Dappered

Affordable Men's Style

Banana Republic – 2012 Store Wars Champion

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CONGRATULATIONS Banana Republic

Can a #1 seed be a Cinderella?  Hardly.  But it wasn’t easy.  After a brutal run through the bracket which included a one (yes one) vote victory in the semi finals, Banana Republic pulled it off at the wire to beat defending champion Lands’ End Canvas.  Certainly not a shock that Banana Republic won, but how they won was unexpected.  Fashion show on a plane unexpected:
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Points to her for somehow changing into that dress.  Even if they were in First Class.
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Maybe it was their vastly improved suiting selections, their now consistent production of off the rack slim fitting blazers, or the fact that they make outerwear that walks the line between classic and modern.  The consistent sales & codes for those who pay attention certainly didn’t hurt (BRBREAK takes 30% off through 4/4) and maybe a few cast their vote for BR due to the recent return of Mad Men.

Or, maybe it was all of the above and then some.

Congratulations to Banana Republic.  Many thanks to everyone who debated in the comments and cast a vote, and congrats to Lands’ End Canvas and the other retailers for putting up a fight.  But in the end, there can be only one.

See the final bracket here.  See the final between BR and LEC here.  The full Store Wars 2012 archive is here.
Top Photo is from here.

Comments

  3. I’m glad BR took the title. They’ve also taken the better portion of my bank account over the past couple of months. But I’ve never had to return a single thing I’ve bought from that store. I’m always satisfied with their clothing and service.

  4. I feel like BR occupies a pretty good middle ground in terms of the things Dappered readers value… quality, variety, selection, size range, fit, price, availability, shipping and returns, and so on. They aren’t the best at any one particular thing but if a guy had to build a wardrobe from scratch, he could do a lot worse than stocking up with BR sales and codes.

  6. I think they well deserved this! You’re dead on with the slew of minor and not so minor improvements that they’ve made over the past year or so. Bravo BR. Perhaps they’ll provide us with a dappered coupon?

    Oh, but wait, how is this possible? Didn’t LEC have the whole competition rigged? Joe must have fought off their secret ninja strike twitter team and returned the Dappered kingdom to peace and happiness.

    Cheers,
    Ben

  7. Congrats to BR. They’re definitely riding the Mad Men train well.

    Props to Dappered for the bracket concept. It’s fun to see it unfold and especially fun to see folks get worked up about it.

  12. BR has some nice things. Haven’t always been thrilled with the quality, but hard to argue with their style. Do love LEC also though.

  14. Perfect bracket with the BR victory! Thank you, thank you …

    Now, can we do the Store Wars NIT? TJ Maxx v. Marshalls; Old Navy v. Abercrombie; etc?

  15.  I see that thing and all I can think of is Roger Moore in a safari suit in The Man with the Golden Gun (and also in Octopussy). 

  24. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Banana Republic is just an overpriced mall store.