I liked their clothes better when I was skinnier. But have only ever bought off the clearance rack or at a thrift store.
SOMETIMES A BANANA IS JUST A BANANA.
ALSO WOULD THE FPPers SLOW DOWN, I CAN'T KEEP UP.
I've said this in one of our earlier discussions, but I still have a French naval cape (shush) and a Swiss army coat from back in the day. I still wear the army coat sometimes. I only wear the cape when I stand on rocky shores and pine.
YOU KNOW WHO ELSE WAS PINING FOR THE ROCKY SHORES?
4: I remember JPeterman's ad copy for their French naval cape (played off the French Lieutenant's Woman, natch).
just look at this OP about a Banana Republic article.
just look at it!
I still have a few items of safari-era BR clothing that I wear with some regularity, most notably a variant of the vest in the upper right of the catalog picture in the linked article.
I only wear the cape when I stand on rocky shores and pine.
But that's at least somewhat regularly, I hope.
11: La mer, la mer toujours recommencée . . .
I have a few old school BR items that are still wearable. Say what you will about tasteless pseudo nostalgia for colonialism, they definitely sold high quality clothes.
Pace I think a line of clothing for middle managers of GlobalCorps being named after the oppression at the end of their supply chains makes a lot of sense. Casual callousness is exactly their style.
I remember when L.L. Bean sold camping gear.
They still do, at least on the internet.
Relevant: the Honourable East India Company has been resurrected, as an upmarket grocery. The owner bought the rights to the name from (I presume) the Crown. For added irony, he's an Indian.
Led me to look up Hudson's Bay Company; didn't realize they now operate Saks, and Lord and Taylor.
The oldest ongoing corporation list in the world is pretty interesting. There are a bunch of (my guess - extremely dubious and unproven) claims for some Japanese inns and other concerns. Then a bunch of (also pretty dubious, and in any case don't in my book really count) wineries and breweries and hotels and restaurants that claim to have been around since the middle ages. Aside from those and the dubious-seeming Japanese claims, I think the oldest things I would think of as "real" companies are the Monte dei Paschi di Siena, officially "founded" in the 15th century but only in really its current form in the 17th, Gallet & Co,. a Swiss watch-maker, and Beretta, from the 16th.
Hudson's Bay Company was founded in 1670 and is still going strong, which is not bad at all but no Beretta, especially since Beretta's been making basically the same product since 1526.
Why don't breweries and wineries and hotels and inns and whatnot count?
20 -- because it's tied to location, not corporate structure. "There's been a restaurant of some kind in this place that's set up as a good location for a restaurant since 1500" feels very different to me than "we have been a manufacturing concern specializing in guns since 1500."
Medieval royal mining monopolies that survived into the present day are a closer question. Should they count because Hudson's Bay Company counts, or not because they are fundamentally state and not private enterprises? Tough call.
20: yes. I mean, pre limited liability, none of these things were what we'd think of as real companies.And why should we doubt the Japanese inns etc? If good historical records exist?
It's not a formal distinction, but I feel like single-craft artisinal workshops and hotels and restaurants that depend heavily on location in a single place shouldn't count -- we need something that looks and feels recognizably like a large-scale business. The Polish salt mining company seems like a tough call, as does this Swedish mining company, both from the 13th century.
Mining is also kinda dependent on location in a single place.
I think the borderline cases on that list are the quasi-government bodies; Trinity House and the Aberdeen Harbour Board and so on. Those might as well be state agencies.
Foundries seem to be well represented - bell foundries especially.
I stayed in one of the old inns on that list and thought it was quite nice.
Ok, so what about these Japanese construction companies?
Yeah, I'm not exactly mourning the loss of a pretty offensive branding, but I do have to say that mainstream mass upscale clothing brands are making me go WTF. BR is better than JCrew, which is trying to sell H&M quality clothing at 10x the price. I know we've talked about this before, but with some notable exceptions, a lot of these places are throwing brand quality/LT reputation down the toilet to hop on the trendy/branding bandwagon. Maybe it's instagram, maybe it's fashion blogs, but it's pretty shocking to compare something made at JCrew, or the Gap, or BR, or Ann Taylor (or even Old Navy) from 15-20 years ago to something made now.
