Consumer demand is willingness and ability to pay. Look at any statistics on income distribution in this country and you will realize that virtually any news story that discusses changes in consumer demand is by necessity talking almost exclusively about the top 10% of the population. Stories about gasoline and basic foodstuffs are the exceptions. The report doesn't mention this because the reporter most likely doesn't really understand it.
I remember the Banana Republic coming to the nearby mall when I was quite young; it was all PITH HELMETS and PALM TREES and A BISECTED JEEP. Does anyone remember this? It was like the J. Peterman catalog meets Indiana Jones.
I can't refer to the store without thinking how utterly insane it is that there is a store named Banana Republic
You remember that it used to sell sort of mock-safari-surplus gear? Sort of like the J.Peterman catalog, appealing to some kind of odd 1930's colonial tropics fantasy. The stores used to be decorated to match, with faux-packing crates with third-world placenames on them and a vague odor of elephant dung. The big store on 59th and Lex in NYC had a giant fake banyan tree holding up the entrance.
I was completely freaked out in 1995 when I returned from the Peace Corps and walked by that Banana Republic and the tree was gone and it was full of tasteful black and grey career-wear.
They went into great detail about how people are willing to spend a lot of money on a single pair of jeans, in order to "look like one in a million, instead of one of a million!" This recession is just so dang boring!
I do vaguely remember that, now that you mention it. Linen suits and the like. I'd forgotten.
Are you folks conflating Panama Jack and Banana Republic? Or are they related in a way I hadn't realized?
I mean, aside from Panama being a totally made up country that the US created for canal-based reasons.
Made up like the number twenty-eleven.
Twenty-eleven used to be a remote province of Colombia? Weird.
Originally Banana Republic sold actual surplus gear, and then I think copies of the surplus they'd run out of. I assume the corporate high-casual is exactly the current version of colonial mufti.
In high school, I thought it was really neat. And the J. Peterman catalog too!
I have forgiven myself for it because if I start listing things wrong with my judgment back then, I'm never going to get down to bad taste in faux-nostalgic marketing.
Even though it's explainable, it is still a bit surreal that the name Banana Republic belongs to a very popular, tastefully conservative clothing store.
I remember that too; they were supposed to be about travel wear, and they also had a Petermanesque catalog. "Banana Republic" was about as suitable for upscale rebranding as "Radio Shack", but they pulled it off better.
Also, NPR sucks.
A man, a province, ecnivo Panama!
It is odd -- I figure the name must come across as meaningless noise these days, mostly.
PITH HELMETS and PALM TREES and A BISECTED JEEP.
Not to mention American Marines propping up a two-bit martinet.
17: Even odder, I'd guess for most people these days the words signify "upscale Gap" more than "tropical puppet regime".
19: Owned by the Gap since 1983 (I did not realize that had happened so early on). And it pre-dated J. Peterman which came into being in the late '80s. This catalog is from near the end of its run as a travel clothing place.
20: I was surprised to see that it was that early, too, but I remember that they both had a major makeover around 1990 or so. The Gap's design was similarly awkward and dated, but in a different, echt-70s-aesthetic way.
It bothers me that I like a lot of Banana Republic clothes; they tend to fit me better than anything else in the Gap family. (Do not get me started on the time I ordered 6 basic shirts from Old Navy. Despite all being putatively labeled as "mediums," every single one was a different size, from so tight as to be unwearable to so large I could fit another me in.)
What is the difference between the stores now? only banana sells suits?
More corporate styling, more expensive construction/materials in the clothes.
Nothing wrong with liking BR clothes -- they're perfectly pleasant neutral casual/professional stuff. They're a bit pricey for me, but I'm cheap about clothes and kind of slovenly.
they tend to fit me better than anything else in the Gap family
Me too (when I used to buy new clothes, at least), as opposed to J. Crew, whose clothes appear to be cut for people who look exactly like their catalog models.
They're a bit pricey for me
The rule here is: never ever pay full price. They will always have 30% or more sales; combine that with things that are on 'normal' sale and you can end up with much better prices.
