Tuesday, July 10, 2012
New Article Up
Will have the latest merchandise rundowns up tomorrow if I have time, but wanted to point out a new article that just came out from Women's Wear Daily -- the original source of the rumors a few weeks back. From the brief snippet that can be seen w/out a subscription, it appears that lenders have not been too happy w/sales figures, and that the company has hired some sort of financial adviser. We will continue to update the blog w/any additional news as it rolls in.
Friday, July 6, 2012
JCM Part 2
Not a lot of time to go over this week's finds right now, but --- please, I cannot beg you enough --> go to your nearest Daffy's now, and look for Jey Cole Man merchandise (available in NYC, Long Island, Philly, Jersey Gardens and Paramus, NJ). This is the best line from the label I have ever seen, and I can personally vouch for the quality, having just spent a good chunk of change on it. Just phenomenal stuff.
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
JCM
Friday, June 29, 2012
More Fall
Will be at work most of the weekend, so wanted to share more updates before then -- Philly just got in a selection of items from Messagerie (made in Italy) -- an array of blazers, shirts, jeans and outerwear. I put one jacket on hold for myself as it was reversible.
More outerwear came in as well from Hawke & Co. and Umberto Zebra. Nice things, mostly nylon-based.
Amongst the FB (made in Italy) items that came in earlier this week, I noticed pieces from Alessandro Gilles and Report -- these had the FB vendor code, so it is likely FB produced for those labels or made samples for them. For those wondering -- Alessandro Gilles appears quite often on Yoox, though, Report I'm unsure of -- I believe it is different from Reporter, which is made by Inghirami.
Very small selection of items from Xagon Man (made in Italy) -- it had already been mixed in w/everything else -- my guess is that it wasn't enough to warrant it's own rack.
Shoes came in from Tremp (made in Italy), sadly only a very small selection, maybe 5 or 6 pairs total, each retailing for $49.99. Insanely cheap for some quality shoes. Also about a dozen pairs of shoes from Christian Bresci (made in Italy) -- these things are a fail every year I see them, and this season is no different -- stay away from these at all costs -- square-toed hell.
More casual items came in from Benson, and some activewear from Deha. Both pretty decent things, then again, we also got in some young-men's items I'm not mentioning cause it was worthless.
But all-in-all, Fall is going quite well thus far, and while I'm still holding off from going to another Daffy's location outside of Philly, I would implore those who are w/in walking distance of a Daffy's to go take a look at a few of these things, particularly the Messagerie items, which generally wind up at 34th St. and Soho in NYC. No suits down here, just sportcoats, but if you can find a Messagerie suit, I promise you will be quite happy.
More outerwear came in as well from Hawke & Co. and Umberto Zebra. Nice things, mostly nylon-based.
Amongst the FB (made in Italy) items that came in earlier this week, I noticed pieces from Alessandro Gilles and Report -- these had the FB vendor code, so it is likely FB produced for those labels or made samples for them. For those wondering -- Alessandro Gilles appears quite often on Yoox, though, Report I'm unsure of -- I believe it is different from Reporter, which is made by Inghirami.
Very small selection of items from Xagon Man (made in Italy) -- it had already been mixed in w/everything else -- my guess is that it wasn't enough to warrant it's own rack.
Shoes came in from Tremp (made in Italy), sadly only a very small selection, maybe 5 or 6 pairs total, each retailing for $49.99. Insanely cheap for some quality shoes. Also about a dozen pairs of shoes from Christian Bresci (made in Italy) -- these things are a fail every year I see them, and this season is no different -- stay away from these at all costs -- square-toed hell.
More casual items came in from Benson, and some activewear from Deha. Both pretty decent things, then again, we also got in some young-men's items I'm not mentioning cause it was worthless.
But all-in-all, Fall is going quite well thus far, and while I'm still holding off from going to another Daffy's location outside of Philly, I would implore those who are w/in walking distance of a Daffy's to go take a look at a few of these things, particularly the Messagerie items, which generally wind up at 34th St. and Soho in NYC. No suits down here, just sportcoats, but if you can find a Messagerie suit, I promise you will be quite happy.
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
If Something is Going On...
