It’s no secret that I’m a fan of the online menswear shop eHaberdasher. Specializing in deeply-discounted classic menswear from high-end brands, proprietor Benjamin Eng started the store after stints at Ralph Lauren, Grieco Brothers (the manufacturer of Southwick clothing), and Nordstrom. It’s the ultimate culmination of a knack for finding great menswear bargains, a skill he started developing as a 15 year-old working his first job at a local haberdashery, aspiring to wear the kind of garments the store sold.
Ben relocated with his family from New Jersey to south London a few years ago, and after noting a lack of dedicated classic menswear stores in the area, Ben decided to set up shop in Wimbledon Village.
The Wardrobe Wimbledon opened in late November 2016, and stocks many of the same brands as eHaberdasher, including:
suits from MaCo and Pal Zileri Sartoriale,
jackets from Zegna and Hackett,
shirts from Barba Napoli, Dandylife, Borrelli and Finamore,
trousers from Pantaloni Torino, Marco Pescarolo, and Incotex,
and shoes from Sutor Mantellassi.
I’m especially fond of eHaberdasher’s in-house labels, which are excellent values in tailored clothing: my go-to navy and grey suits are from the Benjamin line, and I’ve lately gotten a lot of wear out of a navy hopsack blazer and mid-grey fresco trousers from the newer “Made in Napoli” Bella Spalla line. The Wardrobe Wimbledon carries suits, jackets, shirts, trousers, ties, and sweaters from the labels, and also offers a made-to-measure service.
I’m not sure what I’m more surprised by: the fact that this semi-legendary square is available at Mr. Porter (and sold out practically anywhere else I look), or that it’s still in stock–at 50% off retail, no less–a solid week into Mr. Porter’s even more legendary annual winter sale.
I ownandlove the tan version of this square. Designed to mark the opening of Rubinacci’s Tokyo store, each corner of the design features a samurai warrior, and the center reads “bushido”. On top of being pretty cool, it’s remarkably versatile. When I bought mine, the retailer let me know that Rubinacci was not planning on producing more of them–hence my surprise at finding it at Mr. Porter. This design is slightly different than the one I own, featuring cherry blossom and red accents on a black ground instead of gold and black on a tan ground as on my square, so it may be a new run with a tweaked print.
Already the biggest online apparel retailer in the US, Amazon quietly launched a handful of in-house clothing brands last year as part of its bid to strengthen its fashion business. The Franklin Tailored line is their offering for, well, men’s tailored clothing: suits, sport coats, blazers, trousers, ties, dress belts, and various other accessories.
After seeing the brand deeply discounted last month, I picked up two pairs of trousers to try out: a grey wool houndstooth check and a dark brown corduroy. Both are made in Canada with decent fabrics and construction. While the rise is a bit shorter than I prefer, overall fit is trim and true-to-size.
The wool trousers were around $25 and the corduroy trousers around $13. Amazon’s pricing algorithm isn’t easy to nail down; it uses factors including size availability and options selected, so your final price may vary from mine. The trousers come in a uniform length, too, so you’ll need to add in the cost of having them hemmed by your local tailor or seamstress.
While not amazing, these are solid staples that are low-risk to try out (especially with Amazon Prime’s free shipping and returns), fairly priced at retail, and sometimes ridiculously priced at discount.
Other Picks:
Franklin Tailored Solid Flannel Trousers starting at $49.44. Staple mid-grey is $71.76 in my size. $95 retail is a pretty good price for what you’re getting, it just seems less so in light of the deeper discounts on the wool houndstooth and the cords.
As many of you know, Lands’ End CEO Federica Marchionni abruptly resigned in September, ending a brief tenure. Marchionni had attempted to turn around disappointing sales by drawing on her experience leading Dolce & Gabbana USA and repositioning Lands’ End as a higher-end brand. As I noted six months ago, her initiatives included scaling back discount codes and bringing in lauded designer Ian Velardi to resurrect the Canvas brand as a more expensive line targeting a younger, more stylish customer.
