Brands that succeed despite being shite...

Col_Decker

Christ on bike how many posts about mtm shirts vs off the peg? And they say Rock n' Roll is dead?

prowla

scrumhalf said:

Smiths are hearing the distant sound of the death rattle.

Printed reading material is no longer the market it was, they have had to change their business model. I was in one of their larger high street branches the other day and found that half of it was a post office.

ie. They are changing their business model!

fandango

Anyone mentioned Marks & Spencer?

Now if there's a brand that's the equivalent of a plain old soufflé, then M&S is it.

Their men's clothes? Dont make me laugh!

LoFi

RocknRollDave said:

Used to work for Wetherspoons, from 1999 to 2002, IIRC, and the food wasn't bad, to be fair, but of course at that price as you say a lot of it was pre-cooked and merely heated up on-site.

Also used to work at one ('98-2000) - what was often entertaining was the expectations that people had for the money - "Seriously, you're getting table service with a burger, chips and a pint of Fosters for less than a Big Mac Meal and you're complaining that you can't have the burger cooked medium-rare?!"

My favourite was a lady who was insistent that something being on the special's board meant that it had to be cooked fresh to order. I explained that, common to everywhere else in the Universe it meant that it was stuff that wasn't on the regular menu, and that she probably wouldn't want a lasagne cooked fresh to order, as it would take around 2 hours to do (more if we needed to steep an onion in the milk overnight to make the bechamel. I'm not sure my knowledge of classic French cookery impressed her - my CBSM (?) scores weren't always the highest...

Re Wetherspoons in general, my theory (based only on anecdotal evidence) is that the nicer/more expensive the town, the rougher the 'Spoons is, because a higher price differential from local pubs will attract those who are more "price sensitive" in their drinking habits.

Handsome_Chris

fandango said:

Anyone mentioned Marks & Spencer?

Now if there's a brand that's the equivalent of a plain old soufflé, then M&S is it.

Their men's clothes? Dont make me laugh!

The clothes their men have do not make you laugh.  I didn't expect that to be a major consideration of the M&S uniform dress code.  

Maybe a circus is the place for attending a place where staff may be subjected to a comedy dress code?

Sporky

Snap said:

indeedy

There are a few things you need to watch for with these though

Exploitative labour - usually, the clothes are made in Asia. Some of the online mtm firms will be transparent on where they are made and what the labour rates are, but not always.

Suits - glued or canvassed/half canvassed. Glued suits arent' worth the money, they lose their shape, and they are made in a very cheap and sloppy way. You can check the canvassing by pinching the jacket near the buttons or chest area- if the whole jacket comes with the pinch, in one piece, its glued. If you feel the top layer of the jacket come away from a liner, its canvassed, or half canvassed, so much better, and better value.

The canvassing check is a must for an off the peg IMO. If its over a couple of hundred quit, and not canvassed, its over priced.

mtm shirts are a great thing too!

I don't mind the tyrwhitt/lewin etc slim fit or extra slim shirts. If they are in a sale for £20, can't argue. Full price though? Mental

All good points. Tailor Store own their own mills and have an ethical employment statement, and the suits are canvassed, not glued.

I got a Tyrwhitt shirt recently - they'd sent me a voucher and it was a sale too. Took them longer to get me a pre-made shirt than Tailor Store take to make and ship one, and even though it was extra slim fit (and I'm not mad-skinny) it was still like wearing a tent. The arm joint is particularly bad - too much material so when you raise your arms it pulls the shirt out.

Handsome_Chris

Sporky said:

I got a Tyrwhitt shirt recently - they'd sent me a voucher and it was a sale too. Took them longer to get me a pre-made shirt than Tailor Store take to make and ship one, and even though it was extra slim fit (and I'm not mad-skinny) it was still like wearing a tent. The arm joint is particularly bad - too much material so when you raise your arms it pulls the shirt out.

Have you tried tucking your shirt into your pants?

Sporky

No. That's the sort of thing that Nigel Farrage would do.

Axe_meister

WHS used to be the distributor of nearly 80% of newspapers in the UK.
i'm surprised to still see them on the high street to be honest

mike_l

Sporky said:

I got a Tyrwhitt shirt recently - they'd sent me a voucher and it was a sale too. Took them longer to get me a pre-made shirt than Tailor Store take to make and ship one, and even though it was extra slim fit (and I'm not mad-skinny) it was still like wearing a tent. The arm joint is particularly bad - too much material so when you raise your arms it pulls the shirt out.

My ol.d boss had similar issues with sleeves on his shirts, he ended up having to wear elasticated sleeve grips. His successor was (is) a bit of a twat so had to get the same sleeve grips