Why do people buy J.Crew?

[comrade]

From the beginning, when my then teen-age daughter told me about J Crew in the
early 90s, I guess, I thought they were selling junk. J Crew seemed to have appropriated the
Traditional J Press /Brooks Bros Ivy style, blended it it with L.L Bean and sold it at a lower
price point than these stores. But one got what one paid for from Crew: Preppie/Outdoorsy
Crap. Now Brooks Bros is at their level on much of their line.

 

[cimabue]

That's some serious grumpage, dad. 'Sides, Brooks Brothers sucked real bad through the Nineties and has only just got fresher this decade.

 

[pelican1]

Ha, this is a good thread. I've been buying various jcrew items since about 92 or 93. It amazes me that they seem more popular than ever. Their stuff has always been made overseas, but at least the quality for price was decent back then and up until about 2002. Shirts and chino's good quality. Sweaters and jackets hit and miss. Around 2002 I quit buying the shirts. You could order 6 shirts in the same size and 3 or 4 would fit differently. Occasionally I get various stuff as gifts, but I'd never spend my money on it. The only thing that has been consistently high quality are the broken in t's.
Bump to 2009 prices have nearly doubled. Most is no longer made on various islands

but made in china. I decided to try a pair of jeans and my fav broken in t's again. The jeans lasted a month at $100. The t's are half as thin as they were 3 or 4 years ago. Stretch all over the place. Basically overpriced crap. No wonder most people I know just shop at old navy or wherever. It's the same quality.

....and now they are trying to look respectable by offering belstaff and other brands. It's kind of demeaning.

 

[acidboy]

Originally Posted by pelican1

....and now they are trying to look respectable by offering belstaff and other brands. It's kind of demeaning.

how is it so? people who otherwise aren't familiar with belstaff, quoddy and the other brands get to try these stuff out; the brands gets to ride on j. crew's distribution network; and j.crew, in a way has to step up their game compared to the other mall brands. everyone wins- save for some folks who are aghast by the loss of the "exclusivity" of these niche brands.

 

[Kensington]

Do you buy H&M suits and complain about how they suck?

 

[HPress]

I like J. Crew for their shirts, which I buy new for $5 a pop at my favorite Goodwill.

 

[deveandepot1]

Originally Posted by amplifiedheat

This is also silly. Unless the Ludlow comes with un-advertised surgeon's cuffs, this is a sub-$20 alteration.

FWIW they do.

 

[about11oclock]

Originally Posted by word

.. J crew is hyped in the streetwear section because it's affordable casual wear, I rarely see it mentioned in mc.

Mutumbo finger wag nonononononono sw & d hates j crew. a tiny number of clueless posters sweat its nut.

 

[cocks]

I'm a college student. All of my spending money come from 2 months of summer jobs. My parents are paying for my education so I'd rather not also mooch off them for clothes. Buying J Crew is splurging for me. Derp.

 

[Diomedes]

J. Crew is like Banana Republic, go directly to the sale racks and, if you stop there often enough, you will now and then find shirts for $10 and pants for $20 that look good and fit well. I'm a poor graduate student trying to support a family on a fellowship. The J. Crew and BR sale racks are really where it's at for me. I've managed to acquire a sizable collection of clothes that I like and for which I've paid only a few hundred dollars.

 

[BB1]

The posters in this thread claiming that mostly poor people shop at J. Crew must live very insulated lives, or perhaps their hatred of J. Crew is clouding their judgement.

Most people with above average income in the US dress poorly, have never heard of Kiton, and consider J. Crew to be high end stuff.

38% of customers make over $100,000
71% of customers make over $60,000

Estimates came from here: http://www.quantcast.com/jcrew.com#demographics

 

[tacobender]

Originally Posted by BB1

The posters in this thread claiming that mostly poor people shop at J. Crew must live very insulated lives, or perhaps their hatred of J. Crew is clouding their judgement.

Most people with above average income in the US dress poorly, have never heard of Kiton, and consider J. Crew to be high end stuff.

38% of customers make over $100,000
71% of customers make over $60,000

Estimates came from here: http://www.quantcast.com/jcrew.com#demographics

Most people here spend a much higher than average amount of their income on clothes and arn't considering a few things 1. Average wage of a working adult 2. What their expenses are from house payment, car payment, health care expenses, raising a child, or children. Where their left over income aligns with their shopping wants / needs is what they have left over to shop with. I just went to their website and picked 1 shirt (65.00) and 1 pair of jeans (98.00) If you have 180 after taxes to blow on two articles of clothing (now think about how many shirts/jeans one needs to have a decent wardrobe? You can't be poor and shop there.

Take those prices into consideration, a bulk of America can't afford J Crew. I don't mind getting socks and boxers from their outlet, and they even had what appeared to be reasonably priced dress shirts at 60 dollars (none in my size, cant vouch for quality, but one or two looked kinda interesting)

It is easy to forget that although their prices are high for what you get (over priced) it is not by any means cheap.

 

[deveandepot1]

Originally Posted by Diomedes

J. Crew is like Banana Republic, go directly to the sale racks and, if you stop there often enough, you will now and then find shirts for $10 and pants for $20 that look good and fit well. I'm a poor graduate student trying to support a family on a fellowship. The J. Crew and BR sale racks are really where it's at for me. I've managed to acquire a sizable collection of clothes that I like and for which I've paid only a few hundred dollars.

There are some differences in BR and J Crew sales. BR is on sale 365 day a year. Every other day of the week, I get an email from Gap/BR with a coupon. J Crew rarely has mid season sales.
However, J Crew has amazing B&M end of season sales though.
At the end of this summer they had the following
$9 Ties
$9 Polos
$14 Staple Khaki Chinos
$29 Trench Coats
$49 Staple Navy Blazers
and for the last week of the clearance they had 40% off marked price (Final Sale No Returns). When you can get slim fit polo shirts for $6 and a slim fit blazer for $30 you just can't say no.

 

[mossmadness88]

"Quality" can not be separated from price. You can can try to sell me the greatest quality suit ever made, but if it costs 10 million dollars, I won't see the quality in it, because no suit is worth that much money. Value can only be judged by looking at price relative to craftsmanship.
And when combining those two things, J Crew is a great buy (most of the time). Like others have said, you can always hold out for a 20 percent off coupon. J Crew's suits might not be canvassed, but what 350 dollar suit is? J Crew makes about as good a suit or blazer as you can get, for that price. If some "high end" off the rack company made a 300 to 400 dollar suit, it probably wouldn't be any better than J Crew's.

 

[Jay Gatsby]

Originally Posted by Diomedes

J. Crew is like Banana Republic, go directly to the sale racks and, if you stop there often enough, you will now and then find shirts for $10 and pants for $20 that look good and fit well. I'm a poor graduate student trying to support a family on a fellowship. The J. Crew and BR sale racks are really where it's at for me. I've managed to acquire a sizable collection of clothes that I like and for which I've paid only a few hundred dollars.
Nope. My few adventures into J. Crew purchases have left me with the taste of vomit in my mouth, whereas BR has generally not disappointed me (for socks and trousers....)