Idenify your "brand appeal"

[Chet]

OK, I've been absent from posting jibberish for a while and I have to get my fix.

Identify your "brand consciousness!"

I relate to Eddie Bauer and until they were baught by the Evil Sears, I would have said Lands End too.

Abercrombie sucks!

[el Guapo]

I actively avoid brand name/designer products. I do wear "ARMY" t-shirts though.

[Jen]

Clothing Brands?

Well my closet is a disgrace to womankind the world over. I have nothing to wear!!!

Though I love my Haflinger hemp clogs and Oobe army pants.

And I wish I had LE stock!

[Dan]

Living in Colorado, there were plenty of outlets specializing in hemp clothing. When work got to the best of me, I just smoked my pants. "Chronic pleated khakis, duuuuuuude."

My wardrobe can be described as old school prep. ("Yo yo yo, a shout out to all my homies in Shaker Heights, Grosse Point, Grosse Pointe Woods, Grosse Pointe Farms, Amherst, Orchard Park, Arapahoe County, Overland Park, Westchester County and Plaaaaaaano!") No Abercrombie and Fitch, no baseball caps with tightly curled bills. For me, it's L.L. Bean, J. Crew, Polo, Eddie Bauer, Land's End, Columbia, and Izod. Pants are either Levi's jeans or Dockers. Anything you can't see comes from Tar-shay.

[Downtown]

Yay Tar-shay! Love their stuff. Figures prominently into my wardrobe. For work I'm usually in either my Macy's Petite pantsuits (that still need hemming, damn my short stumps that pass for legs), for my leisure wardrobe, I steal from my younger sister's much cooler and hipper closet.

[Nemesis]

Dan, I am glad you mentioned my hometown in your list of snootyness. Frankly the cache just doesn/t seem to exist anymore with construction of Ryan Homes and the continued expansion of townhouses allowing some affordablilty to people that just don/t belong. These newcomers vote down sports, and complain the taxes are killing them. It must be all the talk of regionalism. Now, to find the higlighted sections in my Preppy Handbook and somehow reference them in a planning meeting tonight. Maybe we can design the roads to have ridges like wide whale cords to keep the speed down or maybe monument signs need to be pink and green, better yet lets get Laccosste to brand the tech park and pay for the rights. Hmmm.

[Tranplanner]

I admit that I am somewhat of a slave to brand names when it comes to my work outfits - Banana Republic, Hathaway, Alfred Sung, Nautica, Hilfiger. I tend to cheat though and buy at Winners, or when there is a big sale at The Bay or Eatons (now owned by Sears, blargh).

I go through phases though where I refuse to be a slave to fashion, and pop into Tip Top or some medium-low end men's shop My absolutely favourite place to buy work clothes is a small emporium in Sudbury, where the service is truly amazing.

My leisure-wear tends to hail from The Gap (yeah, yeah I know), The Bay, or smaller stores. I'm not tied to brands for casual wear.

I'm waiting for PlannerGirl to take me out shopping for some PVC-wear

[Planderella]

I'm a closet label whore!!! HEEHEE

[giff57]

Sale priced khakis and a dress shirt....who cares where from. That reminds me, the hotel in Chicago last month looked like a Dockers factory exploded....what is it about Dockers and planners anyway?

[Mastiff]

I tried to wear my "PLAN NAKED" T-shirt and nothing else, but now that I'm in Oregon, I had to get some sandals, too.

[giff57]

Mastiff wrote:
but now that I'm in Oregon, I had to get some sandals, too.

If I see you wearing socks..yes even fancy wool ones, I will not be responsible for my actions.

[Cardinal]

Yes, khakis and jeans, dress casual mst of the time. I shop Kohls. If you have been in one, you will understand why they do so well when everyone else is suffering from slow sales.

[Mastiff]

giff57 wrote:


If I see you wearing socks..yes even fancy wool ones, I will not be responsible for my actions.

Nah, not me. But what's the deal? You want to see my ugly old toes?!

[giff57]

Mastiff wrote:


Nah, not me. But what's the deal? You want to see my ugly old toes?!

No not really. I just don't see the point of wearing sandals with socks. If it's too cold for sockless, put on some shoes damn it! It just makes me want to slap some sense into them, or at least ask them....What is the point!

[Mastiff]

giff57 wrote:
No not really.

Whew...

giff57 wrote:
I just don't see the point of wearing sandals with socks. If it's too cold for sockless, put on some shoes damn it! It just makes me want to slap some sense into them, or at least ask them....What is the point!

I might put them on over socks to make a quick run to the mailbox or something, but otherwise... I agree. I actually have owned a real nice pair of Bass sandals for several years, and just wear them when I'm headed somewhere where it's appropriate. Like, say, the hot springs...

Personally, I prefer people wear SHOES in restaurants and supermarkets!

K

[Runner]

I voted Eddie Bauer but more precisely it's:

Cabela's, Target, or Academy Sporting Goods

as for home furnishings I'll admit to being partial to:

Pottery Barn

[Dan]

Runner wrote:
Pottery Barn

Uh huh. That, Crate and Barrel (no stores near Orlando - sigh) and Restoration Hardware. I wish I could do my house in their furnishings, but it's foolish to try to plunk down $1,600 on an Arts and Crafts-style desk with a planner's salary. Instead, I check out the locals, and try to find the least expensive, yet most experly crafted goods I can find. Solid wood and heirloom quality whenever possible.

