Random fashion thoughts - Part II (A New Hope)

[LA Guy]

One more hour to both support the Ronald McDonald House and win an SEH Kelly Donegal Tweed sportsjacket:

http://www.styleforum.net/t/512486/styleforum-gives-2015-our-annual-holiday-charity-auctions-for-the-ronald-mcdonald-house/150_50#post_8216975

 

[pickpackpockpuck]



For one thing, you can't "get rid of the middleman" unless you are doing everything yourself, at a very small scale.  Like some etsy sellers, maybe.  The much maligned middleman provides a great deal of infrastructure that is needed for any amount of volume.  There are some efficiencies in being vertically integrated, but anyone who says that they can sell direct to customer at wholesale is... what's a nice word for lying?

Yep, to get rid of the middleman, they'd have to get rid of themselves.  There's zero difference actually between what the structure of their supply chain vs what J Crew does - or for that matter what we do. There isn't any less link in their chain. 

oh man, you guys just nailed my biggest pet peeve about their "radical transparency." so #1, exactly like GDL said, they're doing the exact same thing as J.Crew. Technically I think it's a little different than NMWA because you guys are working with designer brands that, for the most part, are selling wholesale, and putting the general consumer facing side on you guys, which brings me to #2. When you look at that flow chart of their product costs they have on every item versus the "traditional retail" model you notice they don't explain any of the costs in that traditional retail number. They make it sound like retailers are just ripping people off, when the traditional retail price any shop charges includes a whole lot of jobs, the risk of buying inventory, then paying staff, utilities, etc etc. So basically trying to run a business. They're really just a small-scale version of Gap or J.Crew with a good marketing narrative. Not very radical.

 

[nicelynice]

Can anyone help me find a mid-weight (no torso -- too heavy, no intro -- too light) SNS zip knit with no collar (no fisherman) in a darker color (navy, grey, black) without a camo pattern (no enigma)? Size M if that helps

 

[kindofyoung]

For a while now I've tried to not dislike anything before thoroughly thinking about how you could improve it or pull it off the way it already is.
The reason for this is that there are already so many things I used to dislike that I now like and I figure if I hadn't been so quick to judge them before maybe I would've started liking them faster.

Except peplums. They look like a childrens dress someone mistook for a womens top.

 

[DLester]



converse chuck taylors and jack purcells, adidas stan smiths and superstars (and sambas), GATs, nike dunk lows, puma clyde, and onitsuka tigers are all hideous shoes that are offensive for me to look at (0)

I like all these

 

[nomed]



Dislike

Double breasted anything
Camouflage anything
Short sleeve buttoned shirts that your science teacher wears
Puffy down jackets
Hoodies
Timberland work boots

Like
Air Jordan 4's, I've never owned a pair, but those Hender Schemes tho...
Air Force 1's
Chelsea boots
Side zip boots <-Does that count? 
Denim style jackets
Liberty printed shirts

Double breasted anything-Agree.
Camouflage anything-eh, I like it, but not something i really want to wear myself.
Short sleeve buttoned shirts that your science teacher wears-Agree Strongly
Puffy down jackets-Disagree, Love my Crescent Down
Hoodies-eh
Timberland work boots-eh,

Like
Air Jordan 4's, I've never owned a pair, but those Hender Schemes tho...-Disagree
Air Force 1's-Disagree
Chelsea boots-Agree
Side zip boots <-Does that count?-eh 
Denim style jackets-Agree.
Liberty printed shirts-I don't know what that is, but don't like most graphic tees.

 

[nicelynice]

What about Adidas campus 80s?? Next cool sneaker???

 

[nomed]



I can't stand those blue shirts with the white collars. Or French cuffs worn without a jacket. Black motorcycle jackets paired with white sneakers. Not a classic, but I still carry my irrational loathing of Canada Goose coats.

Oddly though, the urban ninja man skirt thing is growing on me. At least I've seen some guys in NYC that managed to pull it off well.

I don't care for those dress shirts with the mismatched whit collars either.

 

[Ragechester]

6K+ for this cardigan.... isnt this way above normal Kapital pricing? Not even vis is this extreme

 

[notwithit]



I don't care for those dress shirts with the mismatched whit collars either.

Yeah, contrast collars and cuffs are probably one of my least favorite things in the world of things that are things..

Quarter-zip sweaters are pretty far up there for me, too.

 

[GoldenTribe]

6K+ for this cardigan.

They're taking on Marc Jacobs and Chanel in the Veblen Goods arena.
EDIT: Maybe not. Knit deer leather is cool.

converse chuck taylors and jack purcells, adidas stan smiths and superstars (and sambas), GATs, nike dunk lows, puma clyde, and onitsuka tigers are all hideous shoes that are offensive for me to look at (0)

Let me get on this shoe-hate train.
- flip-flops
- the vast majority of all sandals
- New Balance worn as a would-be fashion statement instead of the mundane utilitarian garbage it is
- most Converse shoes on most people (but kids and the folks who look utterly natural in them get a pass as far as I'm concerned)
- boat shoes
- almost everything with a moccasin seam around the upper toe, including most loafers
- Buscemi shoes with handbag detailing
- men's boots with feminine wannabe-rockstar heels over 2-3 inches (i.e. a good portion of Hedi's latest at SLP)
- overly pointy toes (including another swathe of Hedi wares)
- overly square toes
- cowboy boots
- anything with a fringe
- men's classic formal opera pumps (basically dollhouse-worthy, ribbon-ornamented patent leather house-slippers cut low like a Lamborghini)
- anything with a significant amount of neon yellow-green, which seems to be the eye-searing contrast colour of choice on a lot of Adidas, Cole Haan, and heaven-knows-what I see out and about
- heavy shoes (I once owned a pair of Timberland x OC boots and I'm convinced they were heavier than steel-toes I've tried on)
- Giuseppe Zanotti sneakers with 25 lb. chains or giant metal eagles/lizards/bullshit on them

Does anybody see Louboutins in the wild? I see Zanottis all the time in Toronto, but I've never noticed anybody walking around in, say, Rollerboys.

 

[gdl203]



oh man, you guys just nailed my biggest pet peeve about their "radical transparency." so #1, exactly like GDL said, they're doing the exact same thing as J.Crew. Technically I think it's a little different than NMWA because you guys are working with designer brands that, for the most part, are selling wholesale, and putting the general consumer facing side on you guys

While this is correct when we work with a contemporary designer that doesn't own its means of production, most of what we sell is actually bought directly from the maker/workshop/factory. There is only one layer between the maker and the final consumer : us. So, in those cases (which is most of what we do), the supply chain has the same number of links/actors as those guys.

 

[Ragechester]

must have been knit by a very special baba

 

[OccultaVexillum]

It's probably something to do with those buttons...

 

[vcrash]



6K+ for this cardigan.... isnt this way above normal Kapital pricing? Not even vis is this extreme

http://www.kapital.jp/e-store/detail.php?id=K1409KN155&key=5161&category=65 Hand-knit in Japan, and, as usual, significantly cheaper. Edit: And I missed the most interesting/cost-adding part: It's actually knit deer leather, which you can kind of see in the close-up shots.