STORE WARS: Banana Republic vs. J. Crew Factory
Starting March 19th and running through April 8th, Dappered.com is hosting a bracket based tournament with the purpose of eventually crowning the all around Affordable Men’s Style Retail Champ for 2013. For a full introduction see this post. The bracket on the right will be updated as the tournament progresses. Click on it for the full size. 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: Last year’s champion and for good reason. You can’t please everyone, but Banana Republic comes awfully close. Almost everyone can walk into a Banana Republic and find something they’d like to wear. Other strengths: Their tailored fit cotton blazers. Their outerwear (both their updated trenches and wool topcoats in the fall). Their tailored fit suits, while fused, are probably the best fused suits for around $300 (with codes of course) on the market. The fabrics and blends that they use like the silk/cotton/cashmere blend for sweaters, and the linen/wool or cotton mix they can use for summer suiting. The Navy, 2-button, Italian wool suit. Their line of soft wash slim fit shirts. The luxe touch polos. The perfect, not too thick, not paper thin line of pima cotton dress socks. They’re incredibly accessible, they offer free shipping at $50 from their website, and returns are free if you drop the item off in store.
Weaknesses: They’ve recently started excluding blazers from almost all of their codes. Most of us have gotten used to playing the code game with the GAP Inc. brands, but the long list of exclusions for their codes has gotten frustrating. Perpetual sales have conditioned most if not all of us to ignore their retail prices. The expensive “Monogram” line of suits… does anyone buy those? Shoe quality can be hit or miss (many would say mostly miss).
How They Got Here: Won decisively over Indochino in round 1, then did the same to Target in round 2.
Strengths: Easily could have been a #1 seed. Some have understandably questioned why J. Crew and J. Crew Factory are separate competitors. The price ranges and level of quality (most of the time) are different enough, plus J. Crew Factory has such a strong presence that with a different name, they could easily stand alone as their own brand (they’re almost Banana Republic’s GAP). They’ve been online for awhile now, and that means access for everyone to their flagship Thompson suit separates (in wool-blend, all wool, and cotton), their tweed-like winter blazers, and merino wool v-necks. Factory is also smart enough to not make their jacket sleeve buttons functional, or even throw any accent stitching around them… makes for easy tailoring. Lots of sales, so if you’re patient and play the code game, you can get some great looking stuff for an extremely reasonable price. Seems like they actually responded to requests by those of you who wear a 36R or 36S to start making their suit jackets and blazers in that size. $4.95 flat rate shipping is one of the lower shipping rates out there.
Weaknesses: They can sometimes miss on quality. For example, plenty reported not being happy (at all) with their herringbone wool blend blazer from this past fall, yet the grey tweed-like blazer was up to snuff. Some accessories like belts, sunglasses, and ties have also been disappointing to some leaving feedback in the comments. Not everyone is head over heels for the Thompson (it’s fused, and can be a little stiff at first in some fabrics).
How They Got Here: Beat up on Amazon in Round 1, then cruised past Bonobos with surprising ease in Round 2.
Your votes determine who goes on to the next round. Cast your ballot below. Voting closes at midnight ET.
UPDATE: And the all J. Crew Final is now a possibility….
Store Wars: Banana Republic vs. J. Crew Factory
- Banana Republic (44%, 938 Votes)
- J. Crew Factory (56%, 1,200 Votes)
Total Voters: 2,138
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Toughest one so far for me since these are the two main sources of my wardrobe…like picking a favorite child…
As much as I love J Crew factory, I can always find something I want to purchase at BR so had to give BR my vote.
This is like the penultimate scene in an action movie, wherein the hero has to dispatch the last henchman before facing the big boss. Mad Man vs. the J-Crew!
Somewhere around 75% of my current daily wardrobe is from BR. Guess who’s getting my vote for the whole sha-bang. Yep, Walmart. No, silly… Gimme a B! – Gimme an R! – What’s that spell? … Burrrr?
I used to be a BR die-hard, but their clothes have disappointed over the last couple of years. J Crew Factory FTW.
BR… JCrew Factory border-line discriminates with their 5’8 – 6’1 size range.
Well, the road here was rough, but my final four picks are intact! It’s on!
This should be a Championship round. Sigh. Sorry, JCF, we’ve got some nice parting gifts for you…
I am a men’s size small shirt, and usually a 28-30/30 pants. 9.5 shoe.
I recently discovered a JCF near me and went to investigate it. I like Banana style, but I can not find much that fits me. The smallest sizes at Banana leave me looking like I am a Hobbit in Human clothes. I swim in the smalls most the time. Their pants never fit either.
