What happened to designer brands in Classic Menswear?

[SartorialStudent99]

I was looking through a vintage store and saw beautiful suits and overcoats and when I checked the labels I see designer brands such as Prada, Gucci, Christian Dior, YSL, etc. It made me decide to go into some of their stores and see how the new suits are and I was just thinking "What happened?". If anyone is really intrigued by these top designer brands in terms of suits and classic menswear I'd definitely recommend looking vintage over any of their things. Would others have the same advice or do you think differently?

 

[double00]

in days of yore luxury brands were licensing their labels to support the atelier , caveat emptor

 

[maxalex]

Menswear was always secondary to those brands which rely on women buying new clothes (and handbags) every year; most men don’t do that. As mentioned above, they often licensed the menswear to other manufacturers, of varying quality and style.

So you might find things you like from them, and they might be good quality. The styles could be seriously outdated as those companies counted on cycling trends to boost sales, such as low gorges or ‘80s power suits with armored shoulders.

If I were shopping for vintage tailored menswear I’d probably focus on more classic brands like Ralph Lauren, which generally age better style wise. Mostly I would just look for things I like that fit well, regardless of brand.

But all I buy vintage is workwear like Levi’s denim shirts, and things like Lacoste sweaters. The last piece of vintage tailored clothing I bought was a Harris tweed Norfolk jacket by Orvis (the hunting-fishing brand) ten years ago. I still wear it.

 

[Bankers_Stripes]

I feel the same. The only companies that I feel still make a small amount of passable, conservative style suits are Burberry and Gucci (believe it or not). Can’t stand the tiny half-inch lapels that I see on Dior suits, they are an abomination. But knowing what I know about suit construction, I would never buy Burberry again (I do own one half canvassed Burberry London Suit that’s basically one of my “beater” suits I don’t care about) and if I got a Gucci suit it would have to be massively discounted and tasteful with no gaudiness.

Maxalex gives a good answer above as to why things are the way they are with these brands.

 

[Steves40th396]

Menswear was always secondary to those brands which rely on women buying new clothes (and handbags) every year; most men don’t do that. As mentioned above, they often licensed the menswear to other manufacturers, of varying quality and style.

So you might find things you like from them, and they might be good quality. The styles could be seriously outdated as those companies counted on cycling trends to boost sales, such as low gorges or ‘80s power suits with armored shoulders.

If I were shopping for vintage tailored menswear I’d probably focus on more classic brands like Ralph Lauren, which generally age better style wise. Mostly I would just look for things I like that fit well, regardless of brand.

But all I buy vintage is workwear like Levi’s denim shirts, and things like Lacoste sweaters. The last piece of vintage tailored clothing I bought was a Harris tweed Norfolk jacket by Orvis (the hunting-fishing brand) ten years ago. I still wear it.

Just to clarify, are you saying some manufactures of designer clothing may have other companies manufacture their clothing for men? Or just give them the patterns etc