Well I think every single one of these brands just sold out - outsourced labour, lost focus, pleased shareholders and made a bloody fortune? Neo-liberal capitalism baby - it's ravaged the world as well as our little Ivy bubble. Russell Athletic used to be great - affordable, solid, well made basics, the great American formula. And then they wanted bigger margin so they got shit made elsewhere - see also Bass, Sebago, Brooks, Ralph, Florsheim, etc etc... In the 1990s it all went off the rails, everywhere.

It wasn't all plain sailing with L.L.Bean either.  I'm still wearing one of their beaten-up (that is, it is now) heavy woollen cardigans, made in Scotland.  But a couple of shirts the old man gave me were horrendous: some kind of artificial fibre.  Nylon even?  Ugh.

Are Baracuta still knocking out Harrington jackets in, where was it now, Rumania?  Didn't that Van Heusen model originate in Taiwan?  Something for the Chinese to think about if they ever wade ashore.

Saw a Baracuta item today, hanging sadly on a rail outside a charity shop.  You would never imagine, looking it over, to imagine the name once had strong 'Ivy League' associations (or even bonehead ones if you want the honest truth).  Very 'Man At C&A'.  Tan pensioners' wear perhaps.

Bump. 

Orvis
Land's End

AFS - you have a right to your view so long as it is based on experience, otherwise it is just speculation.  However, from my practical, ongoing experience I would say that is provably absolute drivel on Orvis and LE there.

Additionally this thread is about brands that went overground from Ivy, neither of those two claim to be purist Ivy brands. 

From your own posts, I doubt you have any personal experience of Uniqlo to base it on, tens of millions of people around the world say otherwise of quality so we won't worry about your speculative undefined 'doubts'. I don't say that they are J. Press but all those brands do their own thing well.  Read back, respected people here in the forum bought Uniqlo regularly.

I think you just throw out these assertions based on personal prejudice or charity shop finds.  If it ain't from JS or old BB, you seem closed to it.  Yet you then throw in completely un Ivy Style brands because you've discovered them.  It's fine to discover things and like them, but it seems you have to adopt something or totally reject it.  In life we all have a range of experiences and there should be room for all.

If you don't like a brand or want to say 'it ain't what it was' or even do not actually have experience of them, that's about you not the brands themselves.

Last edited by An Unseen Scene (2021-10-18 06:43:04)

Will this happen to Community Clothing in the fullness of time?  We all remember when Sunspel had a decent reputation.