Quick Recap

Quick recap of the last week - Patrizia Pepe (made in Italy) made its appearance for the season. Some really nice stuff from what we got here in Philly, though a very limited selection. A number of shirts, pants and sweaters, plus two leather jackets -- one of which I purchased for myself, the other being slightly out of my price-range, but it was this amazing black shearling jacket (pictures to come). I believe other stores, esp. in NYC, likely got a much wider selection or at least a larger volume of merchandise, as I did not even see a singular wool coat, which was quite surprising, and all of two blazers - one of which, the arm and inner lining were completely in shambles (NOTE TO DAFFY'S: Do us a favor, and check your merchandise before it goes out to stores -- this one was NOT marked 'AS IS' and was worth maybe half what you were asking in its current state)

Lots of merchandise from Seven For All Mankind including a lot of leather jackets and wool coats. Some really great prices on all the stuff -- coats at $99.99, and the leathers at $199.99. Much better priced than the jeans that came in last season, though, this stuff is clearly a few seasons old, so your paying less for something which is slightly out of style.

Samples from Ross Graison -- apparently he's a designer local to the NYC area, but I can't find much about him. The stuff was interesting to say the least, but it's a very particular sense of style, of which I'm not really a fan. Decently made, but really a personal-taste kind of thing - you either love it or hate it.

Also, some pretty awful suits from a label called Cigliano. These things are made in China, and pretty bad; At $99.99, they could be going for about half that and I don't think people would be buying them.

More interesting bits and pieces -- blazers from Karl Momoo (made in Italy), Kuhlman (made in Italy), and a few random pieces from Censured (Space 2000 SpA, also makes Bomb Boogie), Ibiza and Sottotono (made in Italy) -- stay away from these last two if you see them

Thought to ponder --- Now, here's what's interesting about all this stuff -- normally you don't really see most of this merchandise until much later in the season, especially Patrizia Pepe. And it's quite unusual that everything has really been dumped into stores at once. Two theories which come to mind, perhaps one of which is correct, or a combination of both:
1. The new CEO/buyers are essentially getting rid of whatever merchandise that was purchased by the previous buyer for this season, up-front, thus making more room for their purchases a bit later on in the season.
2. Someone has wised up and decided that rather than let this stuff sit in the warehouse, it's put out into stores immediately, allowing for quicker turnover.

Patrizia Pepe is in Stores Now

Per the Daffy's Facebook Page, "JUST ARRIVED in stores: PATRIZIA PEPE for MEN! Go now!" -- should be some great stuff, but if it just came in this week, expect most stores not to have put everything out yet.

Just a Thought...

More updates will be coming this weekend as I browse the Philly store. But just something which bugged me - several months ago, I added a post called "Sizing Up the Competition and Playing Daffy's Buyer," where, among other things, I listed out several brands I would love to see at Daffy's that no one else, other than perhaps Yoox, was carrying in the closeout market. It so happens that that post is the most trafficked one on the blog to date, and the reason being that I reference the logo of a brand called All Saints, a British-based company that recently opened up shop in the U.S.

Now it appears that the first closeout company to get their merchandise in is, of all places, Hautelook.com. I'm not surprised persay, I just wish that maybe someone at Daffy's corporate could have read that post and been like - hey, this kid is onto something here and he knows his stuff, maybe we should drop him a line or maybe we should take his suggestions...but no; merchandise that I know would sell like hotcakes at Daffy's is being sold at twice the price it would otherwise sell at on Hautelook.

Perhaps this is just me complaining that the best that the folks at Daffy's corporate have done with my constructive criticism is to link-back to my blog. But I was hoping someone, somewhere would take this stuff all to heart. On one hand, I created the blog b/c I was getting bored at my old job, and was hoping maybe this could get me noticed in an area in which I had no professional experience. On the other hand, I was truly frustrated with the drop-off in quality of merchandise that Daffy's was getting in over the last year or so, and desperately wanted to help improve the merchandise and bring awareness to the awesome stuff which they did have.

