What makes a Brooks Brothers shirt 'rare'?  And, even if it is, is it therefore 'desirable'?  That Dacron museum piece on Ebay a while ago I wouldn't have had as a gift.
As a book collector I'm often amused by ABE sellers offering a 'rare' book at about a fiver. 
I think a few comparisons can be drawn.

I lived in Canada in the early 90s and I remember Tommy Hilfiger appearing in the department stores, particularly Toronto and Vancouver. I always looked but never bought anything because I thought it was second best to what Ralph had on offer and I had a RL shop near my apartment. I ended up with a lot of made in Canada RL stuff. My missus however, who is fond of red colours, wears a few Tommy Hilfiger branded clothes to this day and they look good on her.
Gant was my go to brand in the 80s and I still have quite a lot of Gant shirts. I was buying L/XL sizes and they don't fit me now but I can't get rid of them. In recent years I bought the Yale Coop shirts and I rate them.

Stax- I heard the story about the BS guy. Didn't he come from Brighton and wasn't he into Ivy clothes?

Back in the day, when things were made closer to home , the quality was superior  to what is on offer today. This includes Next, M&S, Gant,RL and almost any other brand you care to mention. Outsourcing manufacturing was a backward step imho and I'm glad JS is getting clothes made up in the UK

Last edited by RobbieB (2022-04-14 10:27:48)

And my Gant shirts only have the name on the locker loop and some have a name tab at the bottom of the shirt. They have names like Indigo Canvas, New Haven Oxford, Indigo Madras, Harvard Poplin, Washer Poplin,

I've always rather enjoyed the gossip, myth-making and tall tales.  'Talk Ivy' itself was full of fun (much of the time) when Frosty-Mellor was ringmaster. 
Haven't writers like Hewitt and Elms sometimes gilded the lily? 
Ben Sherman - like Fred Perry - was a name to conjure with circa 1969-70.  Possession of one of their shirts bestowed upon the wearer a kind of hip hardness (if you see what I mean).  More than likely he was a regular on the terraces and listened to Jamaican music.  Northern Soul probably came later.  He also bent half an ear to Bowie, Roxy Music and Mott The Hoople.  This would be around 1972.  It all gets a little blurred.  The passage of time and all that.  But he probably wore a check BS with his black 'arrington for a while then a penny round or something similar with his Budgie jacket. 
It was all entirely horrible.

Tim, you’re possibly right, maybe BS was visiting the IS (1964 onwards), to see what they had in store to maybe copy colours patterns etc, I’m guessing from the information you have he was probably in his 50’s in the 60’s so maybe a little out of touch with what the youngsters were after, but all guesswork for us now, but nevertheless interesting,
Another JS comment ( which I’m sure he didn’t exclusively say to me), was that Ralph Lauren was the main reason for the demise of the US shirt manufacturers, makes sense to me considering the popularity of RL shirts in the 90’s, thanks Ralph, wished you’d stuck to selling neck ties,

Ben Sherman and Fred Perry are a part of our clothing heritage, it’s what they’ve become since that’s the problem. British made and as Robbie said, great quality gear that went the distance. The brands were associated with skins - for a while, but their popularity endured amongst more conservative kids who didn’t want to be glam rockers. We all took up wearing it in our teens when the skin thing was long gone and a couple of bits of it hung around in my wardrobe for years and got mixed in with what I was wearing at the time, which in truth hadn’t altered a lot. It wasn’t cheap gear, I don’t suppose I ever owned more than a couple of BS shirts and a couple of FP polos - I had the classic burgundy polo with pale blue piping and laurel leaves logo, I must have finally got rid of it in my late 20s.

Well: I've seen one or two items of late that don't look too off-putting: union-made in the USA.  So... 
When did it mutate into the shite I sometimes see in charity shops and in what was once a top-notch menswear shop in my home town?
As far as Ralph Lauren goes, I clocked my former neighbour last week (money-grubbing little Tory bastard of the rentier class) wearing The Pony.  Chinese, my wife reckoned...  '...  not American...'  She can now point to a decent collar roll on some chappie on TV...  But if that little gobshite is wearing it...  hmmm...

I was offered the jacket for the price of a double cheeseburger and large fries.  I took it. 
Seen on Ebay last week: a Paul Stuart jumper that says 'Paul Stuart' on it.
As the great Harry Keating might have said, 'Ivy Must Not At All Advertise'.

Sounds like a good capture AFS.

A nice jacket with a decent shoulderline, constructed of a lightweight tweed.  I intend trying it, to begin with, with a navy polo shirt. 

Picked up a nice, unstructured two-button yesterday.  Grey herringbone.  It'll probably demand the wearing of a tie.