This explains some of the facts about the long-running Japanese companies. You could (and can) pass down a family business through primogeniture, and the common means of doing so was to arrange for adoption of a son to take over the business. So there are long records of passing down companies as "family" businesses and you get records for things like the 1500 year old construction company (which apparently specialized in building buddhist temples), because instead of a sale or takeover the transfer of assets would just be recognized as a continuation + adoption into the family. Interesting!
I thought J. Crew had a pretty decent reputation as not-exactly-stellar-but-still-well-pretty-decent menswear.
30
Yeah I suppose I was thinking womenswear. My BIL, who is no slouch when it comes to clothes, says JCrew suits are not bad value for money. The bridal stuff might be ok too, I don't know.
What about, I dunno, the Duchy of Lancaster? Or the Crown for that matter (ignore the interregnum for a moment).
I used to buy Lands End shirts exclusively until Sears bought them and destroyed everything that was good about them.
32 -- I feel like states, monarchies, or feudal land grants can't count. Has to be a business.
30: I read recently that JCrew was losing all its business due to a failure to cope with the new world, and that they had, in fact, lowered their build quality as part of that failure, but the article may not have been nuanced about whether the lowering was uniform.
Also, it's a pretty new trend: their rep of 5 years ago is irrelevant.
When did Old Navy make anything quality?
35
I also read that they've upped their prices as well, to try and compete with designer labels. That's crazy to me, because if I could afford to buy Prada, why would I buy JCrew priced like Prada?
Not that I shopped there ever as a kid, but I do remember browsing the JCrew store in the mall with my parents as a kid, and I remember the JCrew of the 80s/90s as maybe being a slightly preppier LL Bean. It was expensive, but not miles ahead of other mall brands, and the pieces were classic and well-made enough that they were generally worth the price (kind of like I imagine LLBean is now--you pay $150 for their fisherman sweater, but it will hold up well for 40 years). Now, it's like, they are asking $50 for a see-through t-shirt that pills and stretches after a few washes, or $350 for an unlined skirt.
36
I have an ON cotton button up blouse I bought at a thrift store in 1998. I bring it to China with me and wash it either by hand on a washboard or in Chinese clothes-eating washing machines. It's not going to win any fashion awards, but it's kept it's shape perfectly well, and there's nary an unraveled seem, pill, or loose button anywhere on the shirt. It has reinforced shoulder panels and collar, something none of my button up shirts have now.
Reviews by G B Trudeau? As in Doonesbury?
19: Merck Darmstadt was an apothecary for a long time before it became a pharmacy company, do they like to say that they've been around since the 16th century or something like that.
Ok, in fairness, all the $350 skirts at JCrew say they are lined (material not mentioned). They are trying to sell a frayed denim skirt for $90, though...
It amazes me that someone persnickety enough to say "[comment number] was I" rather than "was me" is nevertheless content to end her questions with a period.
(I meant to say, I was just looking at their website)
Here's a frayed skirt for way more to help you feel better about the J. Crew one, which is probably more attractive to boot.
I buy Lands End shirts because of the recession. I used to buy Brooks Brothers.
I have visited both that Swedish copper mine and that Polish salt mine. It's a wonder that, with such exciting interests, I often travel alone.
I guess Wikipedia names two salt mines. I've been to Wielicka.
Speaking of retail experiences, I don't understand the appeal of Anthropologie.
49: they are a terrific place to buy presents for your sister-in-law who is otherwise very difficult to buy presents for. I visit it religiously (i.e. once a year, at Christmas, grudgingly).
You can hang out with topless chicks in the third world, and no one else really knows anything about them so nobody can ever check your work. Plus you can be as pompous as you want in your writing.
46 - If you are currently buying Lands End shirts things must be really bad.
I would totally go to a Swedish copper mine or Polish salt mine with someone. Mine tourism is the best.
Wielicka is really good. They carved a church out of the salt!
I visited a salt mine once. It was dark. And old. And not at all scary to a totally ripped dude like me.
52: I can't tell the difference when they are on hangers in the closet.
47, 53: let me be the first to suggest a fresh salt mine. http://www.rileycountyks.gov/425/Salt-Mines
45
Yeah, that's ugly as balls, but it least it reads as high fashion to someone.
This looks like something you could buy at Marshall's for $10 in the teen section.
