Ralph Lauren's idiotic PRE-DISTRESSED fedora

[jlee562]

Back in my early 20s I thought about starting a business that sold jeans with real bullet holes in them. I don't see why it wouldn't work for hats. I thought the jeans we tested looked pretty good with .45 caliber holes in them, and would look even better if we could get a $100 premium for them. lol.

Brad

Heck, Baron will charge $100 for them to "age" their Rooster Cogburn hat

 

[JimWagner]

There sure seem to be any number of sucke.... er phone... er people who want to give the appearance that they are rough tough real men.

 

[DOUGLAS]

Ralph Lauren has always had a knack for appropriating style and content from many sources. They gleen inspiration from all corners. They don't sell clothing they sell attitude ,swagger and the semblance of a life style for those who don't have time to get dirty, look for a 1930s suit, ride the wild west or wear a hat for twenty years to weather it up. I bet they took a note from Charlie 1 Horse for that distressing.

 

[Flipped Lid]

You could wear the hat with these.

http://www.matchesfashion.com/fcp/product/Matches-Fashion/Shoes/john-varvatos-star-usa-JV-B-F1305M2B-A12B-shoes-BLACK/50538#

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Maybe Ralph Lauren can start offering a service to pre-distress human beings. As in, "I don't have time to spend 20 years aging 20 years. Could you pre-distress me now? With instant wrinkles?"

 

[Edward]

Pre-distressing.... and so it goes. Really, this is nothing new - to date I've seen it in clothing, electric guitars, all manner of consumer durables.... oh, and yes, while not available off the rack, I've even seen it in cars to the extent that I have seen some rat rods specifically designed to look old, worn and beaten-up.

For that price I could get a custom hat from Optimo and distress it myself to my heart's content, and it would most likely look infinitely better.

But then I fail to understand a lot of modern fashion. For example, why would anyone who was willing to spend $10,000 on a suit go to Armani when they could afford Saville Row (not that Armani doesn't make a good suit, I just suspect that Saville Row can do better plus it would be personalised).

Oh, I agree. But then we are clothesy people. Many folks out there nowadays simply aren't interested in the detail of clothes: to them a suit is a suit, a hat is a hat and a pair of black leather shoes is the same thing as any other pair of black leather shoes. When the details (or, often, even the quality) of the product don't matter, what are people buying into? Very often, it's all about the brand. Why do many folks pay top dollar for a very ordinary white T-shirt with a huge Tony Hellfinger (or whatever) logo on it when they could buy a fairtrade, high quality plain equivalent from Sainsburys for GBP3.50? Because they are buying the brand not the product. I've seen it cut two ways - one is an assumption that it must be "better" because it is 'branded', the other type, in my experience, are those who don't really trust to their own taste and thus for whom a designer brand represents an approval, an acknowledgement that it is acceptable wear.

Maybe RRL will do a "skid marks/NASCAR" tie in... It's wonderfully ironic and I can see the stylishly dishevelled hipsters work the look.

Oh, my. you've created a terrible image there (let's just say "skid marks" must mean something different on your side of the ocean....).

"This is Freddy Krueger's hat ... he bought it from Ralph Lauren..."

lol Funny thing, somewhere I still have the first fedor I bought myself - a black wool number from Debenhams (department store chain in the UK) back in 1992. The local kids used to shout "Freddy Kreuger" at me in it all the time...

Back in my early 20s I thought about starting a business that sold jeans with real bullet holes in them. I don't see why it wouldn't work for hats. I thought the jeans we tested looked pretty good with .45 caliber holes in them, and would look even better if we could get a $100 premium for them. lol.

Brad

I don't recall the brand, but I remember that that was done somewhere in the US in about 1989.

 

[Brad Bowers]

I don't recall the brand, but I remember that that was done somewhere in the US in about 1989.

The thieves! I was doing this around '86/'87!

 

[Tomasso]

why would anyone who was willing to spend $10,000 on a suit go to Armani when they could afford Savile Row(not that Armani doesn't make a good suit, I just suspect that Saville Row can do better plus it would be personalised).

Some men don't have the time or patience needed to deal with the bespoke process and are willing to compromise on the issues of fit and style choices . Also with RTW one can see what they're getting right off the bat whereas with bespoke there can sometimes be surprises, both good and not so good. Then there's the label phenomenon; one is much more likely to impress others (especially women) with a prestige brand than the name of any SR tailor.

 

[avedwards]

Pre-distressing.... and so it goes. Really, this is nothing new - to date I've seen it in clothing, electric guitars, all manner of consumer durables.... oh, and yes, while not available off the rack, I've even seen it in cars to the extent that I have seen some rat rods specifically designed to look old, worn and beaten-up.

On the German FL gathering in Frankfurt we discussed whether it was actually possible to get pre-distressed cars. To me it conjurs up images of a customer requesting the salesman to smash the windscrean a bit more to make the car look "hardcore".

