Brooks Brothers

One of the things this blog seeks to do is gather relevant information from other places -- magazines, books, websites, etc. -- and talk about it here. For example, this month's Menswear (April 2011) has a write-up on the current owner of Brooks Brothers, Claudio Del Vecchio.

A central argument of the piece is that crusty old dinosaurs shouldn't give Del Vecchio flack for some of the more daring garments in Brooks' new, so-called "Black Fleece" line. (By means of a link that probably won't be operational for all that long, the current men's offerings can be seen here.)

Brooks Brothers was always an envelope-pusher, the argument goes, and so our affinity for it as the conservative guardian of traditional American style is misplaced. We must therefore allow, even expect, it to continue its own tradition of setting the standard by forging ahead of the status quo. The article offers some examples of its track record in this regard:

Brooks is the source of many men's wear innovations now taken for granted. It introduced the seersucker in 1830; the first ready-made suit in 1845; the button-down collar in 1896; the repp tie in 1920; and argyle socks, in 1949. [p. 32, see here for definitions.]

Now, don't get me wrong; this is an impressive list and I'm not opposed to the Black Fleece line anyway. In fact, I even like some of it. But those who feel differently are probably not objecting to the changes simply because they don't like innovation, full stop; rather, I suspect they like the clothes they've been buying for fifty years and don't want to see them disappear. Regardless of whether Brooks came to their style by innovation or by following the crowd, these men like that style and aren't keen to see it go. Fear not, the article says; some things are just too classic to trash. I don't therefore think the Black Fleece is going to push out the more traditional fare; I'm simply pointing out that the argument bolstering this new endeavor isn't the sharpest. If the reasoning is: "Brooks always innovated, why not now?" an easy response is: "Because, before, innovating led to a more useful, high-quality, and thus popular product, whereas now it's leading to flashy, impractical couture for runway models."

Some other interesting tidbits from the article:

1) Brooks Brothers' mission statement, something it's not changing, is "To make and deal only in merchandise of the finest quality, to sell it at a fair profit and to deal with people who seek and appreciate such merchandise." This is a great mission statement.

2) Brooks made the coat Abraham Lincoln wore the night he was shot. Talk about classic.

3) Del Vecchio collaborated on the wardrobe for Mad Men with Janie Bryant, the show's costume designer.