But it often seems pointless if everything falls on deaf ears. A lot needs to be done aside from just improving the merchandise, which I'm told is on its way --- the rumors going around the staff are that they will be bringing in merchandise from Ralph Lauren. But honestly, no one has ever shopped at Daffy's for chinese-made American brands. We can get plenty of Polo merchandise at TJMaxx/Marshalls, and on uber-clearance at Macy's, Bloomingdales and Lord & Taylor.

Daffy's has always been known for high-quality, albeit, often unknown, Italian merchandise. Daffy's should stay true to those roots, but instead seems to be diverging in a different path under the new leadership. If there's one thing I've learned about this company, it's that they don't listen to the advice that's in front of them. Customers, not just myself, make all sorts of helpful comments, and store employees are full of great ideas - but not one person higher-up seems to care. I've spoken with lots of Daffy's employees, and while most are clueless about the quality of merchandise in the stores and the brands at Daffy's, it is the one or two employees that really go out of their way to educate themselves that are truly the best resources Daffy's has, yet they are paid no attention.

Apologies if I'm rambling on...just needed to get out some frustrations. Lots more where that came from, but at least this was a start. Perhaps this weekend or sometime in the near future I will write a short series of posts entitled, "Room for Improvement."

Huge List of Updates...Including Some High-End Items

Huge list of updates, including a breakdown of what's available in each of the NYC stores (except Wall St.); have to make this as quick as possible, but be sure to look at the end of the post for the best part of it all (some really high-end items, exclusive to a few locations):

Merchandise that almost all the stores have gotten in w/in the past week:
Various items from Eugenio Sorentino (made in Italy) -- sweaters, pants, shirts and coats; this stuff is decent, but nothing special; designed better than say, Kemitch & FB, but the quality isn't much better. I'd personally stay away, but it may appeal to some of you.

Shirts from Poggianti (made in Italy) -- new to Daffy's for Fall, all at $29.99. Some of these shirts were much nicer than others, kind of hit or miss; but definitely a step up from Asso di Cuori and Roberta Galifa. I'd suggest trying this stuff on before you buy it. Not as good as Mastai Ferretti, but still a good option if you find something worthwhile.

Various items from Futuro/Asfalto/Bocodo (made in Italy) -- all from NCM SRL. This stuff is on the upper end of what Daffy's gets in. Not as much as last Spring, but still a nice, small selection in each store. Blazers are probably the best from what came in, but you'll also find outerwear, shirts and possibly some pants.

Suits and outerwear from Kemitch/Sartoria Corsini/Enyile/Cortellini (made in Italy) -- This stuff is pretty awful. Stay away, unless you need something cheap.

Various items from Wembley Road (made in Italy) -- Again, cheaply made, poorly designed. Your best bet is to stay away from this stuff.

Shirts from Robert Friedman (made in Italy)  -- I saw literally one of these shirts in the Philadelphia store. It's unlikely you'll see any at all, but thought I'd mention it just in case something popped up. These are great shirts, on par w/the best of what Daffy's carries. Unfortunately, the parent company, Fabry's SRL went bankrupt, which is why there's been little-to-no RF merchandise in the store the past season or two.

Store Specific Items:

P. Luca Milano (made in Italy) -- Some decent Italian-made knits, available in Philly and 57th St. West Side

Shoes from Boemos (made in Italy) - one of the best shoe brands that Daffy's carries; they make the main and co-op lines of shoes at Barney's. I saw literally one pair of wool-lined mocassins at the 34th St. store from the current season, marked as a Sample. I sincerely hope that's not all we're getting from Boemos.

John Barrit (made in Italy) -- nothing major from this brand, only a very small selection of heavy knits at 34th St.

