Brooks Brothers: The Fall of an American Icon

By: Koorosh Leibowitz

One cannot start the discussion of traditional ('trad') and preppy clothing without mentioning Brooks Brothers. The brand was founded on April 7th, 1818 by Mr. Henry Sands Brooks and over its 200+ year history, it would go on to dressing Presidents (Pres. Lincoln was assassinated while wearing Brook Brothers) to shaping and defining traditional American suiting and style. On July 8th, 2020, the company would go on to file for bankruptcy. Within this 200+ year period, I happen to find myself to be a small part, but a part nonetheless, of the brand.

Roughly five years ago, during the autumn of my freshman year at Hofstra University, I walked into my local Brooks Brothers at the Americana Manhasset, one of the more notable flagship stores catering to Long Island clientele. Upon purchasing a signature Brooks Brothers non-iron oxford shirt, I was approached by the store manager (and former boss), Mr. Joe Dente, to consider employment over the winter. We exchanged information and next thing I knew I was interviewed and hired to be a sales support representative over the course of my winter break. The job was enjoyable (you know the saying: 'if you do what you love...'), hectic at times due to the bustling sales season (flashbacks of (the few) angry clients come to mind), yet a pleasant kind of boisterousness.

While reminiscing about my time there, I recall critiques I have for the brand that hold true today. The news of a Brooks Brothers bankruptcy filing does not strike me as alarming. In all honesty I am surprised it did not happen any sooner. The following will detail my thoughts on the brand's shortcomings and my suggestions on improvement from the perspective of a former employee and menswear enthusiast/collector.

Relevance

Some individuals may have heard the following joke at some point:

Q: How many Yankee fans does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

A: None, they just talk about how good the previous 27 bulbs were.

The point this joke is trying to illustrate is rather than the Yankee fan acknowledging the present inadequacies of the team, they romanticize the past with respect to the long gone glory days of when they would win an incredible amount of championship titles. Brooks Brothers essentially did the same thing. For too long the company relied heavily on its traditional Wall Street, Lawyer, or any other type of white collar worker demographic. I took keen note of the demographic of clients. I would say easily most were more than twice my age. I could argue most younger individuals who wear Brooks do so because they were handed down from their parents or went to private school, such as I did.

Needless to say, relevance, especially among the important teen/college aged demographic, failed to exist with the exception of myself. Coincidentally, the very year I worked at Brooks Brothers, they introduced their Red Fleece line to attract younger fashion savvy individuals. As a self prescribed authority on style, I assessed the new collection and scoffed as most Vogue columnists presumably do. I remember the dress shirts were the worst. The quality was horrendous, the shirts had no construction/felt cheap, and the designs were mostly unattractive. I recall asking a coworker something along the lines of "do you picture a college student wearing this?".

In my opinion, the line was a very weak attempt at capturing a younger audience. The pieces weren't really playful or distinct. A consumer would be better off purchasing a shirt from H&M or another fast fashion brand at quite a discount. Brooks Brothers failed at branding this line and also failed to realize the importance branding has for a younger demographic. Younger individuals like wearing clothes that are well designed but also uniquely designed to the point where other individuals can distinctly recognize the brand it belongs to. I think the perfect example is the Ralph Lauren Polo Bear. The Polo Bear suits virtually every age demographic (I personally have a Polo Bear pillow case among shirts, hoodies, socks, etc.). Or even take a look at Ralph Lauren's Polo Sport. Brooks Brothers designs never had a distinct character or logo equivalent, excluding the company logo. However, I feel Brooks Brothers would not need such a character/logo to remain relevant.

