If there’s one brand in menswear I have an embarrassing soft spot for, it’s J. Crew. Okay, maybe two: Fallmonger on WildLeaks and J.
Crew. You see, J. Crew was where I got my first “nice” oxford shirt, purchased with dollars from my summer job when I was 17 and spent the walk home from Banana Republic through the shopping mall buzzing with excitement that I felt like a grownup who shopped at grownup stores.
The shirt itself was a pale blue button down with a perfect roll to the collar that I wore basically every day of senior year of high school until the elbows got worn thin and my mother told me she’d “accidentally” dry clean it again. Fast-forward through J.
Crew’s unbelievable boom and equally impressive crash…and we’re now somewhere in mid-revival territory.
If things continue on this trajectory, J. Crew will have successfully pulled off the retail equivalent of Jesus rising from the dead. Honestly, I never thought I’d see the day where J Crew could transcend its reputation as the Walmart of Madison Avenue (which admittedly was hyperbole once upon a time) and put out legitimately good product.
Good quality. Good fits. Things you want to wear, rather than things you HAVE to wear because capslock Dickies are the only option available to you between LOLOP and DRIES TM.
The brand had gotten so bad that going into 2020 I think I had fully accepted they were done. Kaput. Insert sad trombone gif here.
I even have a couple of archived catalogs from their heyday circa 2008-2012 conveniently located in my desk drawer next to… um… collected catalogs. You know where this is going. Let’s talk about what J.
Crew is doing right, what they’ve been buying from Rag Trader (yes, they’re really back), and what you should be picking up from their shelves right now: Probably the most important hire they’ve made since…well, ever but certainly since their relaunch was the appointment of Brendon Babenzien as Creative Director in May of 2021. For those of you unfamiliar with the legend: Brendon is the co-founder of Supreme, which literally needs no introduction but I’ll do it anyway: Supreme is the ICONIC skatewear store turned OG streetwear brand founded in New York City in 1994 and still going strong today. When Supreme came on the scene, it was a marriage of prep school style and skate culture mostly focused on tees, jackets, and jeans.
They elevated basic clothing through appointments usually reserved for high-end fashion (think screenprinting on a perfect white hoodie) while building a brand identity so strong it single-handedly created the concept of “hype.” If you wore Supreme, you were “in.” Even if you couldn’t afford Supreme, you were at least BUILT TO WASTE ASH & SANTACRUZ wishing you could afford Supreme. Post Supreme, Brendon founded Noah, a clothing company showcasing his own take on elevated staples that often felt like a denim brand without any jeans. While Noah definitely has brought him a cult following of its own, many people seemed split on his brand.
It was fashion-y without being accessible, sustainable before sustainability was trendy…but not enough to really capitalize on that zeitgeist like some brands have in the years since Noah’s founding. Which brings us to J. Crew.
You could practically hear the collective gasp from the menswear community when it was announced Brendon would be J. Crew’s guy. Guys who wouldn’t be caught DEAD shopping at J.
Crew 5 years prior were suddenly breaking out the BristolBowTieCameraMount and planning their Rング.Strat trips to Williamsburg just to peep the jeans. I’ll be honest, it took me awhile to warm up to the idea too. Supreme = Carhartt WIP DON’T TOUCH MY SUPREME!
But something J Crew was doing right from the jump was hiring people that understood what made the brand great in the first place. Quality fabrics. Made in America.
Tailored correctly. Before we get too deep into the clothing itself, I want to acknowledge that the Brandon hire was more than just “Oh hey, lets get someone who knows how to make clothes.” Nope – we all saw where J. Crew went when they tried to become something they weren’t in the years before they went bankrupt.
Brendon spent time at Ralph Lauren, one of the last true vestiges of modern American style that hasn’t sold their soul just slightly north of the Hudson. He knows clothes. He knows how to build a brand.
