# Brooks Brothers now color coding their tags



## adoucett (Nov 16, 2012)

Noticed this on the Brooks Brothers site today. Apparently the tags will now be color coded based on fit...

Not sure how hard it was to read the next line down that says "traditional" or "slim" but I guess this will be easier for retail shopping and more confusing 10 years from now when posts will start appearing on AskAndy about the special "Purple Tag" edition.

Any thoughts?


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## Youthful Repp-robate (Sep 26, 2011)

Based on the old ones I've seen, red was all-cotton and green tags went on poly-blend shirts.


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## Orgetorix (May 20, 2005)

Green for ESF is new. The other colors have been used in just this way for several years now.


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## hardline_42 (Jan 20, 2010)

All of my BB slims already have a blue tag.


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## Dieu et les Dames (Jul 18, 2012)

How long have these four different fits been available?


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## Dieu et les Dames (Jul 18, 2012)

The reason I ask is because 4 fits is a lot of variety, and likely detracts from the assortment within each fit. 

I can't help but think that the least popular of these four fits will be eliminated in a year or so.


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## Reldresal (Oct 13, 2011)

Dieu et les Dames said:


> The reason I ask is because 4 fits is a lot of variety, and likely detracts from the assortment within each fit.
> 
> I can't help but think that the least popular of these four fits will be eliminated in a year or so.


Traditional and Regular are going nowhere. Slim fit probably safe too. ESF, look at the clearance section. At least half of the shirts seem to be ESF. Once this slim fit fever runs its course this fit will probably go away.

I can almost understand the slim trend for dress shirts. With sport shirts the concept is totally lost on me. Sport shirts were designed for free movement and etc. I don't know why I bother. Form is divorced from function these days. Preen above all else.


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## hardline_42 (Jan 20, 2010)

^ My guess would've been the opposite. They would eliminate Traditional fit and move the names up a step in slimness. Regular fit will become the new Traditional, Slim will become the new Regular and ESF will just be Slim.


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## Youthful Repp-robate (Sep 26, 2011)

Reldresal said:


> Traditional and Regular are going nowhere. Slim fit probably safe too. ESF, look at the clearance section. At least half of the shirts seem to be ESF. Once this slim fit fever runs its course this fit will probably go away.
> 
> I can almost understand the slim trend for dress shirts. With sport shirts the concept is totally lost on me. Sport shirts were designed for free movement and etc. I don't know why I bother. Form is divorced from function these days. Preen above all else.


Are you browsing the clearance section based on size? In the smaller sizes, there seem to be fewer ESF on clearance, and lots of regular and traditional fit. It wouldn't surprise me to see the opposite as you go up the scale.

Edit: As Hardline points out, based on the way people who pay attention to clothes* are wearing their clothes, shirts are probably going to stay closely fitted for a while.

*Let me clarify this term: I don't mean the classically well-dressed (you can be well-dressed in a variety of silhouettes, within reason) but people who follow fashion.


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## gamma68 (Mar 24, 2013)

I thought the purple label was meant to designate BB's "luxury" dress shirt line, i.e. Egyptian cotton and made in the USA. Please correct me if I'm wrong.


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## Reldresal (Oct 13, 2011)

Yes, months ago when I looked by my size (15-34) I saw a good 1/3 to 1/2 of the clearance shirts were ESF. Now as I look there is one in that fit, but several in Traditional and Regular. Zero in slim fit. Looks like you might be right.


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## Orgetorix (May 20, 2005)

Dieu et les Dames said:


> How long have these four different fits been available?





Dieu et les Dames said:


> The reason I ask is because 4 fits is a lot of variety, and likely detracts from the assortment within each fit.
> 
> I can't help but think that the least popular of these four fits will be eliminated in a year or so.


Extra Slim is the newest of the bunch, and it has been around for at least 3 years IIRC. Traditional has always been around, and Reg and Slim have been around for all of the 6-8 years or so that I have been paying attention.



gamma68 said:


> I thought the purple label was meant to designate BB's "luxury" dress shirt line, i.e. Egyptian cotton and made in the USA. Please correct me if I'm wrong.


You're right, sort of - yes, the purple designated luxury shirts for a while, but all of the luxury shirts were Regular fit and (besides MTO) only the luxury shirts were available in the Reg fit. Two or three years ago, they started offering non-Luxury shirts in the Regular fit.


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## statboy (Sep 1, 2010)

This is good, it will remind non-Traditional fit wearers that they aren't getting the real thing. Joking, joking.