49
Me neither. I also think of them as one of those slightly-out-of-my-price-range stores, and then I go in and a thin cotton blouse is $150. Also, no discounts for actual live anthropologists.
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I think the social networks are trying to guess my demographic background because they're now showing me ads for two different racially homogeneous dating sites that happen to match individually my parents' ancestries.
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I wish we could be wearing white pants and light blue socks like Jeff Bridges wore in Thunderbolt & Lightfoot.
Abercrombie and Fitch got its start the same way. They had safari decor and sold everything an outdoorsman (or woman) might need from portable cocktail bars to high powered rifles. They had a great store in NYC and a branch down in DC. Back in the 1930s they were a must-see. By the 1980s that kind of outdoorsy life was on the outs. It was a pity.
Sort of related: Carhart is now selling clothing the mall and thus I assume heading down a similar path. The obvious solution is for Ann Taylor to market a line of clothing for farmers and factory workers.
Carhartt has been heading down that path for a while, I think. Up here lots of place sell their stuff, and a lot of it doesn't look very traditional.
Still use much heavier fabrics than Ann Taylor does.
Isn'r Ann Taylor the store for women who are also lame?
Not everyone can pull off a studded leather bustier if they work in an office.
67: Yes, but it's also very popular for women who need to look professional and inoffensive. DC uniform, basically. I was surprised to learn how popular it was among friends and coworkers.
I initially read 69 to 68 and got a very impression of DC office work culture. And who's offended by a studded leather bustier anyway?
very impression s/b very weird impression.
16
LL Bean still sells actual outdoor gear in its stores, but my experience with serious* hikers, campers, etc. is that they are more likely to buy from REI or specialty sources on the web.
* I am an unserious hiker. I buy from REI and EMS, cuz they are nearby. Sometimes I go in an LL Bean outlet store because there's a convenient one on the way to/from the White Mountains, but I haven't bought anything recently.
63: A&F folded in the seventies for exactly that reason, and a different company called The Limited bought the name. So really there's no connection between the two incarnations.
"I am an unserious hiker."
That's one translation.
VALDEREE! VALDERA! VALDEREE! VALDERA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!
I get the impression that Carhartt is headed down the same road taken by Sears tools. Basically you establish a reputation as reliable and good quality, then bring in the MBAs who will trade on the rep while destroying the quality to bring costs down, eventually leading to a new (deserved) reputation as crap. Carhartt isn't there yet, but the indications are not promising.
75
Unserious hikers don't have to sing. They are allowed to whistle instead.
I guess this is the appropriate thread to point out that the Supreme Court just cleared the way for the Unfogged Alaska ekranoplan hunting meetup, NPS regulations be damned.
The other odd thing about Carharrt's re-marketing is that they only recently started selling as fashion at all. Not many years ago one had to go to, say, a surplus or Red Wing store, and now they have a downtown storefront near Brooks Brothers.
Nevertheless, this Jezebel thing making fun of "Your LL Bean boyfriend via the Carhartt catalog is pretty fun.
81 Helly Hansen's probably next. Or did I miss that boat?
If this is the business thread, what's up with Nix Check Cashing? You walk in with your little all in check form, ready to be cashed, and the grizzled old man in a stained T-shirt is all: "Nixies! No dice! Can't you read the sign, pal? Nix on the check cashing here!". It just seems like a strange business plan.
15: At the Freeport Bean's, they have a huge hunting section with guns and bows and arrows and what not.
Although, tedium was for me redefined by waiting for the whole Knife Section staff to find me one $20 knife.
You can get a pretty good $20 knife from REI.
Man, my grandfather would have laughed at that. Probably just as well he's dead or I'd be getting massive Trump spam from him on FB.
You can get a fleece there for $27 but only today.
For bricks and mortar, I mostways go to Midwest Mountaineering or Target.
When the fisheries are gone and the permafrost has melted, what can Hellytech be but fashion? ...So, bout three years, then.
A strange place to look. Myself, I'd have gone to some sort of builder's supply store.
My sister says there's a "Super Target." Maybe they have bricks?
I'm so unhealthy, but at least that means I will be dead before the worst global warming effects are felt.
There used to be Target Greatland, and now there's gonna be Target Express too.
92 A chandlery surely ajay. I am disappoint.
92 A chandlery surely ajay. I am disappoint.