What is with the new Harry Magazine...

A Bergdorf Goodman magazine from 10 years ago will serve better as a style reference than the Rosen one.

Is this the new bear magazine? I think GQg33k gets it.

I'll never shop there again. They may have a few good sales people, but whenever I went in that store, no matter the location, it was the same 'what do you want-you don't belong here-please leave' look & attitude. I purchased a few suits there (Samuelsohn, Canali, etc,). On a later visit, I was looking at the Canali shoes. Pressed for time, I asked for a copy of the Canali shoe catalogue. The old silver-haired salesman made motion to look for one, returned to me saying 'I have only 3 left. I said, 'meaning?'
He paused then said they were allocated to preferred clientele.
Huh? FAIL. He also didn't know the AE models they were selling.
Totally negative energy from those people. No wonder their stores have few, if any customers.
Even browsing is a crime at Harrys.
Oh, the Harry's magazine, yeah they put me in their computer database promising me that too.
6 issues have come & gone and I never once received mine in the mail.

Harry and Larry..you're fired.

I'm really sorry to hear that. If anything I've got nothing but warm welcomes from the staff at either the Bloor or Mississauga location in general; I don't know what you're doing "wrong" unless they're discriminating based on age or some other factor (I'm in my mid-twenties BTW). In the past I've felt really uncomfortable at Holt Renfrew but I suppose they have improved slightly.

Since discovering Styleforum my impressions of both retailers have diminished significantly with respect to both offerings and the knowledge of their SAs; I guess it's no surprise for most on here.

Does anyone have any experience with their return policy? I bought a seersucker suit from them a few years ago and I've only worn it twice. It's so ill-fitting that I'm too embarrassed to wear it. I did bring it up with my SA a while back but as with some people in sales he tried to convince me to keep the suit anyway.

It's really expecting too much to want your SAs to know what manufacturer a designer uses. That said, the product knowledge at Harry's is terrible, though the product knowledge about their casual clothing is far worse than their knowledge about their tailored clothing. For example, I wouldn't necessarily expect an SA to know the difference between Blake, rapid Blake, and Goodyear welting is, nor how to tell the difference, but I'd expect the SA to know what a lapel is, and they often do not know the denim/casualwear equivalent.

Besides that, however, Harry's just has a terrible selection. I don't know whether to blame their buyers for ordering, or their customers for demanding, such crappy, but expensive product. The selection swerves between mindnumbingly dull, the sartorial equivalent of having to listen to a CPA talk for an hour, and Eurotrashyflashy, and their casualwear seems chosen with the aspiring smalltimer(tm)'s tee time in mind.

/rant.

Originally Posted by Firstladyofsong

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A Bergdorf Goodman magazine from 10 years ago will serve better as a style reference than the Rosen one.
Bergdorf Goodman is Bergdorf Goodman. Not my cuppa, but I can appreciate it. Harry Rosen is Men's Wearhouse for the same man, but with a little more money. //rant.

I too was dissapointed with the magazine. It was all street wear. The only reason to go into Rosen these days is to see the Tom Ford stuff, and even then, its so outrageously priced I'd never buy a suit. Everything else I can find at Holts. Rosen is purly about sales and they don't even try to hide it.
At least at Holts they pretend to take an interest in what you are looking for. The Holts catalgue wasn't that great this season either, but certainly better than Rosen. Maybe its the recession??

Originally Posted by LA Guy

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It's really expecting too much to want your SAs to know what manufacturer a designer uses. That said, the product knowledge at Harry's is terrible, though the product knowledge about their casual clothing is far worse than their knowledge about their tailored clothing. For example, I wouldn't necessarily expect an SA to know the difference between Blake, rapid Blake, and Goodyear welting is, nor how to tell the difference, but I'd expect the SA to know what a lapel is, and they often do not know the denim/casualwear equivalent.


Hmm... I might have to disagree with you on that one. When someone is paying a lot of money for clothing and accessories I would expect SAs to be almost experts in what they are selling. Unfortunately as you had mentioned, SAs at Harry Rosen have very little knowledge of what's going on most of the time. I've come to the belief that if a SA simply lies to make a sale (which a lot of them do by the way) it is completely misleading and is a completely inappropriate way of doing business. If someone over there hopes that I will dish out over $600 CDN on a pair of Tom Ford sunglasses, they better be aware of the fact that none of the lenses are polarized; they'll pretty much lie to your face about a major detail / selling point like that than rather being honest and saying that they simply do not know.

Originally Posted by LVoer

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I too was dissapointed with the magazine. It was all street wear. The only reason to go into Rosen these days is to see the Tom Ford stuff, and even then, its so outrageously priced I'd never buy a suit. Everything else I can find at Holts. Rosen is purly about sales and they don't even try to hide it.
At least at Holts they pretend to take an interest in what you are looking for. The Holts catalgue wasn't that great this season either, but certainly better than Rosen. Maybe its the recession??

Yeah I completely agree with you on all your points with the exception of Holts. As I mentioned above, I'm less impressed with both their services and offerings. Tom Ford is really the only reason why I go there too. That and for Allen Edmonds polish.