I don't even own a TV wear clothing.
|| Some may well have posted this in comments on other threads, I haven't read everything carefully (sorry!) but this graph struck me as a nice visual representation of a fairly well-understood fact about the government shutdown debate/mess: http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2011/04/08/135236360/the-shutdown-and-the-deficit?ft=1&f=93559255
Some days I can't shut up about Austin.
There was a place in Austin for a while called Coffee Plantation. No, there really was.
29: Is coffee grown on plantations, or are they called orchards or something?
24: It is all about the clearance rack.
And before it promoted kiddie porn, A&F was a kind of upscale Eddie Bauer.
28: It's worse, because they aren't even debating budget cuts now. The argument is all about unrelated policy riders like whether the EPA should be allowed to regulate greenhouse gases.
The argument is all about unrelated policy riders like whether the EPA should be allowed to regulate greenhouse gases
On that particular issue, I'm pretty sure Obama would like to have his hands tied.
32: That was really discontinuous, though, wasn't it? I think it shut down as outdoorsy stuff in the 70's sometime (there's actually a family legend about their bankruptcy sale, which was apparently epic, according to my mother. She realized how spectacularly cheap things were going for, and called my father at work to come pick up my sister and me from school so that she could keep shopping. He told her that was ridiculous, so she had to curtail the expedition unsated. She's still unhappy about that, over thirty years later) and didn't reopen until maybe the 90s?
Originally Banana Republic sold actual surplus gear
I still have a French naval cloak and a Swiss army coat purchased from BR during this era. I still wear the army coat.
36: Speaking of cloaks and such, the other day I saw a man wearing both a deerstalker cap (in houndstooth) and an honest-to-Walter-Scott Inverness cape (herringbone), for what I believe is called "the full Rathbone."
That's at least appropriate for the weather we've been having -- I've stopped wearing my winter coat, because it's April goddamnit, and have been cold and damp ever since. A nice tweed cape sounds about right.
There was an A&F in Tysons for a long time, before it was switched over. I remember wondering who would possibly shop there. So it was in operation.
38: I am as fond of tweed as the next several men put together, but mixing weaves is a tricky maneuver.
But, God, I'd love a cape. I saw a man wearing a red-silk-lined opera cape over black tie (at the actual opera, for extra propriety points) years ago and I cannot honestly recall why I didn't applaud.
But, God, I'd love a cape. I saw a man wearing a red-silk-lined opera cape over black tie (at the actual opera, for extra propriety points) years ago and I cannot honestly recall why I didn't applaud.
He sang badly, perhaps?
I haven't yet seen an opera cape paired with a utilikilt, but I suspect if I went to Seattle Opera more often I might.
You leave Bryn Terfel alone! The manager said his back hurt!
A cape is definitely a hail mary pass. If you can pull it off, you win.
Lately I've been entertaining myself with the fantasy/question, "What will I wear to work after I get tenure?" I was thinking about only coming to class in my pajamas. But really, a cape sounds nice.
I don't want to count my well-dressed chickens before they hatch, though.
I haven't yet seen an opera cape paired with a utilikilt....
You know that scene in The Empire Strikes Back where Han Solo sees Darth Vader at the other end of a long banquet table and just throws down and starts blasting at him? Well, exactly.
I haven't gone into a Banana Republic since the early 90s, so I actually had no idea they had changed their niche.
Dressing like an eccentric is great, but you have to commit to it. You can't do that sort of thing half-ass without looking like Ray Smuckles wearing a fedora.
43: I saw a guy at the Met wearing one of those Yohji Yamamoto kilt-esque things. Weirdly, I later saw the same guy in his Yohji kilt at a wine tasting. I'm glad he is getting a lot of wear out of it.
I did, however, see one night at Seattle Opera both a utilikilt and a big, well-worn leather kilt paired with a ragged shirt. The latter ensemble was worn by a guy who could have been Terfel's body double, so he cut a pretty spectacular figure. The opera was Parsifal, which may be relevant.
I'm beginning to suspect some of you don't take me seriously.