One improvement I would suggest to the new buyer of the Brooks Bros. would be to engage in well thought out collaborations. Brooks Brothers had created a line called Black Fleece which was in collaboration with designer Mr. Thom Browne (who I think is an awful designer to put it lightly). Despite my thoughts on Thom Browne, the Black Fleece line was a commercial success. Initially intended to run for three years starting in 2007, it lasted until 2015. When I had started working, the very last bits of Black Fleece were on clearance. In 2014, Brooks Brothers collaborated with popular street wear brand Supreme on a seersucker suit and hat combo. I think if the collaboration offered more well thought out pieces, it would have done better. Most people forgot or did not even know this collaboration even occurred. In addition to a suit, a t-shirt and hoodie would have helped since their price points are lower and can help with brand awareness by, for example, incorporating the Brooks Brothers logo. Or even a photo tee of an old Brooks store. At this point it is just wishful thinking. Moving forward, I think Brooks Brothers can benefit from thoughtful collaborations and the synergies that can follow. It has to be done meticulously and done correctly with a clearly defined strategy. Collaborations can help with online presence, especially with social media engagement and online buzz.

Acknowledge Your Roots

Sometimes the best thing a brand can do is to revisit the aspects of the brand that have made it great. For fashion brands, this means digging into the archives and perhaps bringing back demanded styles that are discontinued. A lot of brands have successfully implemented this strategy: from high fashion brands like Dior and Louis Vuitton, to Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger. An over-reliance on this strategy can lead to repetitiveness. As a Brooks Brothers collector I can attest to the fantastic pieces they have made in the past. I've got a small collection of 1980s Brooks Brothers madras jackets that are absolutely fantastic for the summer, between the quality and pattern of the fabric it is unbeatable. Another one of my favorite pieces is an Alpaca fur lined Harris Tweed Herringbone overcoat from the late 1970s. It was designed by Mr. Ed Turco, U.S. Director of Saville Row tailor Hunstman (who I coincidentally met while wearing the coat!). The quality and design are unbeatable. In a day and age where clothing is not built to last, heritage brands like Brooks Brothers should focus more on quality. Infrequently I view product review and comments on Brooks Brothers social media posts and quite often I find consumers lament about the brand's present quality and recall how the pieces they bought in the 1980s are still holding up today. I think to combat this, production should be brought back to America. All of my vintage pieces are also made in America and have held up for decades. I remember once walking down 5th Avenue while donning my Black Fleece sport coat only to find the button had fallen out, which I luckily found on the floor. Brooks Brothers brands themselves as an American brand yet most of their production is outsourced overseas. My suggestion here would be to scale down the business in terms of brick and mortar presence as well as overseas production to account for increased domestic production costs and start focusing on quality made in America products. Every suit Brooks Brothers makes should be made in America at the very least, in my ideal world...

Top Management

One of the reasons to blame for Brooks Brothers' condition is top management, specifically Mr. Claudio Del Vecchio, my former boss' boss. For those unfamiliar, Mr. Claudio Del Vecchio is the son of Italian billionaire Mr. Leonardo Del Vecchio, the founder and chairman of Luxottica, the worlds largest eye-wear conglomerate. In my opinion, Brooks Brothers was merely a gift given to him by his father just to keep him busy. He remained a figure more in the shadows of the brand rather than one to spearhead its success. Coincidentally Mr. Del Vecchio lives on Long Island and he would frequent our Brooks Brothers store. The overall sentiment regarding Mr. Del Vecchio amongst coworkers was overwhelmingly poor. I briefly encountered Mr. Del Vecchio so I can not judge him as we never spoke, however it seemed he just did not care for the brand as he should have and to him it was just a way for him to make money. Again, I cannot speak for the man but this is the impression I and many others have, that he simply was too out of touch.

Summary

If you've made it this far, I'd like to thank you for your attention. To quickly summarize my solutions to my grievances:

• Increase brand relevance by catering to niche demographic, scale back overseas production and brick & mortar presence to focus on domestic production and higher quality longer lasting products
• Ensure online strategy is clearly defined
• Take advantage of synergies that can result from strategic and well thought collaborations
• Ensure top management is finely in tune with the brand ethos
• Create/maintain a culture for the brand (acknowledging the roots)