Hickey Freeman Face-Plants!

[KILO NOVEMBER]

To quote Herb Morrison, "... it's a terrific crash, ladies and gentlemen. It's smoke, and it's in flames now; Oh! The humanity! ... Ah! It's... it... it's a... ah! I... I can't talk, ladies and gentlemen."

The CEO of H-F re-invents his company's product line and, apparently, its target market.

Hickey Freeman suits fit badly on models who would never wear them anyway. See the Fox News segment here!

 

[herringbonekid]

Hickey Freeman want to appeal to a young, style conscious, relatively affluent customer like virtually all the other medium - high price suit manufacturers... what's the surprise ?

 

[KILO NOVEMBER]

what's the surprise ?

How poorly the suits seemed to fit. And the guy on the right looked positively silly with that mop of hair and the bucket hat. It's hard to imagine these guys going to work in suits. I would have thought the suits would have been tailored to fit better, and that the advertising folk would have chosen models who look like they might actually buy and wear a Hickey-Freeman suit.

 

[herringbonekid]

... and that the advertising folk would have chosen models who look like they might actually buy and wear a Hickey-Freeman suit.

who would you say is the main wearer of Hickey Freeman suits ?

 

[KILO NOVEMBER]

Of course I don't have access to their sales records, but my guess is men 40 - 70 years old.

Yes, I recognize that with us baby boomers passing out of the work force that market will shrink, but those guys in the video just don't look like the sort who are going to buy $1,500 suits, even if they are marked down to $800 at the end of the season. If I were H-F, I would look for models who look like executive types and not like guys working as waiters while they are looking for their big break as actors and dancers.

 

[herringbonekid]

Kilo, i hear you, however, i think that the brand's attempted appeal to a younger audience is precisely the point of the above.
like it or not, there is a generation of young men with a new interest in classic tailoring, albeit updated to a more modern silhouette.

i'm not against this trend. i'm only against the generic product on offer; i honestly can't tell the difference between a suit from Hickey Freeman, Ralph Lauren (purple label), Hugo Boss, Brooks Brothers etc.

 

[Guttersnipe]

Honestly, Hickey-Freeman is late to the game on this one. Loads of high end brands (Oxxford, Emilio Zegna, Brioni) and mid-market brands (Samuelsohn, Canali, Brooks Brothers) have launched "fashion forward" lines in an attempt to chase the 20 - 40 market. Generally speaking, these are positioned at a lower price point than their other lines.

I've noticed many of these youth targeted lines seem intended for modern workplaces, which is to say they are designed with a business casual environment in mind. Being a big fan of 1930s tailoring, I can't say I'm a huge fan, but I do appreciate being able to buy sport coats with a trimmer waistline. I've noticed that brands like Oxxford, J. Press and Hickey-Freeman tend towards a cut that works best of the ... umm ... generously proportioned fellow.

... now if only someone would make off-the-peg suits with high waisted trousers.

 

[The Good]

Around a minute and ten seconds in, I have noticed that the guy wearing the double-breasted suit appears to be wearing a tighter jacket than the other two. I like some of the slimmer fitting clothes that have been fashionable for almost a decade, but if one's jacket appears to be very tight, it's not a good look. However, the fits of the suits they are showing there seem typical of what a younger man would prefer to wear. One difference seems to be the slightly wider lapels than I tend to see on young men.