STORE WARS: J. Crew vs. Indochino
Starting March 15th and running through April 4th, Dappered.com is hosting a bracket based tournament with the purpose of eventually crowning the all around Affordable Men’s Style Retail Champ for 2011. For a full introduction see this post. To see the updated bracket, click on the image to the right. Make a case for your preferred competitor in the comments section, but don’t forget to vote at the bottom of each match up. On with today’s showdown.
.
.
Strengths: The top of the non department store food chain. Their run of success over the past few years has been remarkable. Their Ludlow fit, their suits in general, and their sportcoats/blazers are certainly something. They get subtle patterns. They’ve partnered up with some heritage brands to offer unique, almost always incredibly good looking items. Their “Factory” line gives those of us without a huge bankroll an opportunity to get the look at a reasonable price.
Weaknesses: Can get a little too big for their britches sometimes (see the patent pending Muyjens-ometer for examples). Selling a Timex for $175 is ridiculous. Those damn “final sales” when you can’t return items. The high shipping costs from Jcrew.com. Overall, pretty expensive.
Strengths: One of the few places to find a well designed athletic cut suit because they’re actually custom made. Unique in their scope. Incredible customer service. Good to great sales, plus a $75 re-tailoring credit to guarantee your suit fits precisely the way you want it. Natural shoulders available on their suits. Incredibly customizable. Working their way into other avenues like accessories and outerwear.
Weaknesses: Those over the top website images. Sometimes if your second suit is made by a different tailor, it won’t fit precisely the same as the first (but the $75 credit should take care of that.) Their over-stacked sleeve buttons are strange. Shirts seem oddly expensive at $100.
Your votes determine who goes on to the Store Wars Finals. Cast your ballot below.
UPDATE: Indochino rides a twitter wave of support and knocks off J. Crew.
.
Store Wars Semi Finals: J. Crew vs. Indochino
- J. Crew (46%, 310 Votes)
- Indochino (54%, 358 Votes)
Total Voters: 667
Loading ...
I certainly love Indochino, but it doesn’t seem right to give my vote to a process that will take a few weeks to get my clothes and another week for my tailor to perfect them. (I’m not bashing the process, but
just appreciate that B&M nature of J.Crew).
They just got $4 million of funding to hopefully improve their assembly line. I think Indochino will improve in the next couple years.
Yeah. Saw that on Portfolio a few days ago. ( http://goo.gl/MVvD9 )
Look. We are comparing Oranges to Apples.
J-Crew provides off the shelf men’s wear that really never fits me right the first time.
Everything at Indochino fits me.
No offense to the dudes that have time to “shop” but I do not have time. I’m trying to bring home the $$.
But I actually used to order JCrew from their catalog back when I was 16 and have it sent to my house. (That was really odd and “new age” back then, and i was getting “back hand slaps” from my mom for spending so much money.) But I remember back then I was a skinny little guy and the M size never really fit me too well. It’s tough for me to find sizes still in the store because I’m “John Deer Average” size.
I do love J Crew because it introduced me into Fashion (and yes had some mondo hot models) but my vote goes to Indochino because the product i’ve ordered does fit me right every time.
I ordered my first suit from Indochino March 17 and the FedEx delivery estimate is April 1. This is not the 4 to 6 weeks I was told to expect. So I’m giving them my vote for exceeding expectations.
I think that is totally wrong compare online sales with stores, compare it instead with the other online suit makers, that makes sense.
I would not be surprised if Indochino will win this competition. Much easier to get votes…
Yes, I don’t like Indochino
I like Indochino and have their Ultimate Grey suit. It’s a great deal but JCrew’s Ludlow seems better albeit more $$. They both have their place but if you’ve got the extra scratch I prefer JCrew – esp. the Liquor Store.
I’ve got an Ultimate Grey and Rugged Sportscoat from Indochino, and despite having them tailored twice, neither still fits properly (low arm holes).
In contrast, I ordered a 42L Ludlow from JCrew and the fit was virtually perfect.
Given that JCrew sells more than just suits, it makes perfect sense for them to get my vote.
With such a variety of stores, it’s really difficult for Dappered to even match up stores with each other, as it’s going to be difficult to please everyone.. but it’s clear that each brand’s path will go entirely differently based on who they match up against, so kudos to Dappered for even putting themselves out there for the inevitable whining about matchups and how they can’t compare. It just is what it is, people.
I voted Indochino because of recent experience with them, and not having as much experience with J.Crew.
Thanks Ryan, I know most people understand that yes, it can sometimes end up apples and oranges, but it’s a “fruit” competition that’s just for fun.
