Friday Fashion Faux Pax - Brooks Brothers Black Fleece Sale

I get email from Brooks Brothers all the time, and I'm usually very happy to review their classic American traditional offering.  Other than the custom clothes I design myself, I have more Brooks garb in my closet than anything else.  If you've read my blog for a bit, you'll remember a post I made regarding what I deemed "a complete mistake" by the Brothers Brooks astonishingly ridiculous Thom Browne "Pee Wee Herman" Black Fleece Collection.

So this particular email was a 75% off sale on all Thom Browne - Black Fleece items.  At 75% off, they are looking to move some inventory!  The fact that they are putting the stuff on sale is not only NOT a surprise at all but really pretty smart.  They need to move that crap out of the warehouse as quickly as possible and sever the relationship with Pee Wee Browne even quicker.  In the past 10 years, I believe the latest owners of Brooks have now completely revived the once standard in American men's clothing.  But in their haste to project a seemingly edgy renderance, they went too far.  What they missed was that the next generation of Brooks customers, currently 18-24 years old, want the traditional classic offering that's made Brooks not only famous but cutting edge since the late 1800's.  A great example is when Brooks introduced the now industry standard button down collar, a totally outrageous new design, bringing a polo necessity into mainstream fashion.

So I guess they've tried to be outrageous again, but this time I think they didn't design a new standard, they failed by trying to create a fad, something the young skinny population could get behind.  Of course the other thing they didn't realize was that the population of skinny college kids and young upstart executives in their early 20's that could actually pull off such a look is the same population that can't afford to even walk into their store.

So now it all goes on sale!  Now the college boys that want edgy, faddish style can get the clothing at cut rate prices and flaunt their finds around campus.  Needless to say, their professors will be wondering why Joe Bob has decided to wear his Pee Wee Herman Halloween costume to class.

Please Mr. Brooks, get back to what you do best, outfitting the mass of the population that still wants roomy, classic, traditional American Standard, high quality men's clothing.  Stop going trendy, it just doesn't fit! And oh yeah, I hope your sale goes well!