It's. Just. Pants.

George Orr wrote:

Where the hell is that?  It looks like a Dress Barn or a Fashion Bug or something.  I do not see anything racked that I would be caught dead in and I do not understand what is going on.

This was in Toulouse, France.  It was the grand opening of a Swedish chain store outlet that sells limited edition designer clothing.  The crowd completely trashed the store within minutes of opening.

Last edited by fnord (2010-03-12 03:33:11)

I remember talking to a friend of a friend at a party several years ago. He was a salesman for many years at Brooks Bros. here in New York. He said one of the first things he was told when he first began working there was that if a man came in with a woman, to not waste time talking to the man, but instead talk almost exclusively to the woman he's with. According to him, that was advice that always proved right because it's a certainty that the woman with the male customer is the one who's going to be making all the buying decisions. He claimed that the type of men who end up having the woman in their lives come shopping with them for clothing are either pretty clueless about how to put a wardrobe for themselves together, or are ridiculously tight-fisted, and most often both. And nearly always, as the man is trying something on and is out of earshot, the woman will confide that she insisted on this shopping trip because she's sick and tired of the guy she's with looking like a slob. His estimate was that easily more than one third of the customers he assisted during a typical week were men who'd been brought into the store at the insistence of a wife or girlfriend.

George Orr wrote:

Husband™ does his own clothes shopping.  He is no Beau Brummel but he's always presentable and, IMO, makes good choices for himself.

He is the only straight man I have ever met, including my own father, who is able to do this unassisted.

It's not that rare in major cities, but then again, there seems to be a general decline in the cult of the cloth.

Aude wrote:

...of the roughly two thirds of the unaccompanied males that came into Brooks Bros., at least half were gay.

I am not very good at math; but I think you are worse.

George Orr wrote:

Aude wrote:

...of the roughly two thirds of the unaccompanied males that came into Brooks Bros., at least half were gay.

I am not very good at math; but I think you are worse.

This discussion is starting to sound like the "Sex Panther" bit in "Anchorman."

Ron Burgundy: Brian, I'm gonna be honest with you, that smells like pure gasoline.

Brian Fantana: They've done studies, you know. 60% of the time it works, every time.
[cheesy grin]

Ron Burgundy: That doesn't make sense.

I always figure the safest approach is to garb yourself like the locals. So I do most of my clothes shopping at the local thrift store. Near one of my abodes is a thrift store that is nearly completely stocked with clothes so new they often have the wrappers on.

The hospital auxiliary ladies there receive so many donations they actually beg you to take shopping bags home. The back log is so great they have no way to store the warehouse full of incoming castoffs.  They have good taste to and have advised me well. Average price is a dollar. One day they handed me 6 new  hand made italian shirts that cost $600 new.  By the end of the summer I had 4 Patagonia jackets that cost me all of 12 dollars. Rich people throw away the darndest things.

As an experiment I threw a few of these name brand dollar items in with the clothes from an estate I was helping liquidate by selling at consignment in New York and Boston. They brought in a 10,000% profit. I was tempted to keep the mullah but figured the small town hospital thrift deserved it all. Nice ladies there even with the missing business sense.

One man gathers what another man spills.

I fully accept our gay brethren into the fold of all Humanity!  I agree absolutely, except for my fold.  Not that they need my vote.

Johnny_Rotten wrote:

I always figure the safest approach is to garb yourself like the locals. So I do most of my clothes shopping at the local thrift store. Near one of my abodes is a thrift store that is nearly completely stocked with clothes so new they often have the wrappers on.

Bollocks. They hid their inventory the day before I arrived, right?

Johnny_Rotten wrote:

choad wrote:

Johnny_Rotten wrote:

I always figure the safest approach is to garb yourself like the locals. So I do most of my clothes shopping at the local thrift store. Near one of my abodes is a thrift store that is nearly completely stocked with clothes so new they often have the wrappers on.

Bollocks. They hid their inventory the day before I arrived, right?

You gotta come on a day that isn't the last one at the end of the season!  I think they were  a bit burnt out from a summers worth of bargain basement yuppie scum.

Opening day is in May Mark your calender.

So this time I arrive on a day I know Mr Rotten is indisposed in Rhode Island (~ think the gulf is a cesspool? ~) and I tell the kind lady minding the store Johnny sent me to pick up all the priceless Egyptian cotton she's squirreled aside for him.

And I got thrown out! They break for lunch at the stroke of noon, exactly when I arrived. Nice place, though. Sorry, JR, my better half and I cleaned them out. Pendleton shirts, in the wrapper, $9. Wretched excess central. They'll get more.

Dmtdust wrote:

Pendelton Shirts: Good Will Portland.  2.50USD

Portland rocks.  Fly the Flannel.

Heh. Yes that Good Will is quite the amazing place. My west coast collection stems primarily from there.

No worries there Choad, They get so much stock from the profligate they can barely find a place to store it all. Next week could be the Italian tailored shirts $2, or Patagonia mountain jackets $6, you never know. But damn are those ladies serious about their lunch breaks.