Pual Stuart to start a "logo collection"

[zjpj83]

In general, I don't understand why people pay companies to be their walking advertisements.

Anyhow, Paul Stuart has their new "logo collection," containing all sorts of sweaters with the PS logo on the chest. The advertising line for the collection is "The Paul Stuart logo collection...an expression of your own discerning taste." In other words, "show the world that you can afford a Paul Stuart sweater." Thumbs down.

 

[imageWIS]

They should leave the logos to RL and Lacoste.

Jon.

 

[lisapop]

Thumbs down

Agreed. That said, for those with a need to validate themselves by publically displaying a logo, at least the PS logo is a welcome departure from the overdone polo player, and possibly shows some minor level of individuality and maybe even good taste. During the old days, I remember when PS was always crowded with customers, sometimes elbow to elbow with no available salespeople. Flash forward to present times, and I hardly see any customers in the store when I've gone in to look around. The salespeople are, for the most part, entertaining each other. Given the dramatic expansion of the store over the years, I'm puzzled as to how PS keeps going.
Grayson

 

[imageWIS]

Quote:

Thumbs down
Agreed. That said, for those with a need to validate themselves by publically displaying a logo, at least the PS logo is a welcome departure from the overdone polo player, and possibly shows some minor level of individuality and maybe even good taste. During the old days, I remember when PS was always crowded with customers, sometimes elbow to elbow with no available salespeople. Flash forward to present times, and I hardly see any customers in the store when I've gone in to look around. The salespeople are, for the most part, entertaining each other. Given the dramatic expansion of the store over the years, I'm puzzled as to how PS keeps going. Grayson
The only store that was super busy last time I was in Manhattan was the Gucci on 5th, every other store was pretty sparse when it came to shoppers considering it was a Saturday. PS had one or two patrons in it...that includes all the floors. Jon.

 

[zjpj83]

the funny part is the sweaters aren't that expensive.

As for PS, I agree, it feels a little weird to be the only customer wandering around with all eyes on you. That said, at least the salespeople aren't up in your face and will actually let you browse. Most of all, their stock of sizes can't be beat by anyone. A 41 extra long? Sure, we've got that.

 

[kabert]

PS has had logos on some items, like tennis shirts, for years. I'm not a fan of logos on items either though. I'm sure PS contemplates that logo items are part of the casualization of its clothes.

By the way, I think PS probably does a pretty good mail order business. It think they have a loyal following -- I know my father, brother and I all regularly order from them even though we (I anyway) haven't been to the store for several years as I haven't managed to have casual shopping time the last few times I've been in NYC or Chicago. Let me put it this way -- if PS had a private equity or debt offering for PS shares or bonds (I think the store is privately owned), I would be in line to buy.

 

[Patrick Bateman]

Flash forward to present times, and I hardly see any customers in the store when I've gone in to look around.  The salespeople are, for the most part, entertaining each other.  Given the dramatic expansion of the store over the years, I'm puzzled as to how PS keeps going.
Grayson

1. don't forget about catalogue and phone orders from rich businessmen
2. Even if the main floor is not crowded, there can be people spending a lot of money on suits on the upper floor
3. The Tokyo store definitely helps the bottom line

Does anyone know if PS owns, rather than rents, their space on Madison? That, too, makes a big difference in terms of their costs.

 

[lisapop]

PS also deserves credit for doing their part in helping the headless mannequin industry thrive.
Grayson

 

[Patrick Bateman]

LOL

Their display windows are definitely among the best in NYC.

 

[auto90403]

I started buying PS suits in NY as a college student decades ago. The store always seemed crowded.

These last few years, I lived a few blocks from their Michigan Avenue store in Chicago and when I wandered in, I was frequently the only customer.

I don't know how they're paying the rent.

 

[lisapop]

PS used to enjoy a large Wall Street clientele, and I imagine the movement to casual Fridays at many firms, even casual weeks at others (despite some return to more formal dress at some firms) has impacted on the level of traffic at the store. I have friends who manage billions of dollars who customarily wear jeans to work.
Grayson

 

[romafan]

They should leave the logos to RL and Lacoste. Jon.