For my birthday at the end of 6th grade? 7th grade? I can't really remember, my mother bought me one of those BR T-shirts with the old-timey animal prints on them. I was well chuffed. It got too small fairly quickly though. Then, just last summer, I saw a fellow walking in downtown MPLS wearing one of those T-shirts. And then I found 5 balboas.
OT: The number of shards produced by shattering a simple drinking glass while barefoot in one's kitchen suggests that, like Walt Whitman, staple housewares purchased from Crate & Barrel contain multitudes.
I've mentioned this before, but I'm not over it, so I'll complain again that Trader Joe's has a (very tasty tropical) juice called Heart of Darkness juice. I prefer that juices don't remind me that we're all cruel savages barely held in place by a thin layer of civilization.
And, I've stopped buying bottom-end t-shirts. I'm not generally someone who notices this stuff, but cheap t-shirts have become especially crappy. They're poorly sewn and fall apart and are yuckier than I remember them from even a few years ago.
But somebody's been taking my mom. Seriously.
Lately I've been entertaining myself with the fantasy/question, "What will I wear to work after I get tenure?" I was thinking about only coming to class in my pajamas. But really, a cape sounds nice.
Just don't take advice from Gonerill, he's a stick in the mud.
I prefer that juices don't remind me that we're all cruel savages barely held in place by a thin layer of civilization.
"Even the organic frozen pizzas wanted him dead, and that's who he really took his orders from."
What are the things of this world to me? Trash—less than trash. It isn't possessions but persons that make a life worth living.
22,25: I have the same problem with The Limited/Victoria Secret Catalog/formerly Express line of companies. I've heard they're kind of an evil company, but they make the best petite pants for my big butt.
1: BTW, urple, I'd be interested in any links that explain that more, I didn't know that.
I may not be very well off financially, but friends like you are all the riches I desire.
The whole clothing industry is evil enough that if you're not actually making an effort to buy clothes from sources that you know are reasonably moral, I wouldn't worry about an impression that some company is kind of evil. They're mostly fairly evil, to the point that shopping based on impressions isn't going to improve much.
62: Clothing is manufactured and sold in such volumes, to such bottomless appetites, that it seems comparable to commodities like crude oil, to mention another industry with whatever the opposite of morals is.
Me too (when I used to buy new clothes, at least), as opposed to J. Crew, whose clothes appear to be cut for people who look exactly like their catalog models.
I got a shirt recently whose sleeve length and general fit were perfect for me (aside from the fact that the shirt as a whole, while long enough, was kind of short), as a size small. But, this shirt was apparently designed for someone with a neck about an inch and half wider than mine. Remember, this is a small. It's baffling.
29: You were in Austin, Smearcase?
64: J. Crew thinks you need to work on your traps, bro. Now rock these dumbbells! Rock 'em like you mean it!
Actually it was one of these (but on an even more aggressive sale than the one currently taking place). Note that even on the model the neck is too big. You might ask, why, then, did you buy it, neb? And that would be a good question.
You can't escape the harsh, judging gaze of J. Crew that easily, neb.
They're a bit pricey for me
I got it in my head recently that I need to have only 100% wool sweaters, so I've been buying used BR sweaters on eBay. BR because I'm pretty certain of my size there. I do a search on "banana republic merino medium" and then put in snipes on ones I think I can get for less than $10 with shipping. I've gotten four or five, and only one of them was a disappointment. (It seemed perhaps to have been dried at some point, for parts of it had a felt-like texture.)
Three cheers for Blume for using "for" as a conjunction!
Cheers x 3.
I got it in my head recently that I need to have only 100% wool sweaters
I put it down to biking in winter in Boston.
Three cheers for Blume for using "for" as a conjunction!
The word has been on my mind recently, after I told a student that I think the German denn has a bit of the same feel to it.
Yeah, it jumped out at me for precisely that reason.
I use it a lot, but I can't tell whether that's because of my natural inclination to the slightly pompous or because of denn.
I've stopped buying bottom-end t-shirts
Because the fruit hangs too low?
The word has been on my mind recently, after I told a student that I think the German denn has a bit of the same feel to it.
