Merchandise Recap

Forgetting the financial troubles of the company for a minute, I wanted to share the merchandise recap from the prior week. Huge amount of stuff across the chain -- visited 11 stores in total last weekend (4 in NJ, 7 in Manhattan - all except Wall St.).

Of course, the big get of the week was Jey Cole Man (made in Italy) merchandise. The stuff was simply awesome this season. If you have not already gotten your hands on some of this stuff, I implore you to do so. It will be gone fast - see prior post for locations.


Also of note were the Tyrone's items that came in to 18th St. and 57th West side. Blazers from Belvest, Montedoro, Corneliani, Zegna and a few tuxes from Pal Zileri and Viktor & Rolf Monseiur (these last two only at 57th). All these items were large sizes, 40 and up, and the Viktor & Rolf items were kind of hideous - let's just say they were 80's inspired. The 57th St. store also got in some shirts from Corneliani and Lorenzini - small selections, started in size 16.

Shirts came in in large batches -- the biggest from Inghirami (made in Italy) - I may have understaded how nice these things were a few months ago when the Spring batch came in. Nicely made and fitted, and almost all have small collars which are perfect for those of you going for the skinny tie look. And the only company I've seen thus far producing a button-down club collar in a dress shirt. Most stores also got in large assortments of Alea (made in Italy) including Rosso Malaspino. However, some stores were slow in putting out that merchandise, and 34th St. kept all the Alea items in their plastics and shoved them onto a storage shelf in the middle of the floor -- this is one of the reasons they have such a hard time selling shirts. Also of note - bits and pieces from Sait (made in Italy) incl. Mastai Ferretti and A. Basile were sprinkled in the mix - my guess is we will see more in the coming weeks if the company can survive that long.

A small selection of Daniele Fiesoli knits were available in Elizabeth 1/9 and Secaucus. My guess is that more stores will get larger selections soon.

Leathers came into most stores from Compagnia Delli Pelle (made in Italy) -- again, if you have never experienced this stuff, get your tuchus to Daffy's now. These leathers are simply some of the best you will ever find, bar none. And most are priced below $200. Labels include the ever-popular Alfie Bobo  and what appears to be its diffusion line, alfie (an interesting, what I would call 'Elmo' jacket from the alfie line appears to the upper left - not so much leather as it is a textile marvel), GF Ferre and others. 34th St. also had leathers in from a company called Lenny Turk - interesting multi-colored jackets, seen to the right.

Shoes, shoes and more shoes -- lots of boots came in this week -- Timberland winter boots came in in droves -- Secaucus had a pair from Timberland Boot Co., so it may be worth taking a look around for those.  Each store got a great selection of shoes from Ernest Hemingway - never heard of the brand, but apparently the name is licensed out to various companies for an array of products. That said, they are quite good looking shoes and are well constructed -- they are made in El Salvador.  Casual items from Diesel came in, and each store got a small selection from the Black and Gold line (one pair pictured).  And, stuff we didn't need, boots from Robert Wayne. Nothing special there, but not awful.

Culturata (made in Italy) made a renewed appearance -- shirts were available in the Paramus, NJ store, and cashmere knits were available in the 57th & Lex location for $49.99 a piece. Beautiful garments and well worth what they are asking (C21 carried Culturata knits last Fall and asked nearly twice the price).

Blazers from Copen Group (made in Italy) were available in 34th St., and 18th St., but I believe they were all leftovers from last season. Not a huge selection.

Patrizia Pepe made its first appearance of the season at the 18th St. store -- a small rack of maybe 15 items, and two pairs of cowboy boots were sitting on the shoe racks.

And finally, small selections of Eugenio Sorentino, Ores Quinto and Sottotono made it into a few stores.  Sorentino isn't awful, but the other two are just utterly worthless.