There are still some good items in their range, staple garments that they have been selling since the boom years, but overall most of it is not much better than what Brooks Brothers are offering.

woofboxer wrote:

There are still some good items in their range, staple garments that they have been selling since the boom years, but overall most of it is not much better than what Brooks Brothers are offering.

I hate to impose on you... Could I ask you for your pick of the current best ?

At your leisure & purely for fun.


Best -

  J Press in Cambridge is my favourite clothes shop in the world that I have visited.  I haven't visited The Suit Room yet.

A comment on Mr. Chensvold's blog on this topic got deleted by him today, I am informed. Which is hardly news.

The 'Updated American' shouulder is a reality - Only just a tad softer than a European one and a marketing reality for ex-Ivy League clothiers like Brooks & Press. Brooks in fact did this shoulder first. Delete this (old) news all you wish, Christian. Too busy trying to curry fabour with Press, or just not that much of an industry insider afterall ?

The shoulder is just a slightly softer version of the European standard & not a Natural Shoulder by choice to try to shift more units.

- In a way this is actually good news: I've been saying they've been getting the shoulder 'wrong' for years... Now I know they just aren't even trying to do Natural Shoulders anymore anyway.

Which was obvious. It's just nice to have it confirmed.


- This news online here first, BTW.

My son is in Hanoi and having a suit made with several fittings.  He followed my advice - SOFT shoulders - otherwise his shoulders will look like the Hulk's.

Jimbo wrote:

woofboxer wrote:

There are still some good items in their range, staple garments that they have been selling since the boom years, but overall most of it is not much better than what Brooks Brothers are offering.

I hate to impose on you... Could I ask you for your pick of the current best ?

At your leisure & purely for fun.


Best -

They've always had great sweaters. You can still buy most of the accessoires such as ties and belts, etc....

Decent outerwear...

Shirts are fine, but I'd prefer Brooks. Then again, I'd prefer Brooks shirts over Press shirts from 30 years or 50 years back, too...

Regarding  tailored clothing, in my experience, their best stuff currently is either to be found in the very expensive Pressidential line or (if you want to file this under "tailored") in the very cheap casual category, like their unlined ("slack") jackets which are similar (or even identical?) to J.Keydge's Ivy model...

J.Press today might not be much better than Brooks today, yes, but as far as I know or as far as I understand it, they kept a rather traditional style, still offering mainly undarted sack jackets and all the other Ivy classics, when Brooks Brothers became pretty faceless/ mainstream/ Euro during the 90s.

Even in the Pressidential line, though, the shoulder line looks rather square and padded...compared to their older stuff:


1.


a current J.Press sportscoat in their Pressidential line (from the website)

2.


an older Press jacket (a San Francisco era jacket, from our For Sale thread)

... but this might as well be all about the presentation,  whatever... The top one is on a dummy, the bottom jacket on a hanger, so I'm not sure if my impression is correct.

However, from experience, I'd say that the contemporary Press shoulder line, even in the undarted models is indeed more like the shoulder of an updated American jacket than like the shoulder line of their old Ivy sacks...


The casual jackets are pretty cool, though:







I have yet to see stuff from their new heritage line in the flesh... I was not really excited about what I've seen so far, to be honest....

Last edited by Hard Bop Hank (2012-05-21 04:01:39)

I only know for sure because they have a habit of sending out group emails without hiding the other recipients.

It would be interesting to learn a little more about the history of the slack jacket.

I wouldn't be surprised if J.Press had been selling unstructured/ unlined casual jackets before they were supplied by J. Keydge.

Is it an American thing, originally, or a European invention?

Chris Hardy recently had a nice Italian slack jacket in the H&J group, can't remember how old it was...

Thinking about it, I could imagine that the unlined, unstructured slack jacket might be as old as the sack.

Which, again, comes from France ca. 1840s/50s, as far as I know...

Hard Bop Hank wrote:

It would be interesting to learn a little more about the history of the slack jacket.

I wouldn't be surprised if J.Press had been selling unstructured/ unlined casual jackets before they were supplied by J. Keydge.

Is it an American thing, originally, or a European invention?

Chris Hardy recently had a nice Italian slack jacket in the H&J group, can't remember how old it was...

Thinking about it, I could imagine that the unlined, unstructured slack jacket might be as old as the sack.

Which, again, comes from France ca. 1840s/50s, as far as I know...

Your thinking is right !

Some also call them 'Artisan' jackets (Boden especially). 'Slack', I think, is Keydge's own coinage.

Great thread! I have to say I am rather impressed with my one micro-check shirt from modern J.Press. The ties cut the mustard too. Some vintage jacket herringbones and one I got from Woofboxer are superior to any of the vintage Brooks I have. Of course, that's not a definitive sample.

Hard Bop Hank wrote:

However, from experience, I'd say that the contemporary Press shoulder line, even in the undarted models is indeed more like the shoulder of an updated American jacket than like the shoulder line of their old Ivy sacks...

I would agree with this. A couple of months ago, during a trip to NYC, I bought a 'Presstige' sports jacket in Magee Donegal Mist tweed, one of the classic Press items they still stock (reduced by 50% hurrah).

Since then I've also bought a vintage one from Chris H. The same jacket, same size, but in a different colour, so I've been able to compare the two. I'd say the jackets are pretty well identical in terms of fit and quality .... apart from the shoulder

The shoulder on the modern jacket is ever so slightly more padded than than the vintage item and a bit squarer. It doesn't seem to sit so snugly on the shoulder and have that nice rounded effect as I look down at the top of my arm. I hope this makes sense?  I'm going to wear it for a while as shoulders on jackets do have to bed in and mould to your individual shape, but I may consider taking it to my tailor for his opinion in due course.

J Press have shifted production of their tailored items to Canada, I don't know how long ago, but it may explain the subtle changes in the shoulders on their jackets.