J. Crew 30% off Ludlow Suits (and more) Semi-Annual Sale

SHOPNOW = 30% off Men’s Suits (4/11 – 4/17)

So the obvious question is: If Spier and Mackay’s suits start at $299 (red label) – $378 (core line), why bother with this J. Crew suiting sale?

Short answer: Because J. Crew’s suits are actually suit separates. Which means you get to pick the size of the jacket and the size of the trousers independently of each other. No “nested” pairs that might not fit body-frames that fall outside of the average. That and the trousers come pre-hemmed. Which means you might not have to make a post-purchase trip to the tailor.

That and more than a few spend more than a little of their style budget at J. Crew. So maybe you’ve got some rewards points built up or something.

Also. Wedding Season.

Code SHOPNOW expires this upcoming Monday, 4/17. Off we go with the picks.

 

100% Italian Wool Slim Fit Suit Jacket + Matching Trousers = $472.50 ($675)

100% Italian wool from Loro Piana. Lined in Bemberg, which should breathe better than a cheap polyester lining found on bargain-bin suits. Non functioning sleeve cuff buttons make for easy tailoring. Colors available are the three shown above as well as a “Caspian Sea” blue, black, and a light gray. Y’know, in case you want something lighter and breezier looking for the hot weather ahead, and don’t want to do the tan suit thing. Jackets are here. Trousers are here.

 

STRETCH Italian wool blend Slim Fit Suit Jacket + Matching Trousers = $472.50 ($650)

Slightly different from the already mentioned 100% Loro Piana wool suits. These are infused with a bit of stretch, with the fabric made by the Italian mill Tollegno. Same easy to tailor, non functioning sleeve cuff buttons. Available in either charcoal (which looks more like a darker leaning medium gray), navy, Atlantic Blue, or “Harbor Blue.” And a big important note about the Harbor Blue: The model shots clearly show a peak lapel. Which is fine but a lot of us prefer notch lapels. Yet the stand alone product shot of the jacket does not show a peak lapel, and instead shows a notch. The description claims notch too. Beats me, fellas. Continuity is hard. Remember that they’re suit separates, so you have to put each piece in your cart individually before you check out. Jackets are here, trousers are here.

 

CROSBY fit (athletic) stretch Italian wool blend Suit Jacket + Matching Trousers = $472.50 ($650)

These are the more generous, athletic fitting “Crosby” fit jackets and trousers, which they’ve re-introduced after many years (old review here.) Or maybe they simply relabeled their recent “classic” fit suits that weren’t selling… because who wants to buy a “classic fit” suit? Sounds frumpy. FURTHERMORE, perhaps the recent classic fit suits were ACTUALLY relabeled original Crosby fit suits which have now been revertedly (not a word) relabeled (a relabeled relabel?) BACK to Crosby fit. It’s enough to melt your head. Wheels within wheels, suits within suits, turtles all the way down. And really, who doesn’t like turtles?

 

Slim-fit unstructured jacket in Irish cotton-linen blend – $173.60 ($248)

Baird McNutt Irish cotton-linen fabric with just enough visual texture allows it to stand out perfectly against washed chinos, dress chinos, tech-pants, or jeans. Wear it with a crisp dress shirt, a favorite pair of pants, and some suede dress shoes or loafers. Yes they make matching trousers, but that’s a lot of texture. Most of us prefer to wear the jacket as a blazer.

 

Made-in-the-USA pocket squares – $28 ($40)

A piped, 100% linen pocket square will finish off many a suited-up look. Wear the green-bordered one with a navy suit, light blue shirt, smart dress shoes and a simple dress watch. Make sure the green edges are sticking out just a bit. Linen is a great fabric choice since the natural texture sets it apart from wool suiting fabrics.

 

Stretch Seersucker Unstructured Slim Fit Suit Jacket + Matching Trousers = $263.20 ($376)

The Derby is just around the corner. Unstructured so they’ve omitted their usual canvasing and other interior elements to keep the suit as lightweight as possible. Won’t drape as nice, but nobody cares when it’s hot, humid, and the mint juleps are flowing It’s a fun/cool suit if you want to be traditional, but the Irish cotton/linen jacket and a pair of chinos will look just as good (if not better) and in the end be significantly more versatile. Not to mention cheaper.

 

Stretch Chinos in Slim, Straight, or athletic tapered – $69.50 ($89.50)

22% off. Not 30% off. Code SHOPNOW isn’t needed here. Thought this chinos sale was expiring yesterday, because that’s quite literally what their fine print said. But they’ve extended it. Twenty bucks off the regular price. Aside from their Ludlow suits, their stretch chinos might be the item they exclude from promo codes the most.

The 30% off suits and more at J. Crew code SHOPNOW expires this upcoming Monday, April 17th. And thanks to our man Adam for letting us know that if you happen to already be a J. Crew credit card holder, you may be able to get free hemming and jacket sleeve shortening (no jacket sides alterations?) at your local brick and mortar J. Crew location. BUT! Fine print on the credit card benefits says they’ll only do that on full price purchases. So it’ll probably be up to your local store manager, being that suits are now actually on sale for once. Also, please don’t sign up for a brand’s credit card for a little perk like that. The APR on those things are brutal! Thanks again to Adam.