Abercrombie and Disposable Income....

I try to keep an eye on fashion trends so I am not a walking time warp for the 90s. I certainly don't jump at every new trend for the sake of it being "trendy", but I would be lying if I said I don't peep catalogs and my inbox does not occasionally get occupied with fashion news, future trends and industry tid bits. Well, today I was checking out this email from A&F. Call me crazy, but why is the demographic for that clothing plunging to the teen set? Really. The models are mostly in their teens and the styles are pretty overly casual. I know, I know, AF does use that stupid tag line of "Casual Luxury". Lame! What teen has the disposable income to drop $69 on a button up shirt, or $59 on a pair of "distressed" shorts or a polo. That is crazy. I would certainly not consider myself an AF person since I like to mix up my wardrobe and can usually find at least one piece from any store I go to or site I visit although I have a shirt or two from AF I got on clearance and notice at least the two I have to be of slightly higher quality than your average brand...SLIGHTLY. Certainly not enough to drop $69 on it several weeks before it hit clearance.
Back to my point of this post. Since it does seem AF's target audience is younger than I and many college students, how do these teen kids afford this crap? Man, I could go broke trying to get all the latest clothes from this place. I know the vibe in the store is like we are supposed to be transferred to the 90210 zip code and flossin' like we were in Bev. Hills, but come on... I guess daddy's credit cards keep these kids looking good and you can catch me at the clearance rack if you need me... :p

Business Dress

As someone who has worked in environments where business dress is mandatory and business casual was optional, I can say with absolute conviction that Western society is pretty much a collective group of Lemmings that embrace "dressing the part" as being something that by default makes people work harder or "appear" smarter. What a bunch of absolute horse caca! Are we that influenced by the fashion industry that the idea of dressing up makes one seem so much more "professional" and gets business deals done any more effectively?

Certainly, dressing within the fashion industry makes sense since the goal is to sell clothes and display what will be purchased by consumers, but any other industry? I think not. Wearing business attire does not translate into good hygiene or improved idea creation.

Does not actually DOING the work within an organization mean much more? Does taking ideas and delivering new products lose its luster if said ideas do not stem from someone with a suit on? Uh....no. Can a person wearing business dress still do sloppy work and not deliver intended results? Of course.

I happen to be thinking about this concept recently, when the EXACT idea was discussed by a very interesting person that some of you may know as the current owner of the Dallas Mavericks and billionaire, Mark Cuban. This guy is brilliant in so many ways. I knew of him before he became an NBA owner back when he sold broadcast.com. He's an extremely savvy business person and because of many of his efforts and by "efforts", I mean obnoxious press conferences and ways to annoy David Stern, the NBA has instituted many improvements to their product. Anyway, he posted about this very subject and I like the angle he decided to go with.

I have well rounded interests and many aspects of the fashion industry fall in to what I decide to research and spend my time learning about and I really think business dress is such an overrated concept in industries outside of fashion that it's just archaic and really short-minded.

Land's End

I have an affinity for fashion. Be it the fashion on my person or other persons. It’s certainly not a status thing with me. I could care less if I have an Armani suit on or an outfit from Target; if it looks good, it just looks good. I don't necessarily have an allegiance to certain brands either, but I do have certain expectations if I buy a KCole shirt that it will hold up in terms of quality longer than 2-3 washes or dry cleanings. I like certain places for shoes unless I need sneaks or some other form of workout shoe, but I digress.

A guy at work was telling me about Land's End today. As I said earlier, I have no allegiance to a brand or store. I am pretty confident that I can find at least one item in pretty much any clothing or shoe store and make it work with whatever particular style/look I had in mind. I don't own anything from Land's End. No reason; I just don't. Most clothes and shoes have a really weak guarantee / return policy. Check out the guarantee policy from the Land's End site that this guy told me about:
The world is full of guarantees, no two alike. As a rule, the more words they contain, the more their protection is limited. The Lands' End guarantee has always been an unconditional one. It reads: "If you’re not satisfied with any item, simply return it to us at any time for an exchange or refund of its purchase price."
We mean every word of it. Whatever. Whenever. Always. But to make sure this is perfectly clear, we've decided to simplify it further.
GUARANTEED. PERIOD.®

That is just crazy! I may have to add some Land's End to my fashion options. That guarantee is just too good to pass up.