I'm a bit jealous of the Canadians and Brits here. You've got Ikea outlets on every other corner. In the States, Ikea stores are as common as liberal talk shows on AM radio. Closest Ikea to me is ... Washington.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to turn to the History Channel and watch the WWII All Artillery Marathon. Look ... it's the Maginot Line! Grunt! Burp!

[PlannerGirl]

Hi Dan,

Yup IKEA is not too far from me and i got my new desk there, a nice solid white pine number with lots of room to spread out.

Lol there is a Crate and Barrel not a half a mile from my house as well, next door to Williams and Sanoma and B&N, fantastic shopping within walking distance.

Arts and crafts style is very popular in DC, but then look at when most the homes were built 1920's-1940's.

Good stuff!

Danielle

[Tranplanner]

My apartment could almost pass for an IKEA showroom...

Now that I'm a little settled though, I'm trying to find stuff built a little better than the typical IKEA stuff. My fiancee has been dragging me around (well, ordering me to drive her around) to various furniture outlets to look for stuff.

Toronto recently got it's first William-Sonoma and Pottery Barn - I haven't bought anything there yet, but I love the high-end kitchen stuff.

Crate and Barrel? Guess Canada is still a backwater

[Journeymouse]

We don't have that many IKEAs. Honest. They're just well placed, so there is now at least one in every major cityregion. I have to admit that my bookshelves are IKEA but that's it - seeing as I don't drive and I don't particularly appreciate hauling flat pack furniture across London and Guildford. Not to mention how anti-social it would be to take it on the train and the underground.

[Dan]

Journeymouse wrote:
We don't have that many IKEAs. Honest. They're just well placed, so there is now at least one in every major cityregion.

Not here. There's just 15 in the entire United States, with Los Angeles having a bunch of 'em.

Even though IKEA stores in the States are wildly popular, the company has expanded very slowly here. IKEA supposedly has to make larger versions of their products to cater to U.S. tastes (different standard mattress sizes, big houses, big rooms, big butts), and all the stores are owned by IKEA itself, not an independent operator as in most other countries. Besides, I think the number of communities willing to allow a 30,000m^2 blue box to be built in their corporate limits is shrinking.

[Chet]

Dan Tasman wrote:
There's just 15 in the entire United States, with Los Angeles having a bunch of 'em.

We do an annual pilgimage to the Chicago store. We borrow mini vans and limit to 2 occupants each so we can load 'em up. The one store will take us most of a day to get through!

[jmf]

Just got back from a 5 day trip to Greenville SC, we also went as far north as Asheville,NC and to an outlet mall in Georgia. So I have had my fill of name brands. My first Pottery Barn.....it was wonderful but I didn't buy anything if we lived there though...... I couldn't get over the strips of restaurants...olive garden, california dreamin, macaroni grill. It seemed hard to find food which wasn't "name-brand". I also couldn't get over the sprawl and style of subdivisions....has anyone there ever heard of sidewalks?

At home I buy a lot of my clothes at a place called "Frenchy's" they buy giant bales of used clothes and some clothes from places like Filene's Basement from the US and sort them into bins of skirts, pants, sweaters etc. Shirts are $2, pants/jeans $3, lots of name brands but pretty much luck of the draw. My last great find was a pair of LL Bean dress pants for $3. Who would buy full price when you can go to Frenchy's??

[Downtown]

JMF - how was greenville? And it sound like you went to the Commerce, Georgia outlets, off I-85. An aptly named little conglomeration of retail and restaurants. Astounding, eh?

[jmf]

My trip was....interesting...eye-opening. I think I needed a Greenville lover to show me the town. My husband had been there for 2 weeks on business so really existed around his hotel near the airport, I really didn't get a sense of the community.

Day 1: arrived around 1pm hit the hotel and lunch at the A??? Bread Company and then went to Travellers Rest, then Clemson and the gardens (At your suggestion) they were nice especially the natural sculptures but definitely not at their prime...a lot of construction and then to Commerce to be bombarded by brands. Back to Greenville.

Day 2: avoided downtown parade so went to Gaffney to more outlets, tried to get us off big highways to head to Asheville,NC definitely pretty countryside...saw Lake Lure and then onto Blue Ridge parkway via Little Switzerland and into Asheville, one of the best parts of the trip despite the cold. Paid way too much for a Best Western, especially considering the exchange rate Decided not to fight for a parking spot in downtown to wander around in the evening.

Day 3: All great plans went afoul but the unplanned stuff was great. Our planned half day at the Vanderbilt estate was going to cost us $34US EACH that’s over $100 Cdn, then tried to buy wine for my dad - never on a Sunday then tried to see more of parkway - damn rockfalls.....So we ended up at the NC Arboretum (sp) well worth the visit and then found Carl Sandburg home and goats...more my speed before returning to Greenville for dinner except that NOTHING was open in downtown....in NS it is sacrilegious NOT to be open on Sunday!!!! Ended up at macaroni grill, which was well beyond all my expectations! Did not go to see Poison at the Bi-Lo Centre!!!

Day 4: Saw more of Greenville itself and Main Street which was really nice, very pedestrian friendly, realized I really didn't get to see a lot of the city itself. My overall impression of what I saw was sprawl, gated communities (with or without an actual gate) and a huge city compared to my hometown of 350,000 in the metro area but I really didn’t think it was that big.

Day 5: up for early flight home via Newark, never had seen NYC before and it was a clear day so it was wonderful.

We will probably be there again next year and then perhaps for longer in a couple of years depending on work so I will hopefully get a better chance to see it.