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## toddorbertBU (Apr 28, 2013)

Reldresal said:


> Yes, months ago when I looked by my size (15-34) I saw a good 1/3 to 1/2 of the clearance shirts were ESF. Now as I look there is one in that fit, but several in Traditional and Regular. Zero in slim fit. Looks like you might be right.


I second this. Slim fit seems to clearly be the most popular, especially in the talker sizes, as there are few to none in the clearance section. On the other hand there are always quite a few traditional fit shirts available in clearance.


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## herfitup (Mar 4, 2012)

Garanimals for Trads? What has happened to this country?


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## Himself (Mar 2, 2011)

herfitup said:


> Garanimals for Trads? What has happened to this country?


I was thinking the same thing, and that Trad _is_ Garanimals to begin with!


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## K Street (Dec 4, 2007)

New labels, too.


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## Steve Smith (Jan 12, 2008)

gamma68 said:


> I thought the purple label was meant to designate BB's "luxury" dress shirt line, i.e. Egyptian cotton and made in the USA. Please correct me if I'm wrong.


That is mostly correct. Non Iron Luxury Line shirts are made in Malaysia.

The Luxury Line shirts are slimmer across the board. What I mean by that is a LL Regular is slimmer than a standard line Regular. LL shirts can also have Slim and ESF cuts. I have a Luxury Line purple label shirt with Extra Slim Fit in red on my desk right now.

The labels seem to be constantly evolving. It's all just marketing but "American Supima" is a redundant term.


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## Doctor Damage (Feb 18, 2005)

Does anyone really care if they change the colour of their labels?


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## Orgetorix (May 20, 2005)

Doctor Damage said:


> Does anyone really care if they change the colour of their labels?


No, obviously this thread doesn't exist.


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## mayostard (Mar 10, 2013)

K Street said:


> New labels, too.


so it's american cotton, but it's imported? heh, the global economy works in mysterious ways.


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## jbarwick (Nov 17, 2012)

My slim fits have been blue as others have stated. I thought all of the colors were different depending on the fit.


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## hardline_42 (Jan 20, 2010)

mayostard said:


> so it's american cotton, but it's imported? heh, the global economy works in mysterious ways.


Any product labeled "Supima" is made from extra-long staple cotton grown in the U.S. The raw cotton is then shipped offshore where it is woven into different fabrics. In the case of the BB OCBD, the cotton is U.S.-grown, shipped to Importia where it's woven into oxford cloth and then shipped back to Garland, NC where it's "made" (sewn) into the final product.


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## rwaldron (Jun 22, 2012)

hardline_42 said:


> ^ My guess would've been the opposite. They would eliminate Traditional fit and move the names up a step in slimness. Regular fit will become the new Traditional, Slim will become the new Regular and ESF will just be Slim.


I would think that Brooks sells more Traditional Fit shirts than any other; Why would they eliminate them?


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## Jeff1969 (Jul 27, 2010)

Hypothesis:

Slim fits today are not as slim as they were prior to the introduction of the extra slim fits. 

Prove or disprove, please.


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## adoucett (Nov 16, 2012)

There may be something to this... My vintage slim fit OCBD fits closer to a ESF and the modern slim fits are still pretty roomy IMHO. I will get out the tape measure tomorrow... 

Maybe it just shrunk more haha.


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## brooksbros76 (Aug 22, 2009)

Maybe it's because I'm entering my dotage, but the red label shirts that are advertised as "full cut" are far less generous in cut than I remember them being when I started shopping at BB in 1976. (Or have I expanded since then? 

In the 90s I bought several shirts from the Gap advertised as THE BIG SHIRT. I still have them. THEY remind me of the old button down BB shirt of yore: big, comfy, and made to last. 

On a related note, my local BB store no longer carries the red label. I have to order on line and pay shipping. Maybe it's time to try bespoke, and hand the shirtmaker an old GAP shirt and tell them, I WANT THIS.


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## rl1856 (Jun 7, 2005)

brooksbros76 said:


> Maybe it's because I'm entering my dotage, but the red label shirts that are advertised as "full cut" are far less generous in cut than I remember them being when I started shopping at BB in 1976. (Or have I expanded since then?
> 
> On a related note, my local BB store no longer carries the red label. I have to order on line and pay shipping. Maybe it's time to try bespoke, and hand the shirtmaker an old GAP shirt and tell them, I WANT THIS.


Point 1. That has been my experience as well. What is currently described as "traditional full cut" is about a half size trimmer than just a few years ago.

Point 2. Ask your local store to order the item into the store for you to pick up. No shipping charge.

Best, Ross


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## rwaldron (Jun 22, 2012)

rl1856 said:


> Point 2. Ask your local store to order the item into the store for you to pick up. No shipping charge.


Not all Brooks stores will do this all of the time.


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