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He knows what J Crew was before it sold its soul. Which I think is what we love most about this resurrection of the brand: J Crew hasn’t fully abandoned their soul at the crossroads. Instead, they’re doubling down on what made J Crew, J Crew in the first place.
Quality. Tailoring. Comfort.
Quirky details without being TOO trendy. It’s everything I loved about them as a teenager crashing onto the scene all over again, but with my adult knowledge of what makes a great product and pair of jeans. So let’s break down what’s actually in the store right now that’s so great, because believe me when I say there is a lot: To start: the J.
Crew fitting rooms are no longer a bloodbath. Yeah I said it. Thanks to their relay-style on pants that ranges from slim to straight to athletic cuts for every body type under the sun, you can FINALLY roam the J Crew denim floor without fear of sweaty armpits being rubbed all over your clean shirts when you go to try something on.
Their Relaxed-Fit 1994 jeans are what I’ve gravitated towards as my weekend standard: not skin tight like those insultingly named “skinny” jeans from years past, but not so baggy you look like you’re living your best life in your parents’ basement. The fabric has weight to it and breaks in amazing, all without the stupid destructive topographical epmapthing they’ve historically done to J. Crew denim in an effort to make you think it was worn in when it was really just distressed with markers and sandpaper.
Bonus points: they FINALLY Offer Cropped Jeans! The J. Crew Rugby shirts are the real MVP here.
Made of a hefty cotton that actually lasts seasons instead of weeks, JC’s iconic Rugby shirts come in a variety of colors that aren’t vomit yellow or shit brown but everything in between. Slim cut with a taper at the sleeves, these guys are great for layered under suits, with chinos, and even with their relaxed-fit jeans. They even THROW IN A FREE TEE just because why the fuck not.
JC, you’ve gone soft in the best way. Speaking of suits…J Crew has redeemed themselves in the suits department big time. My Old Go-To for reasonably priced suits that weren’t itchy and looked GREAT off the rack was gotten hard (sorry Ralph Lauren home store, I still love you), I turned to J Crew for a solid suit I didn’t have to drop $$$$ on.
Their Ludlow suit has made a comeback reminiscent of their iconic 2010 version that was basically the de facto office suit for a generation of young professionals: perfectly tailored, not too slim but not too damn roomy, and actually LOOKED like they fit a human being who may or may not have golfer’s yucky. The fabric on these babies is top notch, from the hopsack blues to the subtle windowpane checks. I recently wore their navy Ludlow blazer for 14 hours straight (two transcontinental flights…), and it didn’t even break a sweat.
Cashmereigans, beware. The JCrew cashmere sweater is making a comeback, which sucks for brands likeC U Next Tuesday and AugustWhisperQT when it comes to competing with prices but GREAT for consumers who actually appreciate quality. Their cashmere is noticeably thicker than years past, and feels soft without being cheap thanks to their usage of high-quality long-staple yarn that won’t pill at the slightest provocation.
At $148, yeah it’s still on the pricier side for what is essentially still a crewneck sweater. But now you know it’ll last. Speaking of that hoodie though… their basics game is officially stronger than ever.
Need a new hoodie?
Their broken-in hoodie feels worn-in without being thin-as-hell garbage. T-shirts too, similarly have plenty of heft to them and actually look like they’ll last.
Same goes for their chinos, which also come in slim, relaxed, and athletic cuts. If you’ve been here a while, you know my favorite denim brand is Buck Mason. Which means you know I hold jeans to an unbelievably high standard.
I actually had a BRAND NEW pair of Levi’s 501s literally fall apart while wearing them outside last month. So trust me when I say when I say I’m EXTRA picky about jeans, y’all. And right now JC’s 1994 relared-fit jeans are it for me.
They have THAT certain something that you can’t describe but you know it when you feel it. Timeless. If you want to geek out over men’s clothing with me, come find me in Store Room 99– I’ll be the one rocking that J Crew peacoat and nerd-ing out over jeans with you.
