Poorly Dressed SA's

Making the Black Friday rounds this weekend, I was struck by how poorly dressed some sales associates are. Here's just one example: An SA at NeimanMarcus had on a well-fitting double-breasted charcoal grey suit, which was very nice. Then, he decided to wear a fire red dress shirt with contrasting collar and cuffs and a yellow paisley necktie. To make sartorial matters worse, the shoes were some kind of tassel loafer made with what could have been crocadile skin.

The man was quite pleasant, knowledgable, and I ended up buying a few things, but his attire was somewhat annoying. This man sells clothing for a living, but can't seem to clothe himself well.

Even Brooks Brothers, traditionally home to conservative, well-dressed SA's had a man who can only be described as Thom Browne gone wrong. Being short and muscular didn't detract this college-age fashion victim from choosing a button-down, french cuff dress shirt, one inch black necktie, and a high-water, high cuffed, short jacketed navy suit.

My question is three-fold. What stores would you say have the best/worst dressed SA's and would the attire of an SA ever alter your purchasing habits. If so, how badly dressed would they have to be?

Ralph Lauren's SA's are always impeccable. They seem to be pretty attractive, too, both men and women. This is at flagship stores; the "help" at outlets dresses horribly.

one of the best dressed sales people i know works at Lord and Taylors, the others work at Ralph Lauren in Princeton. Always well done, well put together.

Blue, i think we're talking about the same store.

Yep. Did you check it out this weekend? I just went there earlier today to retroactively get my 30% F&F discount on the tie I bought yesterday.

What Lord & Taylor are you talking about? The one in West Windsor, or New York?

quaker bridge, the mall is terrible, but the lord and taylors people are great.

Been pretty broke lately so i havent stopped by RL in a while.

I think the best dressed sales associates work at Henri Bendel

Originally Posted by SkinnyGoomba

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quaker bridge, the mall is terrible, but the lord and taylors people are great.

Been pretty broke lately so i havent stopped by RL in a while.

I wonder what the Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus at QB will be like. Hopefully some decent boutiques will follow.

If specific brand stores such as BB want employees to look appropriate they should be given a steep discount on clothing. From what I understand BB does give associates discounts but could do more, in my opinion.

This is the third thread I have posted this on in 36 hours, but I don't care...I MUST share the horror!

I kid you not, KID YOU NOT:

I was braving Black Friday at a suburban mall. Young salesman in the furnishings department wearing:

1) A black DB 6x2 suit at least four sizes too big. So large he could have easily carried twins in a Baby Bjorn under the jacket with room to spare.

2) A frayed white polo-style short-sleeved knit shirt with a tie.

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Who gives a ****? I know that I wore whatever was comfortable becuase I was working 10 hours.

Originally Posted by Teger

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Who gives a ****? I know that I wore whatever was comfortable becuase I was working 10 hours.


Point taken. However, comfort and looking proper are two different things.

Originally Posted by bluemagic

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Ralph Lauren's SA's are always impeccable. They seem to be pretty attractive, too, both men and women. This is at flagship stores; the "help" at outlets dresses horribly.
Stopped in the RL store yesterday and the SA was dressed well enough except for the super big button down. Sleeves poofed out like a pirate shirt. Awesome. The two SA's I deal with at Nordstrom and Andrisen Morton are very well dressed in proper fitting attire. They make me feel like a bit of a slug when I come in dressed casually but they always give excellent and honest advice.

The worst I can recall was an overweight young, ugly woman working at Emporio Armani in SoHo, as well as a obese young man working there. There was no way the clothing they were wearing was from EA. It was enough of a turn off that me and a few others that were loyal to that location stopped going there.

I would vote for Macy's, but then again the crowd and selection isn't all that great. Sure I am broad stroking the population but Macy's shoppers are different from lets say Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom shoppers (same can be said for Ikea versus Crate and Barrel or a Kia dealer versus a Mercedes Benz dealer.)

I was just shocked at how far I have come in so little time. A few years ago I used to look at Bostonians like they were the dress shoe, through SF I have been proven wrong and now have AE's, JM's, Alden's, and so forth.