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J.Crew vs. Lands End and LLBean

gymman

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I'm seeing some nice shirts from all three brands. Which is better for nicely fitted clothes?

I've given up baggy clothing, but don't want anything that is very restrictive, either. I am talking about lands end canvas division and the signature line of llbean. Are J Crew shirts very fitted also?

I'm looking for the best value and quality among the three.
 

MiniW

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J crew has a "slim fit" version of some of their shirts online. If you email "Jack" at J Crew and ask for measurements of a particular shirt, you will get a response with detailed measurements of the garment. I have never tried on the slim fit shirts so I can't say if they are really what they advertise as. I do own some regular J crew tailored stuff and a LE Canvas chambray shirt and they fit pretty similar. For shirts I plan to tuck in I would get the back darted for $10-$15 at a local tailor.

If you want super fitted stuff you are going to look for Band of Outsiders, Gitman Vintage, Gant Rugger "Hugger" shirts, etc. Epaulet also makes some very nice shirts, I own 2 so far. Of course the super fitted stuff ranges in the $100 and up which may not be a bad value if you plan to only own a few and wear them a lot.
 

gymman

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I'm looking for slimmer fitting shirts and pants, but don't want anything in the "skinny" category. It sounds like the j crew slim fit items may be worth a try.
 

mmmmpay

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In my experience, J Crew generally runs smaller than L L Bean. I've no experience with Lands End, though their Canvas line supposedly runs slimmer. Same goes for L L Bean's Signature line. A small at J Crew fits me well enough, but nothing sold on the L L Bean regular line fits me in any reasonable way. In addition to being quite wide, L L Bean shirts run long. I've also begun to notice a fair bit of variation within a given size range of J Crew shirts.
 

changed

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You can always buy the cheaper shirts at any of these stores and have them tailored for a fraction of the cost of the more expensive brands listed above...
 

clarksdb

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Skip Lands End Canvas...I bought some stuff instead of J Crew and the quality was really not good at all in my opinion. Almost like an Old Navy shirt. J Crew is much better if you want cheap, good clothing.
 

Gradstudent78

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Originally Posted by clarksdb
Skip Lands End Canvas...I bought some stuff instead of J Crew and the quality was really not good at all in my opinion. Almost like an Old Navy shirt. J Crew is much better if you want cheap, good clothing.

You can get Landsend canvas much cheaper then you can Jcrew. I've bought a number of items (couple pairs of pants, shorts, and some belts) that were inexpensive that have been good quality and have held up really well.
 

gymman

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I recall that CR did a study of durability and that Lands End came out as one of the top brands, so I doubt durability or construction quality are issues. With that out of the way, it's more an issue of how their items fit me in particular.
 

aphextwin07

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kind of a bad comparison, jcrew is leagues above both lands end and llbean in terms of quality and fits. as others have pointed out, the stuff from lands end and llbean looks really cheap in comparison and their smallest sizing is tent-like if you have a slim physique. sure jcrew is nothing to rave about but for the price-point the quality is much much better than what you'll get from either of those stores. and the guy who said jcrew isn't fitted doesn't know what he's talking about.
 

fiestaplatypus

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Originally Posted by aphextwin07
kind of a bad comparison, jcrew is leagues above both lands end and llbean in terms of quality and fits. as others have pointed out, the stuff from lands end and llbean looks really cheap in comparison and their smallest sizing is tent-like if you have a slim physique. sure jcrew is nothing to rave about but for the price-point the quality is much much better than what you'll get from either of those stores. and the guy who said jcrew isn't fitted doesn't know what he's talking about.

While I agree in regards to the fit of both Canvas and Signature being huge, I have to strongly disagree with your statement about LL Bean Signature's quality not being near that offered by J. Crew. Some of the pieces I have received from LL Bean Sig have blown away the quality offered by many of my J Crew items. The fit offered by both companies requires that I have everything tailored (being a tall, slim guy), so that barely plays a role in my decision making. Pricing for J Crew and LLB Sig are at about the same level while Canvas is significantly cheaper.

Fit

J Crew > LEC > LLB


Quality

J Crew, LLB >>> LEC


Price

LEC >>> LLB> J Crew
 

Gradstudent78

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Originally Posted by gymman
I recall that CR did a study of durability and that Lands End came out as one of the top brands, so I doubt durability or construction quality are issues. With that out of the way, it's more an issue of how their items fit me in particular.

I've found that LEC has a tigher fit then Jcrew in some things. In terms of shirts I can fit a Jcrew medium nicely, while I need to size up to a large in LEC. However, the pants I've tried from LEC have either been true to size or sized larger then I would have expected.
 

gymman

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I didn't really see anything that I wanted in the slim fit section of jcrew's site. I have a couple of items on order from canvas.
 

Hollywars

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If you are going to be tailoring, you might as well be getting something nicer like Gitman or Epaulet so you aren't spending more on tailoring than on the actual shirt.
 

951socal

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i prefer hickey freeman in the price range
 

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