STORE WARS: J. Crew vs. J. Crew Factory
Starting March 18th and running through April 7th, Dappered.com is hosting a bracket based tournament with the purpose of eventually crowning the all around Affordable Men’s Style Retail Champ for 2014. 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.
EDITOR’S NOTE: It happened. Again.
What can you say? It’s a repeat of last year’s final… J. Crew vs. their more affordable little brother. If a J. Crew vs. J. Crew Factory final was a sign of J. Crew’s dominance in men’s retail last year, then what conclusions can you draw if it happens two years in a row? The tournament format even changed this year, with “regions” of similar stores going up against each other. And it’s J. Crew vs. Factory once again.
For any critics of this final… remember that most of the competition wasn’t even close. Factory did have their hands full with Nordstrom, but they led wire to wire. J. Crew even stomped UNIQLO in the semis. Feel free to assess in the comments.
Strengths: The defending champ, and probably the odds on favorite to repeat. Has been one of the top leaders in men’s style for the past few years. Blazer & suit construction is terrific, with substantial chest pieces and canvassing. Many of their suit jackets, blazers, and even sweaters come in high quality fabrics sourced from English or Italian mills. Non functioning buttons at their jacket cuffs make for easy tailoring. Cuts are already modern, but they make an even trimmer “slim” cut in many styles. Sales & codes seem to now be pretty plentiful, and if you’re good at playing the game, you can land high quality goods for a very fair price. Some of their in house shoe offerings are made in Italy and/or have stitched (sometimes Goodyear) soles. Their 3rd party “in good company” offerings showcase brands outside of their own corporate umbrella. On trend but doesn’t veer into crazy-town that often.
Weaknesses: Prices sure seem to be going up. Suits are real pricey compared to competitors like Suitsupply. Basics like shirts and sweaters can be crazy expensive… ($88 for a dress shirt that doesn’t even come in neck & sleeve sizes?) until they go on sale and an extra % off code gets posted. Leather goods can feel flimsy. Their watches are awfully expensive for being quartz. They killed off the plain, but still sharp-as-hell Super 130s Ludlow Navy blazer. And as much as some like their Ludlow suit jacket/blazer/sportcoat design, it might be time to widen those 2.5″ lapels a bit, and extend the jacket tail some too. At least on the suit jackets.
How they got here: Took down GAP easily in Round 1. Wasn’t as easy in round 2, but they still beat Banana Republic by a good sized margin. Had a surprisingly large margin of victory over UNIQLO in the semis.
Strengths: A finalist from last year. Their flagship Thompson suit separates (in wool-blend, all wool, and cotton) are as good as it gets for around $200 (if not much less). Their tweed-like winter blazers and merino wool v-necks are cold weather staples for many of us. Factory is also smart enough to NOT make their jacket sleeve buttons functional, or even bother with any accent stitching around them… that makes for easy tailoring. Lots of sales and codes, so if you’re patient and play the 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. $5 flat rate shipping is one of the lower shipping rates out there.
Weaknesses: Sometimes the fabrics used on the fall/winter blazers can disappoint (but other times, they’re great). Quality of their accessories seems to be lacking. They play the code game so you’ve got to be patient. Some of their basics (like tees) can seem strangely expensive. Suit pants can be a little baggy, but they have come out with a “slim” option for many of their suit pants in the last few months.
How they got here: Crushed H&M in round one, then cruised past Thrift Stores in round two. Fought off a strong challenge by Nordstrom in the semis to reach the final match.
Your votes determine who goes on to the next round. Cast your ballot below. Voting closes at midnight ET.
Store Wars CHAMPIONSHIP: J. Crew vs. J. Crew Factory
- J. Crew (51%, 1,417 Votes)
- J. Crew Factory (49%, 1,343 Votes)
Total Voters: 2,753
Loading ...
Wow
Typical American politics. Both parties are essentially the same.