Messagerie/Bryan Husky (made in Italy) -- For those of you that have never seen this stuff, take the time to look at it; truly awesome. Suits are only available at 34th St. and Soho. However, every store I visited in Manhattan has a decent selection of outerwear, blazers, shirts, vests (some really nice vests, though couldn't find matching blazers) and pants. Be careful about some of the blazers/suits, however --- the sizing is off on a lot of them for some reason; as in, something normally marked 46 should be a 36, but fits more like the American version of 46 rather than the European version. So try everything on -- and to the folks at Daffy's --- perhaps you should look at your merchandise before putting the wrong size tags on it, b/c your salespeople for sure don't seem to notice any sizing issues -- case in point - size 36 jacket matched to a size 44 pant in a suit, both tagged size 36 on the Daffy's tag, however. I would have bought the darn thing if it actually had been matched properly... -- BUT -- the best part about Messagerie this Fall is the outerwear - my favorite piece was this awesome leather shearling in 57th West Side for $360, sadly one size too big for me, but for those of you in a size 38 I would run over to see if it's still there.

Belvedere (made in Italy) -- Apparently Belvedere makes exotic leather shoes. I've never heard of them, but they're very interesting to say the least. Available in, among other things, regular leather, Stingray (yes, the fish), and Crocodile (I believe these were close to $500 in Philly). They are available in Philly and 34th St., though probably more stores will get them as well. Philly only received them in a size 8.

Jey Coleman (made in Italy) -- More outerwear came in this week. To be aware of -- JCM merchandise is only available in 34th St., Soho, and both 57th St. stores (as well as Elizabeth, NJ, Philly, Jersey Gardens & Paramus). There is no JCM merchandise in 18th St. or 44th & Madison.

Sartoriani suits (made in England) -- These came in last Spring and are back. I only noticed maybe two or three of them, but they're again only at 57th St., East Side. Remember, these are left-overs of made-to-measure suits that never got picked up, so they are NOT standard-sized.

Petronius (made in Italy) ties -- Wool ties from Petronius available only at the 57th St., East Side store. The tags indicated these came from Tyrone's, which is very early on in the season, but they're out. No other store has gotten any Tyrone's merchandise that I'm aware of.

Les Copains (made in Italy) -- Very (read 3 or four pieces) small selection of knits at the 57th East Side store.

And for those of you that couldn't wait for this --- a very limited selection of high-end merchandise (from actually known labels) is available at three stores -- 44th & Madison, and both 57th St. stores. The Madison store got the best selection (it's on a rack right next to the suits and belts) - a couple blazers from Brunello Cuccinelli ($699), items from Rag & Bone, APC, Woolrich and shoes from Duckie Brown (see pics) and one pair of Rag & Bone chukkas. 57th East side got a smaller selection, mainly shirts from Gitman Brothers, Woolrich and Levis (all American made). 57th West Side only received a few coats from Woolrich. The prices on these thing are much steeper than the normal merchandise as they're retail closeouts rather than direct from manufacturer. For those that care, a bit of sleuthing has turned up that these are likely from a store out on Long Island called Hirshleifer's.

New Daffy's Record

New personal record --- 6 Daffy's in a span of less than 8 hours. I visited every Daffy's in Manhattan except for Wall St. (which doesn't really count anyway since the merchandise there is usually pretty bad).

Will be updating as soon as I find time to write down all my thoughts, including some insight as to what's going to be coming to the stores in the near future under the new regime (new CEO + new buyers).

Updates Coming Soon

Made a stop in Philly today, a lot of interesting goodies which came in -- some good, some bad, some awful; but, one of the employees told me they have a bunch of "Stingray" shoes in the basement which haven't been put out yet. I believe 'Stingray' is a type of shoe and not a brand, but there may be something there I know nothing about...

Anyway, a full list of new merchandise will be coming this weekend. As well, I will be visiting the NYC stores and will provide an update on the main outposts (Soho, 34th & 57th East Side).

And for Good Measure...

Just wanted to share w/those of you unfamiliar with Mastai Ferretti (made in Italy) some of the incredible work that they do. Mastai Ferretti is under the same corporate umbrella as a more well-known brand called Truzzi -- Saitt SpA. Saitt makes all of the shirts that are currently in Daffy's stores right now for Fall, including some under the Mastai Ferretti label. These shirts sell for well over $100 a piece at retail boutiques across Europe and the U.S., and sell for more than 2-3x's the Daffy's price on Yoox.com. Will be interesting to see if we get pants from them in the future (based on the video).