The Shops at Target for Men: The Webster Collection
Target is not Walmart. Whereas WalMart gives off a vibe of a place where style dreams go to die, Target gives the impression that they’re more of an incubator. Would a snob shop at Target? Hell no. But it’s more than possible to not just include basics from the big red box store, you could assemble an entire outfit there if need be.
Now Target is riding their rep a step further, by asking boutiques to stylistically influence a small line of mass produced goods. Target, the biggest of the big, is curating not just individual products, but instead the entire feel of these small shops, and producing items that are in line with Target’s prices. The first clothing line is from a Miami based boutique called “The Webster.” The full line is available on Target.com, and a few items were at the Target closest to the Dappered home offices for an in-person run:
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The Webster Navy Blazer – $49.99
The positives: Really nice & crisp cotton. Attention to details like under collar contrasting and stripes at the functioning buttons. While it is lined, it’s lined in cotton. Great fit off the rack too.
The Negatives: The buttons. You’re either good with gold-tone buttons on a navy blazer, or you prefer something more tonal. And these are plastic, not metal. The button stance is also a touch high. Sleeves seem a little long and the functioning buttons will cause tailoring headaches. Equipped with side vents. Much more dressed up than the completely unlined Kensington, but head to head, the Kensington will win for most.
The Webster Linen/Cotton Button Up – $29.99
The positives: The 55%/45% linen cotton fabric is surprisingly nice. It fits so-so through the body, and if you like having those buttons and tabs to keep your sleeves rolled up, this shirt comes with those.
The negatives: It’s a super casual shirt, but it’s too long to leave untucked. Worse yet: There’s no slots for collar stays. If a shirt is long enough that it has to be tucked it, it should have collar stay slots.
The Webster Cotton Shorts – $29.99
The Positives: Like the blazer, the fabric and the attention to detail is real nice. Fit is good and hits above the knee for guys who don’t want to show a ton of leg. The buttons on these are like the buttons on the blazer, only in a deeper metallic tone (but they’re still plastic). Stitch line along inner leg is different, but not in a bad way.
The Negatives: Oh they’re bright. So you better like that trend. $30 is also getting pricey for Target.
The Webster Striped 3/4 Sleeve Shirt – $19.99
The Positives: It has stripes. Yay for stripes.
The Negatives: It’s so feminine that it never came off the rack. Buttons on the shoulder are one thing (a nod to roots in Nautical functionality) but the material is so lightweight (slinky?) and the collar is thin and wide that the effect is if you have any meat on your bones, it’s gonna look like you’re wearing some sort of antique underwear. But if Mrs. Dappered wore a female version it’d be all kinds of sexy.
The Webster Swim Shorts – $29.99
The Positives: These might be the best, on a budget pair of swim trunks out there this year. Yeah, $30 is “on a budget”. Swim trunks are expensive. These look to have no elastic around the waist, have some bright but not out of control colors, and the description mentions a lining. Nice.
The Negatives: Sizing says “men with a regular fit.” Didn’t see em’ in store, so…
Best in Show: Merona Chambray Tailored Fit Shorts – $20 – $25
The Positives: So, these aren’t from the Webster line. But they’re the one thing that got purchased on this trip. Often on sale for twenty bucks, the color is bright but not too bright thanks to the chambray fabric, and they’re a nice “tailored” fit without being tight. Hits right above the knee, so a little long for some, but a perfect weekend running around town short.
The Negatives: Description says “relaxed fit” online, but the tag says tailored in store. They feel like a straight fit.
Bottom line: Target gets an A for effort on this project. Here’s hoping they keep it up. Thoughts on “The Webster” line and the “Shops at Target” strategy can go below. Thanks to TJ for sending in the idea for a post via Style Tip. For an overall female perspective on Target’s “The Shops”, head to FullClutch, where Beth has also dug up a link to what shops Target will feature next…
maybe you should’ve tried on the striped shirt. it’s not as bad as you made it out to be
Joe, this is probably out of topic a bit, but as you mentioned that you bought the chambray shorts above and I have an impression that you, as a clothes trend blogger, may own a few clothes here and there, I’d like ask this. Just out of curiosity, do you keep in track on how many shirts (including tees) and pants (including shorts), and others you own? I don’t know what (in terms of quantity) is norm for a guy to own, but I checked my closet to see how many I have on each category and… let’s just say I don’t know what divides being normal and a clothes collector at this point. At what point, is one being a clothes collector and has there been any article dealing with quantities?
Chambray shorts and swim trunks look like a win. Not crazy about the rest, but again, applaud the effort.
http://artofmanliness.com/2010/04/16/how-to-build-a-manly-wardrobe-1/
I think this is a good place to start. What your closet looks like will depend on your station in life, but anything that you either haven’t worn in two years or more (or you can’t remember the last time you wore it) should probably go. Take it to a salvation army, or if it’s dress clothes, see if there’s a dress for success program geared towards men in your area. My better half went through her closet this weekend and I won’t even tell you how many trash bags full we’re going to be able to drop off next weekend!
Joe,
This strategy from Target will continue. They have already announced that ODIN will have a shop when the next round happens in Sept.
I actually bought it and returned it. IMO it really does wear rather feminine with the shoulder buttons… would have been better as a henley or a regular t-shirt.
I agree with Joe’s assessments. The blazer was a real disappointment (button stance more like a 3-button missing its bottom button). But I ended up buying buying the Webster shorts in the bright blue and red. The shorts fit great and are very comfortable, and they pair well with neutral tops and white canvas sneakers. I got the striped shirt, too, but returned it because (as I mentioned in a comment above) the shoulder buttons make it just a touch too feminine.