Unfortunately, Marchionni’s efforts were greeted by still disappointing sales, which–along with a reported disconnect with Lands’ End’s culture–led to her exit. Within a month of her departure, it was evident that the interim leadership at Lands’ End was already reversing her changes. 40% and 50% off discount codes became plentiful–if one isn’t active at the moment, I can almost guarantee you one will come along within a week. I started getting emails like this:
“Slow down, Lands’ End, I’ve placed two orders in the past five days, including one, like, ten hours ago.” (true story)
Armed with this knowledge, why would you buy anything for 25% off, to say nothing of full price?
As for Canvas by Lands’ End, there are signals that it’s on its way out. A few weeks ago they removed the line’s blanket exclusion from promo codes, and this past weekend most of the line was put on sale (and eligible for further discounts by stacking a code). Most notably, this week much of the line has ended up on HauteLook, Nordstrom’s “flash sale” version of their Rack discount store, including a lot of Canvas merchandise that arrived just a few weeks ago on Lands’ End’s website.
That’s too bad, because I’ve handled a few of those garments–even purchased some at full price–and they’re pretty decent. I wasn’t initially drawn to the collection–one of the common complaints I agreed with is the general lack of affordable basics that marked the first iteration of Canvas. Plus, there’s an awful lot of black and charcoal for a guy like me who mostly wears navy, light blue, and brown.
But my impression gradually changed as I looked more carefully and got my hands on some of the clothes.
Suitsupply’s Fall/Winter 2016 campaign features two things I geek out over: menswear and space exploration. This is a welcome departure from their past, somewhat more controversial campaigns.
More pictures and a behind-the-scenes video after the jump.
Brooks Brothers is running an extra 25% off promotion on select sale shoes and accessories this weekend, including this handsome “Made in Italy” monkstrapand some great “Made in England” Peal & Co. models that are likely produced by Crockett & Jones.
The latter includes an annual favorite, Brooks Brothers’ summer-y tie loafers in brown suede and brown pebble grain. My memory’s hazy, but I think this is about the lowest I’ve seen them go in the past few seasons.
The closed channel stitching on the two captoe oxfords suggests these are made to Crockett & Jones higher “Handgrade” standard. Both represent interesting variations on the standard captoe–I wouldn’t wear either with your typical navy or grey worsted wool suit. I think the cognac captoe is a great spring or summer shoe to wear with odd trousers or lighter-colored suiting, while the pebbled brown model is more of a fall/winter shoe, good with heavier wool trousers, corduroy, moleskin, or even denim.
One more because these end-of-season sales are great for stocking up for fall. And also because this stunning Todd Snyder + Private White V.C. Camel Topcoat is 50% off and still available in all sizes.
Again, promo code EXTRA20 gives an extra 20% off all sale merchandise at www.toddsnyder.com. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work for the topcoat and the dress pants.
Use promo code EXTRA20 for an extra 20% off all sale merchandise at www.toddsnyder.com through midnight Sunday July 31. Works on everything pictured above.
If you’re on the West Coast like me, you may be wondering why I’m writing a post about a local real estate agent. Century 21 is a chain of East Coast discount stores (think Ross or Marshall’s) that’s gained some notoriety on the various menswear forums for occasionally stocking respected brands at steep discounts. And while those of us in California may once again grumble about how New York (and now Philadelphia) always get the good stuff, we can find some solace in the fact that the chain has a website: c21stores.com.
I came across the web store this past fall, and was surprised to discover decent discounts on shirts, sweaters, and outerwear from solid brands like Gitman Vintage and Alex Mill. The latter is a label founded by Alex Drexler, son of J. Crew CEO Mickey Drexler. Both Drexlers’ brands share a similar aesthetic, but there seems to be a consensus that Alex Mill’s quality and detailing is a step above J. Crew, while it’s pricing is several steps above.