I still cant believe Indochina made it this far. Have that many people purchased from there or is this just the fashionable thing to do, i.e. make a Cinderella pick. Secondly, as stated by Joe, the purpose of [the tournament is the] eventually crowning [of] the all around Affordable Men’s Style Retail Champ for 2011. Call me a strict interpretationist, but if we are looking for all around Champ, one trick ponies need not apply. I have nothing against Indochina and from what I read people really love its suiting, which is great, but the retailer lacks diversity of clothing options. On the other hand stores like J.Crew, BP, Macy’s and others providing decent suiting as well as causal wear, business suitable attire, and sportwear, and thus better suited (on pun intended) for the All Around Champ title. Just saying… Ok, I’m putting my soapbox on the curb for garbage pick up now…
Well, not to take my words out of your mouth, but by “All Around” I just meant the categories wouldn’t be limited. Like we weren’t going to do just clothes, and shut out Endless or Zappos. The argument against Indochino (there’s an “o” at the end there) is like you stated, they’re mainly suits. But some would say what they do in fact do, they do extremely well. On the other hand some wouldn’t say that. Some would say J. Crew is one-stop awesomeness. Some would say it’s overpriced and you could get the same at B.R. and other locations. And some are still crying into their drop-crotch trousers (http://us.topman.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?beginIndex=0&viewAllFlag=&catalogId=33059&storeId=13051&productId=2251327&langId=-1&categoryId=&searchTerm=drop%20crotch&pageSize=20) because Topman got bounced in the first round. Maybe Indochino is the VCU of this tournament? 🙂
This is like comparing a grocery store with a restaurant.
Vote Indochino.
As much as my palate would love for me to cut out grocery stores and only eat at restaurants, my bank account would never go for that.
There is one thing lacking in every competitor that Indochino has faced and that’s customer service. Macy’s is a joke when it comes to customer service and J.Crew employees are too busy being condescending to be of any use. It doesn’t matter how many products you sell, if you don’t know how to treat customers you don’t get my business.
Indochino has no rival when it comes to customer service in this competition. Throw in the fact that they can make a pretty nice suit and you’ve got a no-brainer.
It’s no surprise that people will vote for a company that treats them well.
Indochino makes great suits for around 3-400 dollars.
J. Crew makes great suits for around 3-400 dollars…and other things.
I left the baggy era and went straight into J. Crew. It’s my favorite brand, hands down. Seeing them losing to Indochino (for now) is like seeing the Cavaliers beat the Knicks…again.
I think that the guys over at indochino have their workers over at india(or china) voting for them at the top of the hour. 🙂
I absolutely understand the power of social media, but it really is a shame when a bunch of non-Dappered readers come to the site thanks to Twitter and sway the vote in favor of Indochino. In fact, Indochino could win the whole thing this way, while the voice of the Dappered audience you’ve worked so faithfully to build is essentially shut out of the process. (Now, I’m not saying that none of the regulars voted for Indochino, but it’s pretty obvious that the poor defenseless startup was somehow able to slay the big, bad giant thanks to social media.)
eh. Think of it this way…if they win there may be a celebratory coupon in it for all, who knows? It’s not like the world is at stake either way.
@LKG
Thought 1: The company you are bashing is not spelled “indochina” it is in fact “indochino”.
Thought 2: What exactly is AMAZON doing in this match up?
Not surprised Indochino can use their internet following to win this!
Agreed – JCrew was clearly in the lead when it was only the site’s readers voting, it should be moved ahead.
I know it’s a voting thing, but it really is a travesty that Indochina won. Not because Indochina is bad, but they don’t really sell a whole lot of stuff. And frankly, even the suits they sell I wouldn’t buy because they just aren’t my thing. It’s great that they make affordable tailored suits – but they don’t have the other intangibles that I would consider in a great retail brand: brick and mortar presence, a distinct look and design mark, special sales (half men’s yearly etc), a large sales rack, and yes, helpful associates that can answer your questions while browsing. No doubt their call support is good, but I think it is a HUGE shame that we could end up with Indochina vs LEC. We’re talking about a “store” with no retail front vs another store that only exists inside of a Sears. I don’t know what you guys would consider your ultimate shopping experience, but that ain’t mine.
Indochino has 4,100 followers on twitter and was actively trying to win. Jcrew_insider has over 30K followers and was seemingly unaware of the competition (they have 92 tweets overall).
It wouldn’t be March Madness without upsets, would it?
yeah, in a way it’s also much more important for indochino to win this than for j crew – they won’t have a customer less, but indochino will probably get some more, without spending a cent on marketing for it
Received my first Indochino suit yesterday: the 3-piece version of the ultimate gray suit. The fabric is beautiful and it’s very obviously well-made. I’m waiting for the wrinkles to smooth out before I take it for alterations – which it will most definitely need. But there’s a provision for that. So count me as fully satisfied so far.
I would love to see another $100 off coupon come by as a result of Indochino taking the whole thing. And besides, while I don’t have the numbers, think of all the people that may have found this site as a result of the twitter campaign. Bottom Line: They can win as many polls, brackets, or whatever else this site wants to measure, just “Show Me The Money!”
and if not, is it really a deal-breaker? I mean, seriously?
@BilboBaggins
Thought 1: If you read through my post, I never bashed Indochino, in fact I clearly stated I had nothing against the company and that the fact that people love their suiting is great.
Thought 2: a small error in the naming convention was an oversight on my part and nothing more.
Thought 3: Not sure why your question regarding Amazon is addressed at me, when I did not comment on Amazon.
APRIL FOOLS!!
wait
wat :'(
J. Crew should have one. It is a comprehensive store experience. Indochino is smaller and just online. Indochino definitely swayed the votes.