Last time I was in the States, the store I visited was dreadful. No Ivy OCBD's at all.

When the Italians took over, they had concessions at Linate airport and in Venice and elsewhere. All good stuff, but then they just seem to lose traction all of a sudden. The EU website is a joke. Nothing at all.

If they've a lot of stuff in warehouses, what are they waiting for? Get it out, even if you need to go the outlet village route.

I think it’s owned by Authentic Brands Group these days, a brand management and holding company & as Alvey said, Simons, the mall owners (not the illustrious Mr John of the same name, that WOULD be interesting!) - Micheal Bastion (formerly of Gant and others) came into play at about the same time as the takeover in 2020 and has gone on record a few times about wanting to return the brand to its core ideals - there’s quite a good interview with him from Esquire last year here: https://www.esquire.com/style/mens-fashion/a38082190/michael-bastian-brooks-brothers-creative-director-interview/

- so things hopefully can begin to come back around for them, certainly there’s some really interesting stuff hitting BB Japan (possibly their biggest market these days, brooks brothers.co.jp) - that’s where i would be starting first too.

as for warehouses full of stuff in Italy, no idea. I’d heard that rumor too. More interesting was the rumor of a shop in the Burlington Arcade that was having a fire-sale on Brooks Brothers. That was in April of this year and came from John Rushton. Sadly on my fleeting visit, I didn’t have time to go and check it out.

''...Milano slim fit nonsense...''

That's where they started to go wrong, instead of 2 or even 3 fits, they came up with several and sub-fits within. Bonkers. Especially for online shopping. RL hasn't made that mistake. They keep it simple in the main: Classic, Custom, Slim. You've also got your Big & Tall too for American football player builds.

Brooks still has it all... if you can make it to Japan

https://www.brooksbrothers.co.jp/top/search/asp/list.asp?s_cate3=8

Ox,

thanks for the link.

In the UK we can't view the USA site now so it's good to see some of the new content BB have created.

What I find frustrating is having looked at the jackets there are still a number of Ivy items available in Japan that even the USA discontinued.

My big criticism of Brooks was they threw away what had made them distinctive and traded it in for something that was generic at best and often done better by other brands such as Zegna.

In marketing speak we often talk about if you're not unique be great. It's a dead simple formula that says if you haven't got something distinctive that's worthwhile capitalising on and you find yourself consigned to the herd try and be better than the next brand. Could be price, quality, customer service, etc. Sadly from my own experience Brooks were none of these things. Certain commentators will argue that there isn't the market for traditional with a twist menswear in the USA anymore. I wonder if Mr Lauren agrees whilst jetting between his 5 homes.

I first went to NYC in 1995 and made the pilgrimage to 346 Madison filled with expectation. Man, what a disappointment. The business was already on the slide - cavernous store with a handful of customers, most of the stock already made overseas, the classic shirt shoved in a corner with only 3 colours available. Back in London, in John Simons' little shop, I wanted to buy everything. At the Mothership Of Ivy, in the heart of Manhattan, I bought a shirt and a pair of old school boxer shorts and retreated, crestfallen...

They’ve got new shirts.  USA make.  Haven’t tried them. 

Don’t find them to have anything i want anymore. 

Boxers ok.

Just walked by the old Brooks Brothers store on Madison. It’s empty except for a pop-up shop of some kind. Ghostly and sad.

So today I received an early Christmas message from Brooks' CEO. Well written and with a 30% Off Code. Nice gesture it it would be rude not to acknowledge it.

Whilst Mrs Singer was out I decided to venture forth and see what 30% off would get me.

I'm only going to browse and even Mrs Singer wouldn't see the harm in that. Let's face it 30% Off is a bit tempting to an addict like me.

I feverishly click through and wait for the page to load. I start salivating thinking about brushed knits and coloured cord 5 pockets.

So what happens?

The bloody Italian site loads and it doesn't feature ether the new stylish merchandise I crave or offer the deal.