The discounts I found on Alex Mill and Gitman Vintage were decent if not amazing, so I waited for additional price drops or a coupon code. One day–after holding out for months–I saw the prices suddenly drop, but as I mulled over whether to buy all the stock for both brands disappeared from the site within hours. Not because a horde of FMF redditors turned up, but because Century 21 transferred all of it to their physical outlets and dropped the price, letting Dan from A Fine-Tooth Combhave a field day.
Lesson learned: if you see something you like online at Century 21, pick it up now. You may not get another chance.
As far as I know, Gitman Vintage never returned to the web store but Alex Mill restocked a couple months ago with a new season’s worth of clothes. Once again, the discounts are not insane, but very good (70% to 80% off retail). Along with the items pictured above, I like Alex Mill’s royal oxford shirt in white, dobby puffer vest, and oddly-styled indigo sport coat.
All still available in a fairly broad range of standard sizes.
It’s not exactly a secret that discount shoe retailer 6pm.com carries Allen Edmonds, but it’s something I often forget. The stock appears to be almost exclusively discontinued or clearance “Made in USA” models, with broadly varied (and frankly, sometimes ugly) styles that are a testament to Allen Edmonds’ commitment to creativity and new product design. That means you might have to dig a bit to find the gems, but they’re there. Pricing is very competitive–typically lower than the Nordstrom Anniversary sale prices I wrote about a few days ago (one of the best sales each year for first-quality Allen Edmonds) and sometimes even lower than the prices Allen Edmonds asks for seconds in their ShoeBank factory outlet.
Speaking of seconds, it’s quite possible that some of the Allen Edmonds shoes at 6pm.com have factory defects–see above how the “Allen Edmonds” wordmark on the McAllister’s sole is noticeably tilted. I checked my own pair of McAllisters and confirmed that the wordmark should be straight. Defects don’t preclude a shoe from being perfectly serviceable, but I’d carefully check any pairs you end up purchasing at 6pm.com before wearing.
One of the great but weird things about the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale is that it’s merchandise from the upcoming fall season. It’s great because for a limited time you can stock up your autumn wardrobe at prices usually reserved for mid-season sales. It’s weird because in the midst of a triple-digit heat wave in July, I’m looking at quilted jackets and denim.
Pictured above, Anniversary Sale picks from Barbour, Grayers, and Wolverine, plus picks from Levi’s and Filson to round it out.
Every summer, Nordstrom picks a few styles of Allen Edmonds dress shoes to include in their Anniversary at steep discounts–this year, the discount is nearly 35% off the retail price. The real standouts in the selection this time around are the Cornwallis adelaide oxford in dark chili and the stalwart Park Avenue cap-toe oxford in brown or black. The Park Avenue is the classic choice for a quality first dress shoe for a lot of guys (it was for me), while the Cornwallis represents a dramatic and stylish shift for Allen Edmonds that still manages to connect to their roots (I wrote about the Cornwallis this past fall).
Two other great shoes included in the sale are the Strand half-brogue oxford and the McAllister shortwing oxford. While both handsome, I’m hesitant to recommend them: they’re only on sale in the Walnut and Black colorways, which look great online but aren’t very versatile in person. Both shoes look much better in a mid to dark brown–Allen Edmonds gifted me a pair of McAllisters in burnished brown last fall, and they look fantastic.
Regardless of your choice, here’s some great news: Amazon has chosen to match Nordstrom’s Anniversary Sale pricing for Allen Edmonds–that means that with Amazon Prime’s free two-day shipping, Prime members can have their shoes at their doorstep as early as Sunday (unfortunately, it looks like Amazon doesn’t carry the Cornwallis in Dark Chili). While Amazon is only price-matching the exact colorways that Nordstorm has on sale, going that route is kind of a no-brainer for Prime members, and it leaves more shoes in stock at Nordstrom for those of you without Prime memberships. Win-win.
