What's the Middle/Upper-Middle-Class Clothing Brand Universe?
Hi all, I grew up wearing whatever my Mom bought at the local mall, and now I find myself in need of a crash course on middle to upper-middle-class clothing brands specifically for men on Wall Street (which is where I'd categorize myself as an incoming FT BB IBD analyst in NYC).
I became familiar with a couple of brands during my SA, but I'm still uneducated on a ton of others. I mentally categorize brands by their niche / go-to product, so what relevant brands should I be aware of, what's their style, notable item(s), where do they fit in the hierarchy, etc.?
I'd appreciate any input, and I'll aggregate my thoughts/users' comments for posterity.
- Bonobos: known for "daily grind" dress shirts but don't know much else, how do they rank against BB/CT?
- Brooks Brothers: YouTube channel "Gentleman's Gazette" recommends their business casual products like sweaters and chinos, dress shirts are less form-fitting than CT
- Charles Tyrwhitt: known for dress shirts that are a slimmer fit than BB
- Lacoste: known for polos
- Lululemon (athleisure)
- Patagonia (outerwear): known for fleece vests (Synchilla or Better Sweater?)
- TM Lewin: another player in the dress shirt game but don't know much else, how do they rank against BB/CT?
- Vineyard Vines (preppy): is this a college/young-adult brand for business-casual items that becomes inappropriate as you age?
- Indochino (suits): cheap M2M that will still need tailoring
- Suitsupply (suits): good M2M or buy their OTR and take to a tailor for finishing touches, higher-end Indochino
- Allen Edmonds (shoes): known for Park Avenues (cap-toe oxfords) which Presidents have worn in the past, get belts from them too since you can color-match with the shoes
- Cole Haan (shoes): lower-end than AE?
Don't know much about Banana Republic, Zara, LL Bean, H&M, J Crew, Ralph Lauren, Eton, Ledbury (god WSO users mention soooo many dress shirt brands it's dizzying), etc. Don't even know if the ones I named are in the "middle to upper-middle-class" range. Some brands I may have a misconception of (e.g., Hugo Boss sounds like a trashy business/business casual brand to me but seems to be well regarded on WSO, Gucci seems to me like crap quality faux-luxury that's marked up because of the name), so please let me know if I'm right or severely wrong.
