# CRICKETEER Suit Quality



## FutureSenator (Dec 25, 2005)

I just purchased a CRICKETEER suit off of ebay. I am not at all familiar with this brand, and can't seem to find much information about it on-line either. Since I am quite young, I am not as knowledgable in many older designers. It is a 2 button, single vent, pinstriped navy suit. Do any of you know much about this brand? 

Also the pinstripe is more of a "rusty, golden, brownish" color, which I didn't know at the time I purchased it. What would be some good tie/shirt combo's for this unusual pinstripe color which I have never seen worn before. 

thanx--all help would be apprecaited...i've been reading this forum daily for about 6 months now..and finally got the courage to make it official. 

--futuresenator


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## Lucky (Jan 21, 2005)

Cricketeer is a brand that I recall being sold at better traditional men's shops in the late 70's to mid 80's time frame...they appeared to be of good quality and stylish...I don't know what's become of them since then


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## DocHolliday (Apr 11, 2005)

> quote:_Originally posted by FutureSenator_
> 
> Also the pinstripe is more of a "rusty, golden, brownish" color, which I didn't know at the time I purchased it. What would be some good tie/shirt combo's for this unusual pinstripe color which I have never seen worn before.


It's hard to match colors without seeing the suit, but a pastel yellow shirt might pair well. Combine that with brown, red or burgundy tie and you've got a winner.


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## Mr. Knightly (Sep 1, 2005)

I love that color for pinstripes. It gives you plenty of nice options that might not occur to you with just navy and white. Try a burnt orange tie with a blue shirt. Also, those stripes will lend themselves to brown shoes better than a plain navy would.

I have a Cricketeer shirt and it's top notch. I've seen their suits in thrifts stores and I've always been impressed. Sorry I don't know anything specific about the brand. It sounds like you did well, though.

Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
But not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy;
For the apparel oft proclaims the man.


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## pendennis (Oct 6, 2005)

Unfortunately, Cricketeer is out of business. I owned several in the mid-70's and early-80's. They were high quality, and the cuts were very nicely done. Styles were a bit more contemporary than Brooks Brothers. The fabrics were excellent quality. As Lucky mentioned, they were carried in traditional men's shops. They were based somewhere in Tennessee.

If you've found a good one, you'll likely get many years of wear from it. Good find!


Dennis
If you wish to control the future, then create it.


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## condodave (Jul 15, 2011)

Yes, out of business since about 1990, made in Ohio. Many clothing manuafacturers quit during the 80's and 90's. Only decent brands left are Hart, Hickey Freeman, and Joseph Abboud. Nordstrom has their anniversary sale through 7/31 -- you can get excellent quality stuff with free tailoring for about 30% off. I currently have an Abboud suit and 2 of their sportcoats. Nice material, excellent fit, and light-weight. Recommend highly.


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## The Rambler (Feb 18, 2010)

I'd call Cricketeer mid-range, but mid range among lots of wonderful makers, in a time when good quality and style was more common. A men's store that sold Cricketeer probably had a line above it.


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## Poindexter (Jul 22, 2010)

My navy blazer is a Cricketeer. Found at teh thrift. I had always assumed it was a department store resell brand and indifferent in rep because it's demonstrably made, at least partially, from poly. Hot knife test confirms.

OTOH, It's maybe the best fitting jacket I own, with generous waist suppression and lightly but strategically built shoulders. It doesn't _look_ like plastic, and my replacement of the krusty ol' metal buttons with navy swirl buttons opens it up to many really good looks. I really hate telling you sods that a plastic jacket is my go-to impressor.

It sez 'Season Skipper' on the left lining. Maybe a kid's size, since it fits me, and to the exclusion of extravagant desserts. As poasters above have said, it's really beautifully sculpted for an American jacket, very Euro.


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## TheBarbaron (Oct 8, 2010)

I actually found one of these the other day in my store (MW). It's a Cricketeer dinner jacket (two-button notch..hmm). While it does look quite old, the tag indicated its year of deployment to be closer to 2005 than 1990. 

I'm wondering if someone else picked up the label for a while; I know we don't carry them now, but apparently not that long ago we had a few.

As to the quality - well, it's quite difficult to tell from a single garment (missing pants at that) but it seemed unremarkable.


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## jdasta (Apr 1, 2006)

Ah, Cricketeer. I haven't thought of that company in years. My mom used to take me to a store in Augusta, Ga. called Cullum's. Every April she would buy a new suit for me. The last few years that this was done before I went off to college, she purchased Cricketeer. I remember it being a really nice suit.


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## g3dahl (Aug 26, 2011)

I picked up a Cricketeer navy blazer at GW a couple weeks ago. Patch pockets, swelled edges, natural shoulders, nice thick wool, half canvas. The shape is especially nice. Still have to have the sleeves shortened a bit and change the buttons -- it came with worn-out brown leather buttons. I considered replacing them with the same type, but leather just doesn't seem right on a navy blazer. Really nice jacket, though. I'll post a pic when it's ready to wear.


