I've been a couple of times.  Staggeringly huge inventory, by and large excellent stuff.  Best part, though, isn't the new stock, but the old "dead" stock--here's where you'll find, I dare say, the "real deal": genuine bleeding madras shirts, McGeorge shetlands, etc.  Genuine make, the right cut, not (or barely) made any more.  Excellent service, too.  I love supporting them because they're not corporate, not a chain, family-owned.

Do look into them, fellows.  You won't be disappointed.

I visited O'Connell's for the first time last weekend.  I agree with what's been said above. Simply amazing the dead stock.  I actually thought of all of you from across the pond...I really think it would be worth a drive from NYC the next time you visit.  I really doubt there's this sort of time-warp experience available elsewhere.  (Of course, the time warp part has to do with the vintage of the clothes themselves and the wide/deep selection of these decades old clothes. The shop itself has recently been remodeled, and it's not nearly as old or filled with the sort of nostalgic accumulated stuff (e.g., tons of old Yale pictures and letters of commission by famous people) that New Haven or Cambridge press have.  This certainly isn't a knock--it actually has an *authentic* and *real* character certainly missing from the Press and Andover catalogs displaying props such as typewriters, etc, which I admittedly like but nonetheless can seem a bit contrived). 


Whilst there (couldn't resist), Ethan showed me the pretty remarkable Grenfell balmaacan raincoats they're carrying. Does anyone know the history of these? I thought that label was just the cloth.  An internet search reveals the company was sold by the original family to a Japanese company several years ago. Has the new company gone out of business? The coats OC is selling actually have Grenfell labels I think. Not sure if these are new old stock or what. Very nice, though, although around $1200.

Last edited by BulldogNH (2008-11-27 22:53:07)

I think Grenfell may still exist in some sort of limited capacity - John Simons just got in some stuff from them.  I have one of their rain jackets on order.  Admittedly i am not quite sure what it looks like......Seems to be a quite mysterious company at this point.  Presumably Bramble is the label Grenfell only uses for their G9s?

I'd wager they're deadstock. It's been said before, but the sheer amount of new old stock they have is incredible

Also worth looking at for the comments on Viyella.  Anyone run across that 60/40 mix recently?

I think 80/20 replaced 60/40, Tim, but I don't know when.  I shouldn't be at all surprised if it's being made off-shore.