If something is going on in corporate at the moment, you wouldn't notice it in-store. A much larger selection of Fall merchandise just came in this week -- suits from Terzo Uomo (made in Italy) -- nicely fitted, solid colors and actually in wool, which is a change for this brand that usually produces in man-made fabrics; lots of bits and pieces from FB (made in Italy) -- and for once I am actually impressed by the selection -- the stuff is on-trend and while maybe not made the best it is certainly worth what they are asking; and a selection of merchandise from Umberto Zebra (made in Italy) -- and again, I have nothing negative to say about it -- usually Zebra items are over-fitted and have gaudy designs, but these were pretty nice.
And finally, some nice lace-up shoes from Yellowside (made in Italy) -- first time I've seen/heard of these things, but they look pretty good. I mean these aren't Santoni's but they are much better than the Leone items that came in last week, and 90% of the American brands that come in the door.
It's strange, though, all this chatter about financial troubles, and not one indication of a slow-down in merchandise in the stores - plus the clerks/managers seemed to know nothing about what was going on. So either corporate is keeping tight-lipped, understandably so, or the situation may be a bit overblown. Time will tell.
It's strange, though, all this chatter about financial troubles, and not one indication of a slow-down in merchandise in the stores - plus the clerks/managers seemed to know nothing about what was going on. So either corporate is keeping tight-lipped, understandably so, or the situation may be a bit overblown. Time will tell.
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Weekend Update
Well, seeing that article yesterday didn't help things after what I witnessed in store this week. For whatever reason, the buyers have decided to release significant portions of kids' and women's Fall merchandise, but the men apparently don't deserve that. I was told by the folks down here in Philly that the Fall men's items won't really be coming out until after inventory, which occurs down here on July 8th (2 weeks away).
We did get some activewear from Meeting, which is always nice stuff, but is not anything I was hoping for. Shoes came in under a brand called Leone w/some marked Super Leone. The boxes and shoes are stamped made in Italy, but the jury is out on these things -- they're certainly not anything special, but I have seen much worse at Daffy's; it's just something about the construction that makes them seem cheap to me. For the $69.99 they're asking you can do a lot better. The only other thing which I saw was a bunch of luggage from Tommy Hilfiger.
That is it. I'm in quite the sad mood given the recent news, though, it wasn't fully unexpected. Among other things, the merchandise has lost any consistency in quality and expansion happened too quickly into locations that either did not need a store like Daffy's or were already over-saturated with Daffy's locations. Hoping the chain can weather whatever troubles it might be in right now, and come out for the better after all the dust has cleared.
We did get some activewear from Meeting, which is always nice stuff, but is not anything I was hoping for. Shoes came in under a brand called Leone w/some marked Super Leone. The boxes and shoes are stamped made in Italy, but the jury is out on these things -- they're certainly not anything special, but I have seen much worse at Daffy's; it's just something about the construction that makes them seem cheap to me. For the $69.99 they're asking you can do a lot better. The only other thing which I saw was a bunch of luggage from Tommy Hilfiger.
That is it. I'm in quite the sad mood given the recent news, though, it wasn't fully unexpected. Among other things, the merchandise has lost any consistency in quality and expansion happened too quickly into locations that either did not need a store like Daffy's or were already over-saturated with Daffy's locations. Hoping the chain can weather whatever troubles it might be in right now, and come out for the better after all the dust has cleared.
Friday, June 22, 2012
Ouch
From Crain's -- "Daffy's not paying its bills - The discount clothing retailer, which has 19
stores, including eight Manhattan locations, is in financial trouble and
may close underperforming shops, sources say."
http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20120622/RETAIL_APPAREL/120629947
There are several inaccuracies in this article (particularly the statement, "The retailer's products are often priced too high, not offering the same value the post-recession consumer has come to expect"), but I do believe we will see some store closures in the near future. G-d willing the company will be able to restructure a bit and cut some costs.
http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20120622/RETAIL_APPAREL/120629947
There are several inaccuracies in this article (particularly the statement, "The retailer's products are often priced too high, not offering the same value the post-recession consumer has come to expect"), but I do believe we will see some store closures in the near future. G-d willing the company will be able to restructure a bit and cut some costs.
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