Last weekend was the 50% off sale at JCF. I went and bought two urban slim chinos, two polos, two slim graphic tees, two pair of sunglasses, two pair of shorts. total? around $170. Amazing. THOSE are the kind of sales I like, no exclusions! AND, I am amazed at the quality of the urban slim chinos. They had double button closure and the material was much more heavy then the typical GAP chino. They even came with extra buttons. Nice styling, and not so slim that I look like an overweight hipster squeezed into pants three sizes too small. The polos were slim cut and fit snugly in the shoulders and torso. I have NEVER bought a polo at Banana that actually fit right.
While the sunglasses were nothing amazing, I was happy they came with a microfiber drawstring bag. I usually go through about 4 pair of sunglasses a summer so I typically buy cheap US POLO ones at Marshalls for about $10. These JCF ones were $12 each after the discount. They were heavier and meatier and seem like they will withstand a little more abuse than the US Polo ones. So, I think they were worth the extra $2.
The shorts were basically the same as the chinos and perfect length for my short stature. I think they are 9 inch inseams.
All in all, I am very happy with JCF. The sales make it worth it and I don’t see myself ever paying full price for something there. I was so impressed I went online to the JCF store and found some other things I really wanted. With the 30% coupon I got another polo for $10, three more very nice graphic tees for $7 and a heavyweight flannel shirt for $12.
Basically, JCF helped me revitalize and update my wardrobe for under $300. I am very satisfied. I wish JCP had faired better as well. I supplemented my JCF buys with some GREAT Stafford shoes, some JCP sweaters, reversible ribbon belts and the most amazing $90 seersucker suit I have ever seen. I just ordered a Stafford Prep cotton blazer and some more hats.
BR because of their 34″ inseams and tall length shirts.
Love my Emerson chinos, but those coupon exclusions are going to cost you, BR…
My prediction: we’re picking the winner of the whole tournament in this round. On the left we have affordable style, and on the right, well, not afforable. J. Crew may have better items, but they have priced themselves completely out of my closet in recent years, even with a 30% off coupon. J. Crew Factory has completely replaced them in my wardrobe.
Anyway, my nod goes to JCF in this round. I shop at both BR and JCF, but get annoyed with the high prices on the BR button-downs. JCF Thompson suits are also game changers.
I stopped going into BR these days. Even their slim fit stuff still fits like a tent. Boring and plain designs.
The two of these make up about 75% of my wardrobe, this is gonna be difficult.
Exactly.
BR all day long! Much better for the tall man imo
JCF doesn’t make the Thompson in a 40L, and BR has been excluding blazers and suiting from all of their recent sales. Thus, it’s really hard for me to pick one.
JCF doesn’t make the Thompson pants in any reasonably long inseams, which makes me almost want to vote against them (I’m 6’5″). But then I remember that I never really like anything from BR, and the way they make me jump through sale hoops, and that their price points are just too high, and I go back to voting for JCF. Quality and value are what it’s all about.
J. Crew Factory vs. J. Crew in the final game would make for an interesting ending this year! I am confident J. Crew Factory will win because it’s so much more affordable, but it would be interesting to see the margin.
How is BR losing??
How is BR losing??
agreed. man, if they made the Thompson in 40L, they’d get so much money from me.
JCF has some very decent stuff if you are careful, and the prices are great. BR has been disappointing me lately, and most of the items are easily obtained for similar prices at better quality over at J Crew (classic). Heck, I bought more from the GAP this year than BR.
Mind bottling that jcf could possibly win this semi, br has so much better quality clothes and if u play the sale game they can be attained at a very affordable price.
Easy pick for me: closest JCF is an hour away, and a lot of BR’s stuff fits me well.
I know, right?! Sooo much money…
Really tough one, I own more BR clothes, but I lately I have been buying more JCF. 2 Thomson suits, handful of shirts. I’ve never tried their pants, but I like the BR Heritage line of vintage straight pants. On the other other hand I have to tailor all my JCF jackets whereas BR blazers fit otr. Argh I went with BR because I can tell in the quality of the goods (some of them)
Why does the home page say “come back later”?
I really don’t know. JCF is cool, but it isn’t beating BR in my book. I guess they are getting the ‘short’ vote. =P
oh man this is the toughest one… I’m shocked at the results so far.
Stacking up to be a J.Crew/J.Crew Factory final showdown.
Awkward.
Quality > quantity. I’ve still never bought anything from LEC I liked.
Banana Republic is pricey, but if you’re patient and play the sales game they’re not bad at all. And the quality is very respectable for the price.
“Boring and plain designs.”
But…honestly? LEC isn’t?
Didnt see this until now. Well we don’t have LEC in Canada
Fellas, how about specifically with suits? Trying to decide between BR and JCrew. Leaning towards BR due to tailored fit suits, I’m thin and like “European” style. Is that label improperly applied to BR?