Chocky brown corduroy G9:

http://www.cyrillus.com/vente-en-ligne/garment/men/coats-raincaots-men/reversible-needlecord-jacket.aspx?t=p&id_produit=4041003040971gaa

t.

Perhaps my favorite is the coffee table catalogue Bergdorf Goodman publishes a few times during the year, with the first half devoted to men, the other to women...or is it the other way around?

Asprey has an amazing catalog, not that I can afford much from it.  Conversely, the Andover Shop has great clothes, but they must spend 20 bucks on the production.

I guess I'm too old. I have been to Saks and Bergdorf's and even Asprey but I just can't bring myself to be a regular shopper at stores that basically sell clothes to women. don't trust the taste, don't believe in the style, don't trust the buyers. What was the Fred Astaire song: "I'm Old Fashioned...."

Last edited by tom22 (2007-02-01 17:28:26)

Tom22 and I seem to be  in the same camp, and are in the group that can be called the loyal opposition, in looking at the J Press offering.

Any of us in the US that would try to meld into the culture in Japan, would not do well, either.

An illustration of my concern, is the lapel buttons featured. First, the bulldog. If you went to Yale, there is no way that you would wear a garish bulldog in your lapel. Maybe a silk blue and white rosette, or a club tie. If you didn't go to Yale and wore the bulldog, you would loudly broadcast, "I'm a fraud, and am proud of it".

Next, the skull and bones lapel button. An ultra secret society at Yale. If you wore one, you would again broadcast the fact that you really didn't get it. The tie motif has been around for years, and works. The lapel button is way over the top.

The ultimate is on page 20. Here you have a lapel button reading TRAD. That really has to be a joke! Reminicient of that old Steve Martin line "I am a wild and crazy guy!"

$130 for a club collar shirt? Troy once was fused, maybe not now, at that price. They may have a few left over at the end of the season to go with the peak lapel seersucker jackets (DB this year, also) and the ties with the huge numbers still around from last season. ( When" the designer" was asked about them on another forum his reply was "bite me".)

Maybe these aren't signs of a problem to you, but stay tuned.

Last edited by Matt (2007-02-02 05:13:45)

Well said, Terry. However, it is intersting to see what happens when a retailer starts trying to change its identity.

Brooks Brothers used to be the gold standard in their genre. If you were a customer, you knew exactly what to expect. Then they changed to something like " we aren't sure exactly who we are anymore, but come on in, and maybe you will find something you like." Now many would agree with your evaluation of BB, as "horrid rubbish".

JP would appear to be going through the same experiment in reinventing themselves. Let's hope that it works.

Those in that industry will tell you that it doesn't much matter what happens to JP in the US. The brand is huge in Japan, and the US stores are a potemkin village so that the customer in Japan thinks that he is buying the US, conservative, TNSIL style that is so popular with the customers in Japan.

It will be interesting to see how it turns out.

Last edited by Matt (2007-02-02 07:51:09)

You've got it Terry. JP made an offer to buy the business of a friend here in the US. They never got together.

However, my friend seems to know for certain, after his negotiation with JP, that the US is really an insignificant appendage of the operation in Japan.The whole purpose is to furnish cachet to the operation in Japan, that is immensely successful. They need the TNSIL image that comes from the US operation. Whether the operation here amounts to anything or not, is irrelevant to the decision makers in Japan, that run the corporation.

My friend explained it this way: there are a number of retail operations that will open an insignificant store in a place like Palm Beach, simply to be able to list on their advertising that they have a Palm Beach store. It serves no other purpose that that.

Seems to work for JP.

Patrick, I think that's the point. If the NY store is a loser, that is of little concern to the mgt in Japan. I have never been in the DC store, but there was apparently a purge there, where two well respected, long term employees were recently terminted.

I don't know what that was about, but there was a good bit of angst on another forum from JP customers in DC.

The mail order operation can't be a money maker. The fulfillment center knows nothing about the product, and most things turn out to be out of stock.

It all seems to fit together. JP tries shoes 20 years ago with no success. They tried them again this fall. Wonder how that worked out? Doesn't seem to be a great move to go up against Alden, Tom Austin, and Harry's in NYC.

Fairly strange stuff in the new catalog, such as a lot of polyester, and trousers with cell phone pockets in the leg, like you might find at J Crew, or the Gap.

If the US operation is a loser, there would seem to be no concern by mgt. in Japan.

It will be interesting to see how the move to Madison Ave works out. Big rent increase.

I really hope that "the designer", or his successor can pull this off. There are a number of quality replacements on the east coast, but it would be a shame for that venerable establishment to disappear. Let's hope not.