Hi guys - been lurking on here for a while but never posted before - just been soaking it all up and breathing it in like a nice warm vintage Brandy...

Any  as this topic was very topical for me I though I'd add my two penn'th

Visited their shop in Brooklyn the other week on my last NY trip.  It's just a tiny operation where they seem to be doing nice shirts under their own name (all made in USA) as well as stocking Gant and Gitman shirts. 

It's a bit harsh to suggest they are producing the Gant rip offs.  They seem a genuinely good operation with their heart in the right place.

I had one of their tartan seersucker short sleeve BDs - whilst my buddy went for a couple of their long sleeves - one lovely superlight madras and another in a large gingham in a great material. It's all good gravy !

Cheers, Si

Is Gant still good in the US?  I have my doubts about it here, viewing it with the same scepticism as, say, Austin Reed or Van Heusen.  Or Arrow.  All were once good, and I was especially fond of a claret and blue Austin Reed seersucker I used to wear beneath a burgundy G9, until the collar split wide open and my wife insisted I throw it out.  I own a nice Gant madras half-sleeve, but it's easily available near me, and I see old guys and clueless younger ones wearing the newer stuff: golf jackets and polo shirts mainly.  I suspect it's made in the Third World.  Of course, Viyella is mostly bollocks now, too.  I still buy the odd US-made Ralph Lauren in preference.  John Simons sold RL and Jeff Garrett used to wear a bit - good enough for me.  But that fucking logo!!

yeah, reading it back it does indeed look that like i was accusing them of knocking off gant. their own range does look quite nice and its good to see them doing stuff like that.

as far as their quality here, they were a has-been mid-market department store brand for years. wearable basics at best, dorky at worst. theyve been fighting back into the high-end niche in the past few it seems, but it seemed kind of forced-like they were paying fashion magazines to throw their stuff on display all of a sudden with a change in management or ad firms.  those hugger repros look nice, but i was still shocked when i first came on here and had people asking me to find them vintage gant stuff. now that im familiar with the old stuff i can see both why its treasured and how far downhill they went.

as far as austin reed or van heusen, at its worst it was probably a few increments above them. austin reed is the kind of stuff you see at sears. VH, with the exception of plain dress shirts, seems to do most of their business at outlet malls, to japanese/eastern european tourists.

Last edited by shamrockmonkey (2010-06-22 09:00:19)

Does the collar look stiff?  Does it look 'English'?  Reed/VH do, so that's that.  Just a single glance at the collar before where made, what made of...

We Brits can have a lot of fun in our charity shops, searching for an acceptable shirt.  I say 'fun' through gritted teeth...  Hundreds of pieces of crap before you see anything even remotely worth having.