It reminds me of that episode of Modern Family where Phil’s wearing that gray hoodie with the neon orange stripes. There was a joke early in the episode about how it was a girl’s hoodie, and then at the very last scene he’s walking down a sidewalk talking on his phone, he’s passed by a girl wearing the exact same one. Without missing a beat, he takes it off while still talking on his phone and tosses it into a trash can.
Last time I went to Target I took a look at the Webster collction and from far away I was impressed, but up close not so much. I’m sorry but I don’t have a single good thing to say about the navy blazer; it is flat out awful in every way.
Yeah overall pretty disappointing stuff. I like the look of the shorts but not for $30. Those chambray ones at the end are great, though. I have them and they fit very well.
ODIN outdoes ISIS yet again. I bet there will be a whole line of turtlenecks (at least black and slightly darker black turtlenecks).
I checked this stuff out the last time I needed to make a TP run, and was pretty unimpressed. The blazers, in particular, just seemed to be horribly made. Really cheap looking in person. I get that they’re cheap, but If I’m wearing a blazer, it needs to not look like it was sewn for an elementary school project.
Rabbert Kline and I will be sure to pick up our tactilenecks for the fall season…
I almost bought those exact same chambray shorts on Friday, but I was too lazy to try them on. Saw someone wearing them over the weekend and decided I’m going to circle back and pick them up. Perfect for a summer Sunday afternoon.
I hope Rabbert Kline gets a tactileneck for the lettuce as well since, you know, they are brothers.
I also stopped by Target to look at the Webster collection and was wondering what everyone’s take was on the polos that they are selling there.
That button-up shirt looks horrendous. It has a 90’s billowy look to it.
The bathing suit looks nice, but from what I’ve seen here and in-store, the rest of the collection is pretty terrible. The whole “The Shops” thing might be a clever business idea, but in practice it appears to be an abject failure.
I was disappointed in the clothing I saw from the “shops.” I was in Target Friday and would still choose the Kensington blazer over the Webster one. However, as a dog owner, I love the Polkadog Bakery items. My boy devours their treats, and I love being able to feed him treats made in the USA and grain free. The pricing is absurdly reasonable too, when compared to treats of similar quality.
Joe, did they not have the white Webster pants at your Target? That was the one item I did buy from the whole Webster collection… nice fit and $30 for a pair of white pants is a nice deal…
I bought it and kept it. Got the usual modeling-agency-chasing-after-me business while wearing it.
The body is too short relative to the sleeves. Limits the range of motion, but I like the accents regardless.
I wish the belts were simple patterns (stripes at most) b/c I like the style of the buckles, but the patterns (& colors) available are terrible. But their hypercolor-looking shirts are nice, amirite?
Well played, sir.
THERE’S NO SINK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
hey that tj he mentions, that’s me. cool.
anyway, i picked up a pair of white cotton pants from the webster line and i like them. they have some weird stitches on the inner thighs but other than that i like them. you have to be careful with super dark underwear or tucked but i still like them overall. i’d been looking for a pair and these were within my price range.
Agreed with Marshall. Antonio did a bang up job, but… it’s awfully hard to put numbers on what anyone should have. We all wear stuff differently, prefer different types of clothes, and can/want to do laundry at different rates.
I don’t keep track of how many shirts or pants or sportcoats or whatever that I own. What’s normal for a normal guy to own? Depends on your definition of normal. I’d like to think I’m normal myself.
This came up once with shoes…
http://dappered.com/2011/05/style-debate-how-many-pairs-of-shoes-is-too-many/
And here’s a quick piece on how to purge your wardrobe:
http://dappered.com/2010/09/purging-your-wardrobe/
Nope. No pants. Liked the shorts though.
I bought the striped one. Looked fine. In fact, 5 women the day I wore complimented me on it. Feminine or not, it works. For under a twenty – no complaints on my part.
I absolutely love the chambray shorts. Picked them up a couple of weeks ago to expand my summer shorts line (which only consists of the chambray, seersucker and khaki) and I saw a pair of the blue oxford shorts, which look really nice, though I didn’t grab a pair, might do so in a few weeks.
I saw the Webster line in a couple of Targets I’ve been in. I didn’t like the white beneath the blazer collar; the buttons didn’t do much for me either.
I have yet to find the Kensington blazer in gray anywhere in the Chicagoland Targets. Is it online only?
I agree with your assessment on the Webster blazer. The fabric feels much nicer than the Target’s Kensington, and the attention to detail is much clearer here. However, the plastic buttons and high button-stance are a huge turn-off, which make a big difference.
As for the Merona chambray shorts, I really enjoy them too and find them to be one of the best items to buy at Target. However, I don’t see them as being very versatile due to its fabric and color, so I decided to return them.
It looks *literally exactly* like a shirt my girlfriend has, except hers is red.
The swim shorts are pretty badass. I might pick those up.
I tried those trunks on today. They run small. I typically wear a 36 and the 38s were too tight unfortunatly. The look and feel were nice
I actually picked up the linen shirt yesterday and I was really pleased with it. I’m almost six and a half feet tall and I found that it’s not too long on me to be tucked in. So if you run on the tall side, it’s worth a shot.
Repeat comment from another thread here. Figured I’d repost it here in case it helps someone who might read this post, but miss the other. Here ’tis:
“Heads-up. fellas: those Merona tailored shorts (seersucker, red, etc)
are *now* on-sale; Only $5 off, but still. I *almost* broke down earlier
today and bought a few pair. I have more slim-fit or straight-fit shorts
than I really need already (mostly Original Penguin – Whitfield, IIRC),
but these Target offerings are pretty darn nice for $20. Truth be told,
I only paid $25 for the Penguin shorts, thanks to the local discounters
(Marshalls, TJMaxx, etc). Anyway, thought y’all might like to know, if
you were waiting for a little deal on these Merona ones.”