There's good stuff, you just have to be selective.
The American made OCBD's are peerless and some of the repp ties are good but expensive and Lands End have American made ties for less than half the price of Brooks's. Of course, if you're canny like me, you will be sourcing your repp ties from Zach.
If you're in the market for plain OCBD's, Brooks is a much more cost effective option than Mercers. I save Mercers for the rarer cloths.
All in all, modern Brooks is still a source of the real thing in amongst the Malaysian shite and the stylised Italianesque.
I could not afford Mercers right now. The 'Makers' was just over £20, including shipping. Blue/white stripe, made in the USA.
^Aye. Some items are just better purchased vintage/dead stock/second hand off Ebay or Etsy. I've built-up a magnificent repp tie collection, mainly purchased from Zach and a few others, now if I had been buying direct from modern Brooks it would have cost well over a couple of grand in dollars in a couple of months. That's serious money.
Brooks has to be used selectively and vintage remains a priority.
By 'eck, though, since Dennis came up trumps I've been laughing. What a guy!
Dennis is another source of the good stuff, and has been mentioned in despatches in the British press, but it was only a sideline until he was back working mending nuclear power stations with duct tape. We won't see his sort again in awhile and what cool spontaneous be-bop prose. Cool as fuck.
I have a hunch he'll reappear, one of these fine days.
Thought this old thread was worth bumping. Excellent input from American posters. I still have mixed feelings about Brooks.
The best vintage clothing I own was all made by Brooks Brothers in the 60s, 70s and 80s. They have been terrible for about 30 years. I first went to 346 Madison in 1995. Man, the anticlimax. Even then the only Made in USA stuff were the classic OCBDs, only in 4 colours and 1 university stripe, some shoes, and some underwear. It was awful. The world was changing and their old natural market was shrinking. They tried to keep up with trends, and they just lost it.
J.Press are still very good I think. Not as good as classic Brooks, but they have direction and integrity. The clothes in their catalogues of the last few years are excellent, just too expensive for a Brit with the absurd shipping charges.
I have quite an affection for Press. Wearing my favourite, Irish-made, lambswool scarf yesterday. I still recall the excitement I felt when opening the box. Frankly, it was the only thing in the catalogue I could afford. But I love that scarf as much as anything I own.