Dappered

Affordable Men's Style

J. Crew – Your 2013 #StoreWars Champion

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Congratulations to J. Crew

When you’re good you’re good, and right now J. Crew is great.  For the first two years of Store Wars, they didn’t even make the final.  Now, this year, they and their less expensive (and accessible via the web) J. Crew Factory line dominated both sides of the bracket.  So much so, that you’ve got to wonder if J. Crew could put together a multi-year streak.

They’re still towards if not at the top level of what most would consider “affordable”, but something’s happening in men’s style.  It seems like guys are willing to invest a little bit more in big-ticket items, like suits and blazers, as long as they’re constructed well.  That shift in spending habits (if it exists) could be what carried J. Crew to victory this year.

J. Crew goes to one of the Italian Mills their suit fabric is sourced from.

J. Crew also plays the sales and codes game.  Maybe not as often as a GAP inc brand, but if you’re patient, you can get a half-canvassed, incredibly well fitting off the rack suit or blazer at a stunningly good price.  Still an investment, but in the grand scheme of things?  The bang-to-buck ratio is fantastic.  Same goes for their 3rd party merchandise.  Sure, some of it used to get a little… strange… but most of it is incredible stuff.  And plenty of it goes on sale, then at another 30% off is finally accessible for the guy who’s on a budget.

Ludlow construction
J. Crew’s breakdown of their jackets.  Is this what won them Store Wars?

But what about next year?  Will J. Crew’s continued success in the retail world lead to higher prices, less codes, and more and more guys saying “they’ve priced themselves out of my shopping habits“?  Or do you think they’re the odds on favorite to win again next year?

And what about the format for Store Wars?  Is 2014 the year to pit similar brands/stores against each other by region?  Have say, a department store region, a 2nd hand region, a big-box-budget region, and so on?  Or should we stick to seeding the stores based on perceived overall popularity?  Would you guys want more say in who gets in the tournament?  Maybe have a pre-tournament vote-in where you could cast votes for all the stores you’d want to see compete?

Leave it all below.  Many thanks to all of you who voted/left comments, and once again, congrats to J. Crew (fair to assume they’re totally thrilled… amiright??).

See the final bracket here.  See the final between J. Crew and Factory here.  The full Store Wars 2013 archive is here.
Top Photo is from here.  And the winner?  To quote Tony Kornheiser: “I believe I had that” (right, big stretch).

Comments

  1. I think some division between types of clothes would be cool, e.g. separate brackets for clothing vs shoes. I also think the initial seeds should attempt to be as apples to apples as possible, e.g. ebay vs goodwill, not ebay vs Brooks Brothers, and Brooks Bros vs J. Crew, not Brooks Bros vs Amazon. After the first couple rounds, you’d end up with those apples to oranges comparisons anyway, but in the later rounds, that’s fine. It’s when the initial matchups seem out of whack that I think some stores don’t get a decent fighting chance.

    I also think it might be beneficial to roll the factory/outlet stores up with the main brand. I don’t specifically have a problem with the J. Crew vs JCF thing, but if they were rolled up into one, it wouldn’t happen again. It would also allow other brands that do have factory outlets not in the tournament to compete on that basis (BR Factory, Gap Outlet, Brooks Bros Factory, etc).

    Now that I’m thinking about it, a shoe tournament would be legit. Allen Edmonds vs Johnston & Murphy vs Cole Haan vs Mercanit Fiorentini, etc.

  2. Glad (the original) J. Crew won. It’s what helped along my journey into style – back when BR, Gap, and the others were putting out terrible clothes, J. Crew was doing something truly revolutionary.

    Still waiting for that 40% off code for Dappered readers, though…

  4. Maybe instead of conflating different brands into one entrant ala Jcrew/JCF.. BR/GAP , Put them in the same half of the draw to prevent a final that includes an intra-company matchup.

  5. I say add a “made in USA” division; I’d love to see Brooks Brothers take on Todd Shelton, Taylor Stitch, Ratio, Allen Edmonds, and others. Perhaps that should be a stand-alone event? #StoreWarsUSA

  7. You should have a running bracket predictor, a’la Joe Lunardi doing Bracketology at ESPN. Sales, new styles, codes, etc. would influence the bracket positioning, updated weekly until the REAL Big Dance..

    All kidding aside, I don’t see why the initial seeds need to be apples to apples. A 1 should slaughter an 8 always, the way a 1 should slaughter a 16 in the NCAA tourney. I’m assuming Joe wants to set this up much like a tourney-style bracket, in which case, yes, you should allow a panel (i.e., us readers!) to assist in the choosing and seeding of teams, showing us which brands are on the “bubble” and letting us vote, etc, etc. Always-strong brands like J.Crew get the 1s, while brands “from weaker conferences” (or at least brands that are more hit-and-miss) such as eBay or thrift stores will get 8s, where their very-vocal few will support them, but will ultimately not get anywhere against the big guys. Year-in-year-out contenders like Target and Gap get the middle seeds for having some big wins but some terrible losses to go with them.. get my drift?

    I think the biggest step next year is allowing us some say in who makes the cut. There were some 2000+ votes for the final – surely those people can help create a great bracket by helping with the initial brainstorm process. There are lots of parallels to the real tourney; let us help you make #StoreWars2014 the best yet!

  8. i kind of like the idea of product brackets. shoe division, suit division, wardrobe staple products, accessories. could be interesting to see the finals. what everyone puts as most important.

  9. I guess this just goes to show how subjective the definition “affordable” is. That is a gorgeous suit. I definitely want it, but while 2 for $1000 may well be a great deal, it is not “affordable” for me, and a lot of other folks. Likewise Some things I think are reasonably priced, or evan a steal, some of my friends think are crazy expensive.