There’s nothing wrong with the bracket- I was personally pretty convinced this was how it would end up almost from the beginning. I think J Crew simply touches on all the right notes for members of this forum, who have collectively become more and more about paying for quality than getting a cheap deal. I think JCF has the better quality/price ratio (of course, I’m also a broke college student) but I imagine J Crew will have the day once again, and I’m not sure why. I can understand saving for, say, a J Crew Ludlow suit over the factory option, but for more casual pieces, I think JCF gets looked over by too many. I was recently in the market for a cardigan and found my favorite style options to be the ones offered by J Crew and JCF. The difference? JCF was marked down to $60 as part of a storewide sale, while the J Crew version was $200. Personally, I can’t see myself spending that much on a sweater (or $140, as the lowest recent markdown would have been) and that’s with longevity in mind because, at more than three times the price, the J Crew cardigan was not really a major improvement in quality.
Well done, J. Crew.
I for one have no complaints: the vast majority of clothes purchased in the last year came from one of these “two” companies, so they’d be my de facto top two. Picking between them was tougher. The fit and construction at J Crew is more reliable, but that doesn’t always matter since their prices are such that I don’t even consider buying at full price, and usually not until I can stack a code on top of a regular sale. Factory is still perfectly acceptable quality on most items and significantly better on price.
This round I can’t even vote out of good conscience – I own nothing J.Crew.
How lame is this. I still think the Nordstroms house brands are better than these two brands combined. Everything else Nordstroms carries is just a bonus.
Next year will they be combined? Or will the tournament itself just be retired?
Joe, I think one of J.Crew’s strongest appeals is their customer service. Having been an avid reader of this site for several years now, I can unequivocally state that JC has hands-down, the absolute best customer service in the menswear industry. There’s no comparison. Land’s End have no idea what they’re doing, BR will keep you on the phone for 45 minutes spewing incorrect information when there’s and kind of dispute, and in-store exchanges require an act of congress. Allen Edmonds is hit or miss depending on the rep you talk to (I’m sure some others know what I’m talking about). I don’t have as much experience with Nordstrom or Bloomingdales, but the few encounters I’ve had have been “OK.” JC customer service has time and again gone above and beyond expectations.
For the record, I wouldn’t mind seeing a touch more variety in general like we saw in days past. I’ve really enjoyed some of the books that were recommended in ‘The Read’ and I wouldn’t mind seeing a bi-monthly ‘Steal The Style’ — heck, I’d love to be able to contribute a post or two on business travel one day..
Can’t vote again. I can only see the current voting.
Strange, the website didn’t allow me to vote on this one.
I’m confused. Did voting already close?
Voting is open. Someone on your ip address already vote? This can happen in office buildings sometimes. Strange. Try a shift + refresh.
I have never purchased anything from Factory, how do the tees compare to the non-factory version?
They are thinner and don’t hold shape as well, especially the neck. But still good shirts and obviously cheaper.
Thanks. Do you know how they compare to Banana Republic or Uniqlos premium tees?
*Act of Congress*. (Tee-hee…you know they can’t get S@%&8t done)
I don’t even have to vote and look at the results to know jcrew has this in the bag
aaaaand I was wrong lol
Yeah, I’m in an office building, but I’m pretty confident nobody else here reads Dappered! It seems to be fixed now. (And we’re on a static IP, so it’s not like we just got a new IP from the ISP.)
J. Crew is just a bit better, fit-wise, and when the sales hit they get awfully close to little brother’s pricing — twenty-five bucks for a shirt instead of twenty, maybe, and I’ve seen tees get down to $10-12 at big brother’s site during good sales. Quality is a touch higher, too. (Though — and I’ve mentioned this before — JCF inexplicably has higher-quality zippers than mainline J. Crew. Little brother’s got all YKK zippers, big brother has crappy off-brand or self-branded zippers.)
I’m in for big brother, here. But not by much. I’m pretty sure I voted JCF last time.