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## JWM1960 (Jan 23, 2009)

Three new Cricketeer suits were my first suit rotation when I started at Price Waterhouse in 1981. A nice oxford gray flannel 3 piece, a navy pin stripe, and a mid gray chalk stripe all bought at Hamburgers in Baltimore, a store that we would all love, but sadly is long gone. I also had a Cricketeer chesterfield coat purchased in the mid 80's that my son now occasionally wears. All were good suits. well made, and long wearing. Lots of PW staff bought suits at the local JAB store in Baltimore, but most considered Cricketeer to be better quality and we all loved the service and attention that we received at Hamburgers. The partners all went to Hamburgers too, but went for HSM suits, that were a cut above and much more expensive.


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## Quetzal (Jul 25, 2014)

One of my favorite suits is a Cricketeer, a nice, conservatively-cut, half-lined herringbone in brown, most likely from the late-1970s. It is made of a mid-weight wool, probably intended to be an all-season suit, and it definitely has quality construction, the way how mid-range and basic suits ought to be. As others have said, these quality suits were made to last.


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## Flanderian (Apr 30, 2008)

_*The Thread of The Living Dead
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Eight years old and roused from the grave every couple years to strike terror into the hearts of forum members! :eek2:


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## HamilcarBarca (Dec 9, 2012)

I have a green 3 piece cricketeer suit probably from the 60s. Nice fabric on it and as far as I can tell it's of good quality.


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## Fading Fast (Aug 22, 2012)

When I finally got my first post-college, real full-time job in the 80s and saved up a bit to buy a real suit, the first one I purchased was a Cricketeer from, what was, a right-out-of-the-50s classic men's haberdashery store (at the time, I had no idea of its historical significance, I didn't know where else to go). 

I bought two Cricketeer suits as there was some special (maybe 20% off or something if you bought two - not the crazy JAB discounting of today) and they were really nice suits that I wore the heck out of and they held up well. 

Not long after that, the brand seemed to disappear. I didn't know it at the time, but I was lucky to have bought a couple before the iconic brand went away.


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## mhj (Oct 27, 2010)

Cricketeer was made in Cleveland by Joseph & Feiss who continues to make suits for Hugo Boss.


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## TheBarbaron (Oct 8, 2010)

Which is mildly odd, since the Joseph & Feiss label is now one of Men's Wearhouse's private brands, and not the top of the line at that.


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## Fading Fast (Aug 22, 2012)

TheBarbaron said:


> Which is mildly odd, since the Joseph & Feiss label is now one of Men's Wearhouse's private brands, and not the top of the line at that.


While I, like I'd bet many on this board, wish that most clothing retailers followed the Alden model of a brand doing all its own manufacturing "in-house" using skilled artisans who take enormous pride in their work and value of the brand they represent, I think most clothing companies today outsource their manufacturing here, there and everywhere. And many of these manufacturers not only make suits, shirts, etc. for competitor retail brands (I think the same company makes some of both Brooks Brothers' and J.Press' shirts), they can make higher and lower quality items.

Hence, Joseph & Feiss might be quite capable of making a very high-quality Hugo Boss suit and a mid-level Men's Wearhouse suit. There's nothing wrong with that, but it definitely doesn't inspire the kind of brand loyalty that the Alden model does.


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## jkurz59 (Apr 25, 2015)

Hi, just joined & then saw the date of your inquiry. I loved my Cricketeer Suits and wish I could still fit into them. I was a lowly corporate exec in the mid 70's & bought 5-6 of these suits from "Carson Perie Scott & Co." in downtown Chicago, IL. I still have all of them 42-44 L. Besides the classic styling and what I saw as quality manufacturing the one feature I loved the best was how the shoulders were constructed, little to almost no padding, it gave one a natural look. I also learned to stick with the classic colors, Navy, Black, pin-strip, etc. I'm now retired, living in Central Texas and seldom where my black suit, except for funerals and formal wear occasions, and just bought & not worn 2 new sport coats. The new navy one made me realize how much I miss my Cricketeers. JSK


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## MaxBuck (Apr 4, 2013)

Cricketeer and Austin Reed were two brands that constituted entry level at the menswear store that paid me to work a few evenings a week while in grad school. Hart Shaffner Marx and H. Freeman for the middle managers. Upper level at that store comprised Hickey-Freeman and, for the rare customer, Oxxford (both these were strictly MTM). We also sold Countess Mara ties. Palm Beach blazers (they were absolute crap). Enro, Countess Mara and I believe Van Heusen shirts.

Salad days.


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## espressocycle (Apr 14, 2014)

I see a lot of Cricketeer suits in thrift shops. None have been nice fabric - mostly heavy, scratchy stuff. That said, most makers have a range of quality, so if the fabric has a nice hand and the fit is flattering, the name means very little. I love "rusty golden brownish" tones in a suit.


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## ran23 (Dec 11, 2014)

I am sorry to say I am no longer heavy enough to fit my Cricketeer Brown Tweed jacket and brown flannels. Men's Whse purchase, maybe early 80's.


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## Guest (Jun 18, 2021)

I love my 1963 three-piece Cricketeer suit. It has worn well, very good quality. I graduated to Brooks Brothers when I worked in Manhattan.


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