It might be the recession; the magazine seems a lot thinner these days, is full of ads, and has very little content. Looking back on some issues from the early 2000s they were still much more enjoyable to look through for colour and pattern combos.

I'm a little biased about Holts because I have a SA that works in the RL dept who ispretty good. But again it took a long time before I found someone I enjoy buying from. I think Holts is just the lesser of two evils. I'd buy everything from B&S if I could. LOL.

Originally Posted by LA Guy

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It's really expecting too much to want your SAs to know what manufacturer a designer uses. That said, the product knowledge at Harry's is terrible, though the product knowledge about their casual clothing is far worse than their knowledge about their tailored clothing. For example, I wouldn't necessarily expect an SA to know the difference between Blake, rapid Blake, and Goodyear welting is, nor how to tell the difference, but I'd expect the SA to know what a lapel is, and they often do not know the denim/casualwear equivalent.

Besides that, however, Harry's just has a terrible selection. I don't know whether to blame their buyers for ordering, or their customers for demanding, such crappy, but expensive product. The selection swerves between mindnumbingly dull, the sartorial equivalent of having to listen to a CPA talk for an hour, and Eurotrashyflashy, and their casualwear seems chosen with the aspiring smalltimer(tm)'s tee time in mind.

/rant.

I pretty much agree. I like Zegna but it doesn't get me too excited and I dont really buy it. They have Brioni but it's obviously crazy expensive, and their selection is pretty bad. This is partly due to the stores unwillingness to have good sales, so you'll often go back from one season to the next and see the same thing there. My salesman told me there was a brioni suit that had been on the rack for 5 years. He's gone and I haven't been back in a long time. I still have 1k on account there, which I should do something about.

They have bespoke, which is nice, and which i've used once in a while, but I stopped doing even that because I don't like the pick-stitching and in terms of pricing, it's no longer a bargain (used to be able to get a sportsjacket for 2300+tax). If i'm gonna be paying for something that's not quite perfect, i'd rather buy RTW borrelli jackets for $1000.

I tried getting some high-up people I was friendly with to bring in Edward Green or JL several years ago to no avail. I got a letter back from the CEO, but they never did anything about it. Instead they brought in A.Testoni at an inflated price. The shoe buyer has incredibly trashy taste. I used to go in there for *****&giggles and make fun of his latest selections with my SA. I told them I'd never buy shoes there. Apparently he's some loud obnoxious Italian guy.

The best thing going for HR is Samuelsohn. They have a very good MTM program, good quality, and the prices are reasonable. Canali.. blah. Zegna (their selection at least).. blah. Brioni (boring selection again). Their shirt "bespoke" program was a disaster imo. At this point I just think they do well because there's only 2 choices in Canada for high-end clothes, and Holt's is pretty dreadful too, although probably better for SW (which isn't my thing).

/rant

Anyway, most SAs are horrible, but that's also true at holts. I had a really awesome SA. At this point it's hard to justify the pricing for what you get compared to on B&S or a couple of websites.

I assume that iammatt will be the centerfold for Harry Magazine.


- B

Originally Posted by voxsartoria

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I assume that iammatt will be the centerfold for Harry Magazine.


- B

Naturally juicy?

- R

Originally Posted by Mild Mannered

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I'll never shop there again. They may have a few good sales people, but whenever I went in that store, no matter the location, it was the same 'what do you want-you don't belong here-please leave' look & attitude

For all the store's faults, i've honestly never experienced that, and I started going there when I was 18 and in baggy jeans.

I got that treatment at a high-end store in montreal and I never went back though. I really couldn't understand it because I went in wearing fairly high-end clothes. The cheapest thing I was wearing was probably ferragamo shoes back then. I'll never understand why some people working in high-end retail think it's ok to be snobby with potential clients.

Originally Posted by LVoer

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I'm a little biased about Holts because I have a SA that works in the RL dept who ispretty good. But again it took a long time before I found someone I enjoy buying from. I think Holts is just the lesser of two evils. I'd buy everything from B&S if I could. LOL.

I see where you're coming from. You're lucky that you have a good SA there.

You know what they say, like a good doctor, tailor, and cobbler; a good SA is hard to find.

B&S is great and it usually trumps anything at Rosen or Holts to some degree. For me it sucks sometimes since I can barley find anything I'm looking for specifically and in my size.

Originally Posted by Zegnamtl

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Have any of my fellow Canuks received the new Harry Magazine yet?

What is going on with these guys, there is not a single great combo in the entire issue. It looks like crap.

They need to change their stylist, seriously. What's with the sweater that guy on the front cover is wearing, it makes him look as if he is too cold. HR fucced up on every single page of the "Harry Style". Did HR purposely choose ugly ***** that don't sell? I have not seen any nice stuffs from Brunello Cucinelli in that section. Ferragamo boots on page 86 are Sooo fuccing ugly. Why would anyone pay $750 for those? HR should get some real shoes from EG or Sutor or even Santoni.