Quality? Sure – no one would fight you there – but this is an evaluation of the entire experience by an affordable-clothing-focused* website. You can’t beat the accessibility of J. Crew, the (dare I say) Standardization of style – and the fact that although the code/shell game they play is annoying – it’s frequent, meaning you can get more, cheaper.
Then again – there was a great article on Quartz that asked a really good question
More…or better?
http://qz.com/189904/the-case-for-fewer-but-better-clothes/
*Affordable is relative – I wanted Nordstroms to win too.
This is classic – More Clothes or Better clothes? Same company – two different philosophies. Where would you spend your graduation money? For me – it was on as many “basics” as I could get. Years later and i’m paring down my closet and most of those early purchases are the first thing to go. I’m not up to “Billy Reid @ full price or anything, but I’d rather own two hyper-fly blazers than four solid ones.
(Just read an interesting article on the matter)
http://qz.com/189904/the-case-for-fewer-but-better-clothes/
Makes you think about what JCP could have been.
R.I.P Wooster (styles)
You’re right – nothing wrong with the bracket.
But if we ever want to unseat the king – we’re going to have to expand the pool. I vote we go full NCAA!
64 teams for the win! Who’s with me!?!?
Never had a single issue with BR customer service. Called maybe 4 times in two years, but have always talked to someone right away and took care of my questions. Never had a issue with exchanges either. Jcrew on the other other hand, while somewhat friendly, was quite disappointed with them in store.
Sounds good. Yeah, sometimes office buildings can be strange (whether someone else has voted or not, it can confuse the polls easily)
I’d like to see the format change a bit for next year. Make each of the four regions a component of menswear, and the stores in that region are stores competing on that specific component. For example, regions could be something along the lines of “The Basics” “Business Casual” “Suiting” and so forth. Under “The Basics” we might have H&M, Uniqlo, Target, and JCF. Voters would then vote for the brand that provided the best value for wardrobe basics such as Tees, socks, underwear, and casual shirts and pants.
The semifinals would then comprise of a divisional champ that represented a different aspect of menswear, and the final two rounds would basically ask Dappered readers to vote on the company AND menswear component that they value most. Would a reader value the “Suiting” champ over the “Business Casual?” It might be tough to predict. Some people, those of us who are suits 5x a week types, might really find that voting for the “Suiting” champ was our way to go, or maybe our brand was knocked out earlier and we’re starting to look real hard at the champ from the Business Casual bracket.
I think this format would provide a good bit more variety in matchups, would make it easier to move certain brands around to different divisions each year (J.Crew, Bonobos, JCF, BB, Nordstrom could all probably compete in a lot of different areas).
I’m not voting in this one because I only own one item between the two. But I will say the reason I don’t own anything from J. Crew is almost directly due to the fact I’ve barely ever had an associate even say hello to me. (no, that’s okay. just keep folding clothes while there are no other customers around. it’s not like I was going to buy a suit or two, and maybe an overcoat. and as long as I’ve built the momentum, this t-shirt looks nice…)
I’ve never had a problem with BR. Their associates have been only a little more “helpful”, but since I have to buy everything online because of my size, I do frequently return items. They take them back without any questions. And the other day on the phone they discounted stuff without any argument when I told them other people online were saying they got the discount. It was almost like they were living in fear of defying the “customer is always right” mantra.
It sounds like maybe you’ve had some bad exchanges, but I’ve had numerous interactions and haven’t had the same experiences.
That’s a lot of hyperbole. Or maybe you don’t shop around that much. Lots of men’s wear stores have great customer service. Nordstroms and Brooks Brothers both come to mind. I took some BB trousers back this weekend and I bought them in January. I was offered an exchange or return no questions asked.
And don’t even get me started on the service you get in the Nordstroms shoe section… not saying J.Crew is necessarily worse than that, but they definitely do not set the standard.
