Sales in the DC Beltway area?

[kabert]

Last week, I called the Connecticut Avenue Filene's Basement store and spoke to Kofi in the upstairs men's suits section. He said he did not yet know the exact "what" and "when" but thought that the first shipment would be arriving in "a week or two." In sum, he didn't know much (or wouldn't tell me). If I recall correctly to last year, it was the Bergdorf's stuff that arrived first.

 

[kabert]

Mitchells/Richards items arrive TODAY (Wednesday, Feb. 9th) in DC area Filene's Basements, according to the Filene's ad in today's Washington Post. In past sales at Filene's from these stores there has been a great selection of all the high-end shirt and pant makers -- Lorenzini, Borrelli (I think), Charvet; slacks by Incotex and Zegna; lots of Brioni IIRC. Lots of nice suits/blazers as well - - Zegna, Brioni. Unfortunately I'm tied up in my office all day today so won't make the "opening shot."

 

[bryce330]

Does one of the stores usually have better selections than the others? I'll probably only have time to visit one at lunch today.

 

[Ambulance Chaser]

Thanks for the update, kabert.  Bryce, if you only have time to visit one FB, you should go to the Connecticut Avenue location.  Connecticut Avenue and Mazza Gallerie have similar selections of sportswear, but the former has a clearly superior selection of suits and sportscoats.  Measured on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the best and Connecticut Avenue's selection set at 10, I would rate Mazza Gallerie an 8 and National Place a 3.

 

[bryce330]

I checked out the Conn. Ave. store today - lots of Borrelli shirts in all colors and sizes, but they were mostly $150 or $190 for Royal Collection, although I did find one for $99. There were some Borrelli suits as well, although they were about $1200 and were mostly cotton and one navy wool in 44R. Lots of Zegna and Canali suits but the prices weren't great. Not much in the way of ties.

 

[kabert]

Thanks for the report Bryce. That's too bad about the Borrelli pricing. Last year, IIRC, Borrelli shirts were priced around $125 for "plain" light blue dress shirts -- the ones that Saks/NM sells for $325 or $350, not the herringbone or other fancy-weave shirts that go for $425 or so at those stores.

Any good slacks? Oxxford or Borrelli?

 

[kabert]

Just got back from Filene's CT Ave store. Loads of Borrelli shirts and slacks; some shorts, blazers and suits. Lots of Zegna suits. Borrelli suits were $1299; a gorgeous 100% cashmere blazer in 44R (which fit more like a long) was $1499. I didn't see any Borrelli dress shirts for less than $149. Didn't buy any -- Borrelli slacks are so slim fitting - - four pairs of pants I tried on fit perfectly in the waist but didn't even come close to fitting on the rest of my legs. Oh, I almost forgot -- a pair of EDWARD GREEN shoes -- black lace-ups (look like Chelseas but called Elmsley (?)) -- priced at $299, size 9/9-1/2, last 202. Now I wish I had gotten there this morning to see if other EGs were for sale. They had some nice Tod's too. In the end I left the store emptyhanded.

 

[bryce330]

Darn, I completely missed the Borrelli slacks - now I might have to stop back in tomorrow.

Anyone been to the Mazza Gallerie store yet?

 

[Duveen]

Hi All,

As of 7:45 the Edward Green shoes were still there - they are a cap toe with broguing on the cap. They are black and are UK 8.5D, US9D. As Kabert mentioned, they are $299.

Cheers.

 

[RJman]

No Greens in any other sizes?..?.

 

[Duveen]

Sadly, no (at least not that I saw). Kabert and I had the same reaction - that maybe there were some earlier... That said, I think that DC gets stuff after Boston, so I imagine our neighbors to the north got most of the Green shoes... An interesting note - the 'full price' at Mitchell's appears to be $725. Not the $675 of old, but not as bad as it might be, either.

 

[kabert]

Duveen, I saw that $725 price also and wondered how old the shoes were, as someone here a few days ago posted that the full retail price for EGs at Mitchell's/Richard's is now $850 (thanks to the lowly US dollar I suspect).

By the way, the National Press Filene's did not get any of the Mitchell's stuff. They did get a decent shipment of very colorful Ralph Lauren (not RLPL) items, including lots of madras and some nice silk/linen blend shirts.

 

[Ambulance Chaser]

I just got back from the Connecticut Avenue Store. Â As of 1:15 PM, the Greens are still there. Â If Boston got first dibs on shoes, it is no great surprise that these particular shoes have not sold. Â Not very attractive, in my opinion. Â Left unshined, however, they would fit in perfectly with the navy sack suit, white shirt, and red/blue tie aesthetic of DC. Â

I can't add anything to previous reports except to note the presence of several pairs of Ferragamos. Â I'm willing to bet they sell before the Greens. Anyone been to Mazza Gallerie yet?

 

[petescolari]

Sadly, no (at least not that I saw). Kabert and I had the same reaction - that maybe there were some earlier... That said, I think that DC gets stuff after Boston, so I imagine our neighbors to the north got most of the Green shoes... An interesting note - the 'full price' at Mitchell's appears to be $725. Â Not the $675 of old, but not as bad as it might be, either.

I believe what FB does is allocate to each store. To the best of my knowledge I have never seen unsold goods be there one day and then shipped to another locale like DC or NY the next. The original FB in Boston here uses the automatic markdown system for dated material. This time of year when goods from Mitchell's/Richard's/Sid's/Louis/Barney's comes in, most of it goes in the first week or so (shoes, suits, shirts). The rest of the inventory will remain in the store when it goes on markdown 25,50, then 75% off then to charity. I did see only one pair of Green's here in Boston on Monday morning. I don't think there were others being offered that were sold. I believe the Mitchell's price on the box was $750. I am not sure, but it could have been slightly lower than b/c the soles were not leather. DC's allocation of clothes seems to correspond to what Boston got as well. Really nothing great. I did see one Borrelli dark brown crocodile belt for 199. originally 800 or so. Beautiful.

 

[Earthmover]

Hi, lurker here, but it seems like no one's given a report on the Mazza FB store, so here's a bit. I am still learning all the stuff, so my terminology and such may be off, but I will try to give good descriptions, to the best of my memory.

A decent number of Hickey Freeman suits and shirts, shirts were at $60, and I can't remember the Suit prices, although I think it was $400.

There were 4-5 Gieves & Hawkes RTW, as well as Armani Collezione suits. Armanis were either $800-900, and I think G&H were much less. They came from [Mitchell's?] in Westport. There were other stuff like RL and Ted Baker, but they were the highlights.

In the shoes area, there was one Edward Green in 9EE, (a black captoe, with patterned holes and such instead of stitching on the cap border). There were a few pairs of ferragamos.

There was a decent number of Allen Edmonds Lexington in black and brown; I think they were mostly Ds, although there were two Es that I remember (8.5, I think) and an 10.5A. There was another model of AE, but I can't remember at the moment.

I tried on some of the stuff in my sizes from G&H and HF, but I didn't fall it love with it, so I left it be, so if you are 44L, they should be still there. There was an Armani Collezione 43L suit that fit me perfectly, except that the sleeves were too long and they had fake buttonwholes, which I assumed was unalterable.

In the end, I picked up five RL shirts 16-16.5/35-36 (at $35 each marked down from $145-165, they seemed a good bargain), and two pairs of shoes, RL black calf captoe, and a Bruno Magli plain Blucher, at $150 and $160 respectively. Overall, I was pretty happy with the purchases.

Anyway, sorry to babble for so long, but hope that helped a bit. One question: does anyone know who makes the Polo Ralph Lauren shirts and shoes that are made in Italy? What about RL shirts from Hong Kong?