# BB Red Fleece?



## Clay J (Apr 29, 2008)

What is going on here? More brand dilution? Is this Black fleece lite? Wasn't there already a "collegiate" line?


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## Orgetorix (May 20, 2005)

Just a rebadging of stuff they were already selling. Doesn't seem like a big deal to me. In fact, it might even be a good sign - with many retailers, if something isn't selling, rebranding is the first fix they try. If the collegiate collection wasn't selling well, maybe they thought turning it into "Red Fleece" would raise brand awareness in their target market and attract more sales. If this doesn't work, maybe they'll figure out nobody wants this stuff and return to more traditional looks. It could happen, right?


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## adoucett (Nov 16, 2012)

I started seeing some items up on the site tagged "Red Fleece" not long ago...knew it was only a matter of time before a thread started up!

Seems to me like they slapped a "Red Fleece" identifier over all the things that would come out of their Flatiron shop concept store.

Logo polos, t-shirts (!?), flip flops, KJP belts, and some casual OCBDs are the items they are peddling. Assuming they don't change the existing logos, it appears they just have a tab on their site for all the stuff they think college age prepsters will flock to. Now hopefully they won't start making lower quality items to sell to this less discerning audience, but who knows....

_*I'm like, "Yo - that's fifty (nine) dollars for a T-shirt."*_


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## sbdivemaster (Nov 13, 2011)

Quasi-BrooksGate for the 21st century..?


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

I detest the du jour of low rise pants.


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## Himself (Mar 2, 2011)

Dieu et les Dames said:


> I detest the du jour of low rise pants.


Just say no to crack!


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## Estel (Feb 2, 2013)

Orgetorix said:


> Just a rebadging of stuff they were already selling.


I don't think it's just a rebadging. At least, the sport shirt sizes in most of the Red Fleece stuff go down to XS; when I've looked before, the smallest shirt size has been S, and that's still the case for all the non-Red Fleece shirts. And did they have any organic cotton clothes before? If so, I don't remember noticing it, and it's the sort of thing I usually keep an eye open for. There are a few organic cotton shirts in the Red Fleece stuff.


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## rwaldron (Jun 22, 2012)

I'm not sure that the target audience for this stuff can afford it.


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## Blessings (Nov 6, 2011)

I bought an irish linen shirt on sale, came out to about 65 bucks, which I think is excellent price wise. Quality and cut were surprisingly good. I'm a 15 1/2 neck 38 sleeve, slender through the waist and very broad in the shoulders, so I wasnt expecting great things from the alpha sizing. However, a large fit me damn near perfect. Purchased it without hesitation at that price point.

Consider me a fan.

edit: this shirt https://www.brooksbrothers.com/Linen-Engineered-Stripe-Sport-Shirt/MG00878,default,pd.html?dwvar_MG00878_Color=BLUE&contentpos=98&cgid=men-featured-red-fleece


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## adoucett (Nov 16, 2012)

Video posted today... How old are these people exactly?? There's something disconcerting about this to me 

Also I find this shirt particularly disturbing, Kind of embarrassed they make it.


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## TheJohan (Mar 28, 2013)

adoucett said:


> Video posted today... How old are these people exactly?? There's something disconcerting about this to me
> 
> Also I find this shirt particularly disturbing, Kind of embarrassed they make it.


I think Kiel James Patrick is around 30 which surprised me when i found out. I guess the rest of the gang is about the same age.


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## Tilton (Nov 27, 2011)

Given the video, it is pretty clear they are targeting the post-grad crowd: 24-30.


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## Uncle Bill (May 4, 2010)

Tilton said:


> Given the video, it is pretty clear they are targeting the post-grad crowd: 24-30.


I think you're spot on, my guess the Flatiron Shop is a place to curate certain existing BB product to those on the cusp of graduating college to about 30. I don't get all the hate surrounding it, nobody from the Brooks Brothers Mother Ship is holding a gun to your head forcing you to shop there. From where I sit, it makes sense to bring in a new generation of customers who may or may not been exposed to BB before and over time migrate to the standard selection. Heaven forbid Hugo Boss gets to them first.


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## Joe Tradly (Jan 21, 2006)

the KJP crowd pays $30 for a rope bracelet, so I'm not at all surprised at the pricing.