Are you my middle-school German teacher?
If so, nice beard.
75: Surely there's a word in German that combines those two.
I really should try ebay for used clothes; I always worry about fit but Blume's strategy is smart. (For some reason I have it in my head that I'm too lazy for such a thing, but it's really not true.)
Pflichtgetreu!
I'm sorry. Isn't this the "Post your favorite German word" thread?
81: There seem to be several theories.
FTR, 80 isn't actually a German word.
But if we are playing the game, my favorite German word is in my email address!
I can't remember my favorite German word!
For a while I would have been prepared to say that my favorite German word was "fast", since I seemed to use it almost every other sentence.
Surely there's a word in German that combines those two.
I plan on using this in the future, sometimes without even admitting that I stole it.
Knowers of German, is the word Schwangerschaftsverhütungsmittel the (or a) common term for contraceptive? Babelfish renders it as "Pregnancy preventing means", but I could believe that it is a pretty obscure term.
87: It's somewhat formal, but not as crazy sounding as it looks to a non-German-speaker. Perhaps an equivalent to the word prophylactic.
I plan on using this in the future, sometimes without even admitting that I stole it.
A Phraseklauensplan.
93 reminds me of one of my favorite German not words but rather phrases, "die systematischen Klauen des Herrn N".
18.--American Marines propping up a two-bit martinet.
Sounds very provocative indeed, but then I did see Destry Rides Again last night. (Dietrich is good at the undervalued martinet roles.)
To those who value J. Crew or Banana Republic garb for the fit: I promise you that the Goodwills of this great nation are overflowing with this stuff. There is no reason to pay even discounted retail.
I was recently mildly outraged when three t-shirts at the Goodwill rang up at $18l, but when I reflected that the Theory t-shirt or the J. Crew t-shirt would have run me $10 on super-plus extra-discount, I felt a little better.
91: eierlegende Wollmilchsau is a favorite of mine, too, but I've never seen it rendered as one word.
Some other favorites of mine: Drachenfutter, stutenbissig, erstedonaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaftsoberkapitaensanzugsmuetze.
Dressing like an eccentric is great, but you have to commit to it. You can't do that sort of thing half-ass without looking like Ray Smuckles wearing a fedora.
This is why one of the great tragedies of modern life is that men don't wear hats any more. It becomes a statement to wear a trilby or a fedora - in the UK, usually the statement is "I'm a heroin addled washed up pop star or I think he's cool". But I don't want to make a statement. I just like trilbies. And I can never wear one. Damn you. Pete Doherty.
I remember the bisected jeep. Did they have left half of the jeep stores and right half of the jeep stores, then?
87 I've generally seen it as just 'verhutungsmittel' with the context indicating what the mittel is verhuting
erstedonaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaftsoberkapitaensanzugsmuetze.
That can't actually exist, can it?
My favorite 'German is weird' story is one from a German class on verbs that get chopped in two with the first half going all the way to the end of the sentence. It was a long, long sentence where it wasn't clear whether a guy was bringing his girlfriend home or murdering her. (For non Deutch kenners 'bringen' is to bring, 'umbringen' means to kill.)
There are also jokes to be made with the verb ausziehen, which can mean either to undress or to move out.
I've generally seen it as just 'verhutungsmittel' with the context indicating what the mittel is verhuting
Or simply "Verhütung" (as in "Hast Du Verhütung dabei?")
FWIW, I think I have only seen the full word rendered as "Empfängnisverhütungsmittel" rather than "Schwangerschaftsverhütungmittel" (Empfängnis = conception).
104.last: That is pretty much the translation that babelfish gives for contraceptive*, although it recognizes the latter word going the other way. Not that I'm only relying babelfish for my knowledge of German (there was Hogan's Heroes for instance). And per Blume in 92, they really are not that odd when you get the constituent words and the logic.
*Actually "empfängnisverhütendes Mittel".
Do German bros refer to it as an Empfindungsverhütungsmittel?
107: Sure, Austria, the Sudetenland, some of those really uptight cantons in Switzerland.