  10. very true. but, i kind of stopped focusing on quantity and moved to the quality side.

    I noticed that a lot of the affordable deals lack somewhere. when it comes to suit jackets, the cell phone pocket is often a trade-off. i hate that. I’d rather drop dollars on a lasting suit and buy cheaper accessories and mix some deals in.

    I’ve wasted 1800 on a custom suits only to have it become a space filler in the closet. my midgrade brooks stuff gets heavy rotation. my low-grade stuff is thrifted or ebayed goodies, hart schaffner marx, vintage brooks , and JCP OCBDs.

  11. Congrats to J. Crew & its voters. Though not it’s not my choice (nor was the other J. Crew) and I don’t shop there, whatever store gets guys dressing better helps make the world a more dapper place.

  12. The suit says “imported.” Imported from where? Italy? Great deal on the suit. China/Third World? Too much for that suit.

  13. This was much closer than I imagined. I voted for Factory, with a feeling that J.Crew would win. Still, this really speaks volumes to the products, variety, and their quality. Not bad day at all for either.

  14. So you have an intra-company semi-finals matchup? I don’t see that as an improvement. If someone deserves to be a #1 seed, make them a #1 seed. I do think retailers like Uniqlo or even Frank and Oak would have been better choices than Ebay or Thrift store.

  15. I don’t think it’s necessary to make more divisions as it will dilute and confuse the concept – you could get so micro it’d get ridiculous. I think though, that every entry should be an outlet with a specific focus towards menswear and some kind of ethos about fashion and cost which is what this site is generally about. Entrants like Ebay, Amazon and Goodwill were throwaway entrants that were destined to be eliminated from the get-go and what do they really represent in the realm of this contest? Congrats to J. Crew though. I spend way too much on them every year. Their collabs are great, especially when they hit the sale section. I’ve got great deals on Billykirk, Red Wings and Chippewa’s from them recently. Just wish they’d quit with all the distressed crap.

  16. it will drop to about 400. honestly it’s usually 496. I bought it at 400 two years ago. never just walk into bb and give them the tag price. ask of a ridiculous discount. the sales folk can give you up to 25% off on clothing.

    and it’s from Thailand.

  17. First, I would love to see a “Brand Wars” separate of “Store Wars.” That would be just as fun and we could see how much support particular brands get head-to-head.

    For store wars next year, here’s what I’d go with. Since there are 16 bracket spots, I think there should be a pre-competition round of voting with 48 options (16×3) to see who makes it to the sweet 16. Keep voting open for a week, and then seed the stores accordingly to the number of votes they get. That way, the bracket and seed positions will be reflective of where the Dappered body politic really is. The top 16 will automatically have a lot of support by beating out the bottom 32, and it’s much more likely that more of the tournament will be closer, and thus more exciting to watch. I could also make for some really interesting first round pairings.

  18. I think there should be more of a comparison between the clothes themselves, maybe a one store one outfit thing. Or head to head item type, so for the final you could have mentioned the ludlow vs the Thompson.

  20. I think having us vote on the initial 16 seeds from a much larger pool will automatically sift out ebay and thrift stores. I definitely agree that those need to be left out. If they’ve ever made it past the first round, it was due to some crazy matchup, not popularity. They have their place, and some people swear by them, but based on this Store Wars and those of the past, I don’t think Dappered readers have had much success with them.

  21. I was rooting for Factory on the strength and affordability of their Thompson suits… oh well.

    I never see those killer deals that people seem to be finding on J.Crew stuff. Even on sale and discounted, the things I actually want to buy – typically blazers and suiting – never seem to drop below 60% or so of MSRP. That’s still pretty darn expensive in most cases, and styles, sizes, and colors are typically pretty limited.

  22. I think that’s a good idea, but then you’d still have two stores of one brand dominating one half of the bracket (J. Crew in this case). In this year’s Store Wars, having J. Crew and JCF in the same half of the bracket would’ve allowed them to completely steamroll over every store in that half. While it may have been well-deserved, it wouldn’t have been as exciting to watch IMO, knowing that no other store on that side could possibly match up.

  23. Or at least “Made in North America”. My favorite suits all seem to be “Made in Canada”. But however, you define it, AE would walk away with this category.
    Incidentally, does BB manufacture much in the US? Everything I’ve got from them seems to be made overseas.

  25. Just got to brooksbrothers.com, click “men” in the banner, then click “Made in America,” there are plenty of options. They have some in the sale section as well, but you have to search for it (look for “luxury” dress shirts and “country club” sport shirts, Saxxon suits/jackets, etc.) They tend to make their highest-end products here. Their Made-in-USA oxford is perhaps the best available (regular, traditional, slim, or extra-slim; sized by neck & sleeve). I swear this isn’t a paid advertisement.

  26. If only I had the build to fit into Jcrew. Love their stuff, factory too, but as a larger guy, it just doesn’t fit me. Big time shame.

  31. “Have say, a department store region, a 2nd hand region, a big-box-budget region, and so on?”

    YES!!!!! Lets have apples vs apples at least in the early rounds.

  33. Just keep out the non single clothing line stores such as goodwill, ebay and such and I am happy.

  34. Actually, I completely renege on my dismissal of same-style matchups. It’s kind of brilliant.

    The Consumerist did this to near-perfection this year with their “Worst Company In America” bracket, which had telecoms grouped together, big-box co’s together, internet providers facing off against each other (EA ended up the “chumpion,” so to speak, btw).

  35. Well that’s dumb, that would be like putting the Astros and the Rangers in the same div…what’s that you say? Oh goddammit.

  36. Can we either have more stores or a double elimination system? I think JCP would have made a comeback if given a second chance this year