The Official RRL Thread

[pvoytko]

chuck 70s just cant be beat

 

[styleforumfan]

Has anybody seen this newsboy jacket in person? I really like this style, but I question whether it's worth $2200.

Definitely not considering it's either made in India or China. I'd wait for the sale.

 

[Fenderplyr]

Definitely not considering it's either made in India or China. I'd wait for the sale.

I do love the styling of most RRL leathers but in this case especially I would definitely get something like the mister freedom campus instead

 

[noretailplease]

Just dropped. Uber expensive, of course...

...would prefer it unlined...

 

[Viral]

Definitely not considering it's either made in India or China. I'd wait for the sale.

Why does country of manufacture matter so much? You realize everything you buy is designed for the manufacturer to make money, right? Unless this is breaking news for you?

 

[Fenderplyr]

Why does country of manufacture matter so much? You realize everything you buy is designed for the manufacturer to make money, right? Unless this is breaking news for you?

I think people have the right to make a decision based on where something is manufactured, especially at these price points. A $2k jacket McCoy's or fine Creek will be far superior to a $2k jacket from RRL. I think most of this forum can agree that most rrl isn't worth it unless it's 40% off, but that doesn't stop us from buying it

 

[Dstorm]

I’ve been 0-3 on RRL leathers. First 2 felt cheap and the last felt uncomfortable.

Side note, I did purchase the corduroy western sport coat.Now that is a great piece.

 

[Viral]

I think people have the right to make a decision based on where something is manufactured, especially at these price points. A $2k jacket McCoy's or fine Creek will be far superior to a $2k jacket from RRL. I think most of this forum can agree that most rrl isn't worth it unless it's 40% off, but that doesn't stop us from buying it

People can - and will - do what they want regardless, but the inference is that there’s a stigma based on the countries of manufacture, which is ignorant IMO. Certain Manufacturing done in China and India has surpassed almost all other places in technology and efficiency/cost so why imply anything less? You’d be surprised at how many coveted brands use offshore manufacturing even if they eventually mark the item as Made in Italy. Cheers!

 

[Fenderplyr]

People can - and will - do what they want regardless, but the inference is that there’s a stigma based on the countries of manufacture, which is ignorant IMO. Certain Manufacturing done in China and India has surpassed almost all other places in technology and efficiency/cost so why imply anything less? You’d be surprised at how many coveted brands use offshore manufacturing even if they eventually mark the item as Made in Italy. Cheers!

Not saying their manufacturing prowess is any less than other countries, but if you've picked up an RRL leather recently you'd notice a huge quality drop from even a few seasons ago when they were manufactured in China. The Skinner, Knowles and Davis jackets were all amazing and pretty worthy of their price points. But now there's a noticable degradation of the look and feel in recent models, and they just happened to be made in india

 

[dieworkwear]

Not saying their manufacturing prowess is any less than other countries, but if you've picked up an RRL leather recently you'd notice a huge quality drop from even a few seasons ago when they were manufactured in China. The Skinner, Knowles and Davis jackets were all amazing and pretty worthy of their price points. But now there's a noticable degradation of the look and feel in recent models, and they just happened to be made in india

IMO, consumers are in a poor position to judge quality. What they think of as quality is more often than not better thought of as a characteristic. Actual quality issues are often very technical and filtered through various lenses (designer intent, consumer preference, and aesthetic niche). Instead of thinking of this stuff as quality, I think guys are usually better off just thinking about aesthetics.

I can't speak to RRL's most recent leathers, but I have maybe 18 or 20 leather jackets from various brands, including the sort of Japanese labels you mentioned earlier (Buzz Rickson, etc). My RRL leather compares well to all of them, although I don't wear it as much anymore because I've grown away from the style.

It's weird that you'd mention FCL. Traditionally, pattern matching -- here being grain matching -- would be considered a basic marker for quality. On a Tom Ford or RLPL leather, for example, great pains are taken to make sure the skins are perfectly smooth. Any imperfection is thrown away, which results in a lot of waste (and thus cost). With FCL, there's a whole story about why the designer wanted to mismatch grain on purpose, which shows the power of design intent.

In the 1970s, Robert Schooler ran a study showing how country of origin tags affect consumers' judgments on quality. He took something like seven beige cotton swatches -- all identical and from the same bolt -- but labeled them with different country of origin tags. Unsurprisingly, participants in the study saw differences in "quality" that simply weren't there. And the differences tracked prejudices about those countries. More often than not, when people know a country of origin tag, they'll judge quality off that label, rather than directly off the garment itself. IMO, they can't do much else since they have little technical training in garment production, which is why they're better off not thinking about clothes in terms of quality at all.

Production nowadays is globalized anyway. Raw materials can come from one country, spun in another country, woven in a different place, and put together with a different country's trims. Sewing can be done in a different place from where it's finished. Country of origin tags don't even really reflect the reality of modern supply chains.

 

[bobbo28]

Well said ?

 

[noob in 89]

I think most of this forum can agree that most rrl isn't worth it unless it's 40% off, but that doesn't stop us from buying it

One thing I absolutely don’t get is why right now, anything with an Aztec print is marked up like 400 times the cost of the same item in a different print. It’s not like it’s some mythical thing that’s rare or hard to produce. Yet people are flipping their **** over RRL/vintage PRL “southwestern/Aztec” numbers that are straight up JC Penny 1993.

 

[dieworkwear]

One thing I absolutely don’t get is why right now, anything with an Aztec print is marked up like 400 times the cost of the same item in a different print. It’s not like it’s some mythical thing that’s rare or hard to produce. Yet people are flipping their **** over RRL/vintage PRL “southwestern/Aztec” numbers that are straight up JC Penny 1993.

I think the Southwestern stuff just connects well to brands such as Visvim, and it extends the idea of workwear beyond Norttheastern traditions. It's just very hot right now.

As for why a Southwestern print may go for more than the same item with a different design, I mean, this is fashion. The value of the item is almost entirely in the design.

This is like saying, "I don't understand why a t-shirt that says "THE SIMPSON'S" sells for $50. But if I just rearrange the letters, it says "MEN'S HOT PISS" and that t-shirt sells for $5"

 

[bensm1th]

One thing I absolutely don’t get is why right now, anything with an Aztec print is marked up like 400 times the cost of the same item in a different print. It’s not like it’s some mythical thing that’s rare or hard to produce. Yet people are flipping their **** over RRL/vintage PRL “southwestern/Aztec” numbers that are straight up JC Penny 1993.

Dude I just paid like $1100 for two items with Aztec print. I don't know why I did it, but apparently it works.

 

[Cooly]

Country of origin has nothing to do with it, as I’ve mentioned before...get both purple label and rrl items ..one marked ”made in Italy” and the other “made in China”...buttons fly off both...its a ralph thing...

I get zegna shirts “made in turkey” or their sport coats “made in Switzerland” and not a single button has come loose or cracked yet