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REALITY CHECK UPDATE:
Herb Lester and I went into the Regent St Gant Store today to check out the new arrival Yale Co-op shirts. Sure enough, there was a large round table set up in the main doorway, with all the shirts laid out in folded piles and a a number of smug looking staff, who presumably seeing a couple of ivyists thought they had a sale. I was planning to buy a couple of them. Then a sales assistant came up to me and said “these are our new yell coop range” – literally like ‘phone book chicken hut’ pronunciation. I asked her to unfold a medium for me. As she did she took great pride in pointing out the GANT modern logo hideously sewn into the too fat locker loop, like the Dad’s Terrace Wear shirts of their mainstream offering. WTF? Someone at Gant has gone to all the trouble of going through the archives and even reproducing vintage labels and swing tickets. This has presumably gone before a committee of marketing muppets who’ve said ‘Oh no! Our style bible says they MUST be branded’.Why go to all that trouble just to put some tacky modern branding on? I went downstairs and bought a really nice light flannel plaid BD from the Rugger range. No nasty branding and the young kid working down in the basement, was amazed at the original 60s Gant The Hugger I was sporting. I know we’re in 2011 and not 1966, but then it was Gant themselves that came up with all this ‘Yell Coop’ nonsense!
If they get down the sale Herb said he’d buy a couple but cut of the locker loop. I agree with that, because for £75 you could find a vintage deadstock Hugger…
Funny, but just as made that previous Gant post the other day, Fred in LA sent me a link to this post by ACL on the limited edition Gant Yale Co-op shirts they are about to release for their new New Haven Gant Campus store.
I don’t usually repost other people’s blog posts but this one seems relevant to my last one so here are couple of images from ACL’s post.
No word on whether they’ll be available outside the US, but they will supposedly be available online from the Campus store.
Read the original post on A Continuous Lean
Ok .. aside from the nasty branding, on the locker loop,
how was the roll, cloth, and construct ?
made in india /china I guess ?
Hi Coltrane, colours are nice, as per the photos. Yellow, White, blue oxford, dark blue pinpoint (style), blue/red uni stripes and a couple of tattersalls. Cloth somewhat thin, collars somewhat smaller than they should be, body length tails also.
Thing is for something portrayed as vintage reissue it’s a real gaffe to have that branding on there. For almost the same money you can get Mercer to make you a near perfect BD with your own details and fit.
Ps..
what were the fabrics, and colourways available?
cheers!
Agreed weejun. Vulgar branding where there shouldn’t be any, the curse of “reinterpretation” by “heritage” brand’s.
I was just curious, to see if gant had sourced top pima oxford’s.
mercer are great shirt’s, no question! fabric and collars are second to none. I just find the cut a tad too voluminous.
Many thanks
The cloth is OK, but nothing special. Herb found them to be a bit thin and I’d probably agree with him, but would have bought a couple without the branding.
I think it’s worth investigating whether Mercer will put slimmer body on a shirt. I’ve seen forum members say they had a size 15 ‘slim’ on a 16 collar, that kind of thing…
They sound awful on every count.
Even in the sale they’d only squeeze okishunderajumper status.
Hi Weejun, I’ve been reading your blog for the last couple of months with interest, I recently noted your commenst re the Gant Yale Co-Op shirts, Now I’m sure you keep your suppliers of vintage shirts a closed secret, but I wondered if you could offer any clues where deadstock Huggers can be tracked down,
Tks & Rgds Martin Jackson
Hi Martin, no secret that Zach DeLuca at Newton St Vintage on Etsy is a fantastic source of deadstock and good condition SH shirts, suits, and ties etc. There’s a link at the bottom of my home page. Nothing good stays for long though, and he seems to have an inexhaustable supply of Brooks Brothers deadstock but always in 15.5/3! He has had some Huggers, although I’ve never managed to get one. Another source can be Shamrockmonkey on Film Noir Buff Talk Ivy forum. Good luck!
Hey,
I agree with the new Yale shirts are not that great, however I shop at Gant for such a long time, and I think its nice to have a true heritage rathen than a made up one like all the other brands.
Bit heavy comment on the staff there mate, I always shop in that store and I think they are great.
Shirts comment agreed, staff comment was unfortunate.
Hi John, as the flag ship store I expect the staff to have some training in the history of the brand they work for. Also Gant is not the same company it was – literally. Just the name remains.
Brooks Brothers if anything is worse.
In the Regent St store recently only the manager understood the words “red and white university stripe oxford” – the other staff stand around looking like a Martian interpretation of Earth style circa 1999 Ralph Lauren commercial.