In defense of Lacoste, what we think of as the classic Lacoste shirt was actually the first shirt designed specifically for tennis by the 1920s French great Rene Lacoste, who was known as 'the crocodile'. As a finishing touch to his new shirt he affixed the tiny croc which has since come to be called an alligator

Despite his triggering the phenomenon of apparel logos, his is a fairly interesting story: He was not particularly athletic in build or in his movements, and as a reserved and rather shy youth he seemed to be more fitted for the world of education, law or medicine than for athletic achievement But Jean RenÃ

Lacoste, known as the Crocodile, would win Wimbledon and the U.S. twice, the French thrice and become a member of the Four Musketeers, the scourges of the tennis world in the 1920s. He was in the World Top Ten six straight years from 1324, No. 1 in 1926-27. Lacoste was a self-made champion, a player who won world renown through sheer hard work and devoted application rather than through the benefit of natural talent. Born in Paris, July 2, 1904, he did not go onto a court until he was 15 years old, while on a trip with his father to England. His development after that was slow. His father, a wealthy manufacturer of automobiles, agreed to his son's devoting himself to tennis, but with the understanding that he must set himself the task of becoming a world champion and achieve his goal within five years or drop it. In his determination to excel, Lacoste trained faithfully and read and observed everything, even keeping a notebook on the strengths and weaknesses of his contemporaries. He became a master of the backcourt game, choosing to maintain a length of inexorable pressure to exact the error or the opening for the finishing shot, and repelling the volleyer with passing shots and lobs. In recognition of his growing success, he was selected in 1923 as the fourth Musketeer to blend with Jean Borotra, Jacques Brugnon and Henri Cochet in the alliance that would bring France the Davis Cup, and the following year he was in his first major final, Wimbledon, only to lose to Borotra, 6-4 in the fifth. But in 1925 he came back to win the Big W in a four-set rematch, and took it for a second time in 1928 over Cochet. Also in 1925 Lacoste won the French, over Borotra, whom he also beat in a memorable rainy 1929 final, 6-3, 2-6, 6-0, 2-6, 8-6. As the French drew closer to the Cup, losing the challenge round to the U.S., 4-1, in 1926, Lacoste made the breakthrough for team morale, beating Tilden, 4-6, 6-4, 8-6, 8-6, Big Bill's first Cup loss after 16 wins. The year 1927 was momentous, enclosing three victories over Tilden: the first a two-match-points-saving French final, 6-4, 4-6, 5-7, 6-3, 11-9; a challenge round-squaring (2-2), 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 triumph as the French grabbed the Cup; the U.S. final. Perhaps the U.S. was the most stirring, where the efficiency of his backcourt game thwarted the great one. The 34-year-old Tilden attacked for close to two hours and volleyed far more than was his custom, but despite efforts that brought him to the point of exhaustion, he could not win a set. The sphinx-like Lacoste, 22, kept the ball going back the full length of the court with the inevitability of fate and hardly an inexcusable error. The score of the fabulous match was 11-9, 6-3, 11-9, enabling Lacoste to retain the U.S. title he had won the previous year against Borotra. In 1928 Lacoste lost the opener in the Davis Cup to Tilden and it marked the Frenchman's last appearance in international team matches, owing to his health. After winning the French title in 1929, he withdrew from competition, having more than fulfilled the goal he once never seemed suited for--that of a tennis champion. He captained the victorious French Davis Cup teams of 1931-32. Ever seeking to improve playing conditions, he designed the first shirts specifically for tennis, the short-sleeved cotton polo so common now, and put his familiar trademark, a crocodile, on the breast, starting the flood of apparel logos. Lacoste also developed the split-shaft steel racket that appeared in 1967 as the Wilson T2000, used so successfully for years by Jimmy Connors. His wife, Simone Thion de la Chaume, was a French amateur golf champion, and his daughter, Catherine Lacoste, won the U.S. Open golf in 1967. He died October 12, 1996, in St. Jean-de-Luz, France

 

[lisapop]

I like the Lacoste alligator, the only reason I don't wear their sport shirts (I'd normally refer to them as polo shirts, but fear a trademark infringement lawsuit from Ralph Lauren) is the tendency of the alligator to fray after a few washings and tear off eventually at the stitching. I'll give credit to RL in this regard, that his polo player is not stitched on but sewn into the shirt.
Grayson

 

[imageWIS]

I like the Lacoste alligator, the only reason I don't wear their sport shirts (I'd normally refer to them as polo shirts, but fear a trademark infringement lawsuit from Ralph Lauren) is the tendency of the alligator to fray after a few washings and tear off eventually at the stitching. I'll give credit to RL in this regard, that his polo player is not stitched on but sewn into the shirt.
Grayson

I've contacted RL and a lawyer will call you shortly...

Jon.

 

[lisapop]

I'm away playing polo.
Grayson