a specific 'flagship' location for each one? Or maybe menswear flagship?

 

[LA Guy]

The exotic always seems better. ime, the quality of Theory is usually pretty good. I find the clothes sort of boring and soulless for the most part - like a high end Banana Republic - it's always going to look "okay", but the construction quality, ime, has always been decent, and the materials as well. A lot of stuff from the Japanese mall brands, like Beams+, is similarly indifferent. All the Beams+ knits I've seen are poorly made, watered down versions of brands like Inis Meain, Howlin', SNS Herning, etc.... depending on the specific piece. They also mimck domestic Japanese brands like Haver Sack.F or some, the cut and the low prices plus the trendy styles are a draw, but I've never found any particular piece that I needed to have.

 

[Steve Smith]

In the past, Brooks Brothers has made OCBD's for SHIPS.

 

[meso]

Beams+ shirts are alright by me for workwear style staples.
But I also lack imagination.

 

[CityMap]

The exotic always seems better. ime, the quality of Theory is usually pretty good. I find the clothes sort of boring and soulless for the most part - like a high end Banana Republic - it's always going to look "okay", but the construction quality, ime, has always been decent, and the materials as well. A lot of stuff from the Japanese mall brands, like Beams+, is similarly indifferent. All the Beams+ knits I've seen are poorly made, watered down versions of brands like Inis Meain, Howlin', SNS Herning, etc.... depending on the specific piece. They also mimck domestic Japanese brands like Haver Sack.F or some, the cut and the low prices plus the trendy styles are a draw, but I've never found any particular piece that I needed to have.

I feel the same exact way too! a lot of the Japanese brands (outside of overly stylish ones like GDC or F21 clone, GU) produce very conservative, general designs. The problem is they demand so much money for clothes that don't look significantly different from Uniqlo and are not a huge step up in quality (they will still use a lot of synthetic fibers, 99% are made in China, etc). Theory is the worst one because they want like $100 usd for a tee that looks like it could be bought anywhere. Even during the half off season (usually January and July), the prices are still steep.

One slight exception to this is Muji, their styles are very very plain and a bit pricey..but I find the materials they use to be interesting. heavy use of silk instead of polyester.
Also you could argue Lacoste is more "Japanese" than some other brands.. lots of made in Japan only stuff in the Lacoste here.