Here's Sarah Vickers' (his girlfriend) take on the photo/video shoot: https://www.classygirlswearpearls.com/2013/05/welcome-to-newport-brooks-brothers.htmlJB


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## Orgetorix (May 20, 2005)

Uncle Bill said:


> nobody from the Brooks Brothers Mother Ship is holding a gun to your head forcing you to shop there.


Stop trying to use logic. It doesn't work here.


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## Blessings (Nov 6, 2011)

That video is painful to watch. 

Again, as a member of the "post-grad" crowd here, I don't see anything wrong with a 65 dollar (on sale) 100% irish linen shirt. Correct me if I'm wrong. Sure the accessories are a bit affected and over priced - the solid basics however, seem to be decently priced (especially given a sale) and the Red Fleece label seems designed to give people such as myself a target as to what to look for in-shop. Better than puttering about buying an ill fitting traditional shirt and realising it doesnt fit well.


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## Brooksfan (Jan 25, 2005)

They have to rebuild the customer base somehow. As a geezer who is intensely loyal to Brooks, the new things do nothing for me. However, while I flip through the 1970-1990 "archives" and wait for the real 3-button to return, 200 stores have to have things in them that today's customers will buy in sufficient numbers and at sufficient margins to keep the enterprise going. 

I have to reconcile myself at being content with the fact that I can get the real 3-button on special order and hope that someday the industry goes back to cutting clothes for adults instead of the latest iteration of the Thom Browne dialect.


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## frosejr (Mar 27, 2010)

Joe Tradly said:


> Here's Sarah Vickers' (his girlfriend) take on the photo/video shoot: https://www.classygirlswearpearls.com/2013/05/welcome-to-newport-brooks-brothers.html


Wow, pretentious much? (Not you JT, them)


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## inq89 (Dec 3, 2008)

Although I can see why theyre going with "Red Fleece" to match the golden and black, but I assume it falls under the Flatiron collection, since BB has actual brick and mortar stores for Flatiron. It just gets too confusing...


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## Robert Patrick (Apr 14, 2004)

Brooksfan said:


> They have to rebuild the customer base somehow. As a geezer who is intensely loyal to Brooks, the new things do nothing for me. However, while I flip through the 1970-1990 "archives" and wait for the real 3-button to return, 200 stores have to have things in them that today's customers will buy in sufficient numbers and at sufficient margins to keep the enterprise going.
> 
> I have to reconcile myself at being content with the fact that I can get the real 3-button on special order and hope that someday the industry goes back to cutting clothes for adults instead of the latest iteration of the Thom Browne dialect.


I can certainly understanding having to change with the times but I wish they would not abandon the proven styles so quickly. I am afraid they will evolve into having nothing to offer people who remember the way they used to be...


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## Jovan (Mar 7, 2006)

^ That is a legitimate concern, I'll admit, but I still say vote with your money.


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## Tilton (Nov 27, 2011)

Joe Tradly said:


> the KJP crowd pays $30 for a rope bracelet, so I'm not at all surprised at the pricing.


Hold on, so there is a confirmed KJP crowd? Do they have their own money? For whatever reason, I always thought the KJP target audience was 15-20.


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## Jovan (Mar 7, 2006)

Sure is a lot of disdain for KJP. May not be our thing, but considering it's made in USA and doing decently well? We should be cheering them on.

... I still want to get one and wear it in a WAYWT thread just so I can piss you all off. :icon_smile_big: (And support the 'murican economy.)


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## joenobody0 (Jun 30, 2009)

Robert Patrick said:


> I can certainly understanding having to change with the times but I wish they would not abandon the proven styles so quickly. I am afraid they will evolve into having nothing to offer people who remember the way they used to be...


It's possible. However, I'm seeing more USA made tailored clothing to go along with the other stuff I'd never buy, so it's not all bad.


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## MaxBuck (Apr 4, 2013)

Good grief.

I'm 60 years old and more spontaneous, now, than these young people will ever think of being their entire lives.

​I'm sad for them. What a sterilized existence.


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## upthewazzu (Nov 3, 2011)

I picked up 3 Red Fleece sport shirts at the BB store in Bellevue, WA yesterday. All 3 were organic cotton, but that wasn't a selling point (in fact, I was very disappointing that they are not made in 'Murica). The organic cotton shirts are $89, non-organics are $79. They fit me very well, which is all I really cared about.


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