The MSRP on the 1901 brand actually tends to be lower than it’s J.Crew counterparts (before either goes on sale). Most 1901 casual button downs are $50 or $60 at full retail, while J.Crew tends to be about $65 to $80. So J.Crew on sale is pretty equivalent to 1901 at full MSRP. Calibrate tends to run about $10 higher than 1901, but also tends to be a bit dressier in general.
J.Crew does stuff with more interesting fabrics, but then the price goes up substantially. So the “J.Crew is cheaper than Nordstroms” angle is actually flat-out wrong. And again, that’s just comparing to the house brands. Nordstroms offers so much more than just 1901 and Calibrate.
Another case of the under-informed consumer (not you Brailleyard… dappered readers as a group).
Affordable is relative. To me Factory is “cheap”.
Sounds like our experiences differ quite a bit, though I primarily make
arrangements with JC customer service over the phone, even if I’m going
to return something in store. BR does not have a lot of communication
between their online presence and brick & mortar stores. I just had
an issue with a recent discount code, and called customer service. I was
told two different answers by the same representative, the first
explaining that the code I had was for 1 time use, the second was that
it was limited to a single computer. I read the terms of the sale back
to her directly from the website where it made no mention of one time
use, to which she responded “I’m sorry, there’s nothing I can do.” This
turned into an escalation to a supervisor who gave the same answers.
Next came the supervisor’s supervisor who apologized profusely and
rectified the error, thanked me for being a Luxe member, and confirmed that the problem existed on their side.
40 minutes later. As far as I’m concerned, they make great, somewhat
disposable basics that have an inconsistent fit, even on products that
vary slightly in color. This has become more and more prevalent in
recent years at BR.
Hyperbole? Hardly. Anecdotal? Perhaps. Admittedly, I don’t do a lot of b&m shopping. Most things are online these days. My praise for JC probably has a lot to do with the fact that their online / phone / in store presence are all well coordinated and run efficiently. I honestly wish there was a Nordstrom’s closer by (though I kinda don’t at the same time). Brooks has never really appealed to me as I’m not a fan of fan of the things I’ve tried (their slim fits still look like clown blouses on me, and I have an athletic build!).
This round sure is (V) neck and (crew) neck! (har har har). But seriously, both have fifty percent of the votes. A good sign for all. Dang.
No don’t excuse me, – I was wrong. And happily so – the only thing i’ve owned from 1901 were their colored laces, and shopping at the Mall-of-America Nordstrom’s might not be the best place to cement ideas on price. Either way – Your facts have beaten my opinion.
what i am interested in – is where else you feel that Dappered readers are uninformed – I know I personally think of myself as a smarter consumer than the average american male, and would love to know what i was missing.
I love Nordstrom, and their house brands John W., Nord, etc… are fantastic. (stand by for a Calibrate double monk review tomorrow). But I have yet to purchase a blazer from Nordstrom I was happy with. Or a suit for that matter (yet, I’m fully on the suitsupply train now).
Looking at a lot of the comments throughout this year’s challenge, I think some folks are taking things a bit too seriously when criticizing things like format at match-ups. At the end of the day, Store Wars is a fun opportunity to get in the weeds when it comes the current pros and cons of places a lot of us shop at.
I agree that J Crew does have terrific customer service. On a pair of ludlow pants, the lining was wrong (acetate instead of bemberg) and they comped the entire pair! This was via email – I do agree with Tom in a few of the b&m stores I’ve been in.
Nordstrom’s is amazing as well, I mean there’s books written about them. Extremely quick to respond and very detailed. I just don’t shop there as often.
agreed in how well oiled a machine JCrew is vs Banana Republic. I have had nothing but terrible experiences with Banana Republic. Nordstrom is pretty awesome, though.
I haven’t reached a point where I’ll stop buying clothes from them, but I know if I have an issue, it’ll be a song and dance to get it rectified. It’s disposable attire. 2 yrs tops, and out (unless it’s a higher end item).