Oh, I agree. But then we are clothesy people. Many folks out there nowadays simply aren't interested in the detail of clothes: to them a suit is a suit, a hat is a hat and a pair of black leather shoes is the same thing as any other pair of black leather shoes. When the details (or, often, even the quality) of the product don't matter, what are people buying into? Very often, it's all about the brand. Why do many folks pay top dollar for a very ordinary white T-shirt with a huge Tony Hellfinger (or whatever) logo on it when they could buy a fairtrade, high quality plain equivalent from Sainsburys for GBP3.50? Because they are buying the brand not the product. I've seen it cut two ways - one is an assumption that it must be "better" because it is 'branded', the other type, in my experience, are those who don't really trust to their own taste and thus for whom a designer brand represents an approval, an acknowledgement that it is acceptable wear.

My point about Armani was just that anyone who spends $10,000 on a suit clearly does care about their appearance and wants to look good. Why then do they not go for the cheaper but probably considerably better option of going to Saville Row if they do insist on spending so much money?

 

[avedwards]

Some men don't have the time or patience needed to deal with the bespoke process and are willing to compromise on the issues of fit and style choices . Also with RTW one can see what they're getting right off the bat whereas with bespoke there can sometimes be surprises, both good and not so good. Then there's the label phenomenon; one is much more likely to impress others (especially women) with a prestige brand than the name of any SR tailor.

I can see the convenience angle, but surely there's more prestige to boasting that one's suit is from Saville Row (even if the tailor's name isn't as well known as his street) than from Armani? Or am I just a Brit with too much pride?

Then again I like subtlety so I quite like the fact that my recent MTM suit has the label with mine and the tailor's name on the inside of the pocket and is therefore not as noticeable as if it were plastered all over the lining.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

...surely there's more prestige to boasting that one's suit is from Savile Row (even if the tailor's name isn't as well known as his street) than from Armani?

For the most part, not anymore.

 

[DOUGLAS]

Maybe Ralph Lauren can start offering a service to pre-distress human beings. As in, "I don't have time to spend 20 years aging 20 years. Could you pre-distress me now? With instant wrinkles?"

Look at many teens and even tweens. Some of them seem to be applying that method already. Kids want to look cool and sophisticated, adults want to look like they did in high school.

 

[alanfgag]

Like someone once said, "...wrinkles are wasted on the old."

 

[MCrider]

Thought I'd seen it all.

Ralph Lauren's usually good RRL line has taken the fedora as low as it can go ... essentially dragging it through the mud.


"Pre-distressed" fedora. Looks incredibly awful. Fake sweat and dust in a crusty glaze. And only $495!

Darn I thought someone had finally decided to make a copy of Johnny Depp's distressed fedora. I was just about to take the money I'm saving for the FL Stetson and rush right over the the Ralph Lauren site. Whew dodged that bullet!

ound:

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Darn I thought someone had finally decided to make a copy of Johnny Depp's distressed fedora.

More like Freddie the Freeloader's: http://images.mylot.com/userImages/images/postphotos/1157518.jpg

 

[jwalls]

It is not that RL would charge $495 for a distressed hat that bugs me it's that any number of fools will buy one.

 

[DanielJones]

Maybe Ralph Lauren can start offering a service to pre-distress human beings. As in, "I don't have time to spend 20 years aging 20 years. Could you pre-distress me now? With instant wrinkles?"

Nah, that market is already cornered. It's called keeping up with Keith Richards.

Of course I tend to think that he came into this world pre-distressed.

Cheers!

Dan

 

[Trombone]

And every bit of money you put in it is put right into that cloth sweatband!:eusa_doh::eusa_doh::eusa_doh:

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

Maybe Ralph Lauren can start offering a service to pre-distress human beings. As in, "I don't have time to spend 20 years aging 20 years. Could you pre-distress me now? With instant wrinkles?"

I really think you're on to something here. People spend billions going in the other direction on botox, liposuction, etc.
Artificial distressing of people would be easy to accomplish with sleep deprivation, malnutrition, daily mega-doses of nicotine, drugs, alcohol and junk food. A 6 week program of such a regimen would probably suffice to add at least 10 years worth of wear and tear. Charge them $100,000 a head.

 

[PabloElFlamenco]

I wonder how many people are actually buying that ...er...hat (I hesitated in deciding to write it different).

This pre-distressed stuff goes against my every grain: I regret those Levis stiff as a board when new. When I buy new, I want to be the person imposing wear and tear on the item of clothing. I want value for money. And I tend to keep clothes...forever.

Only hats I don't, any longer, buy new. But when I buy a "vintage" hat, I hope it to be clean and "good as new", preferably. $495 for a hat with no style...argh! world's crazy!