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Ben Sherman Sample Sale in London

Ben Sherman Sample Sale in London
Ben Sherman Sample Sale in London
Note that I independently write and research everything in this article. But it may contain affiliate links.

If you happen to be in the area, the Ben Sherman Sample Sale in London might be worth a look.

Ben Sherman seems to be more interested in the hipster crowd and the fashion magazines in 2012, so don’t raise your hopes too high. Although saying that, we have featured one or two decent things from the recent range, including the 1960s-style cardigan and the gingham shirts, so at the right price, might be things worth picking up.

If you do see something you like, it’s likely to be cheap, with up to 80 per cent off list prices, although most sizes are said to be mediums, which might rule a few people out.

It takes place on November 14th from 10:30am to 6pm at Ben Sherman, 108 Commercial Street, London E1 6LZ. You can view the website here.

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One Comment

  1. With the closure of Rugby by Ralph Lauren and Aubin & Wills by Jack Wills, the unaffordable ‘sell at high price to young people spending student loans or parent funds’ prep boom appears to be ending. The hipster crowd are already onto work wear and past that onto woodsman denim and rockabilly clothing. Plectrum flirts with the revived 50s look and the Ivy Style but does none of them for real, so isn’t easily identifiable. This is important as people buying brands out of a choice to look a certain way, mixing it up but not being any one thing leaves the buyers confused – Mod, prep, hipster, trad, Ivy or not quite any? This would be okay if they were distinctive but the items are like those in Reiss, Jack Wills and don’t have the confidence of Fred Perry in their brand identity.

    I like some of the Plectrum pieces but they are silly prices when better brand items can be had for the same price such as Wolsey, Barbour, Aquascutum, John Smedley, Sunpel and so on. To me core Mod oriented Ben Sherman clothing is starting to look really cheaply made, with garish old patterns especially the Oxford shirts (when put alongside Jump The Gun and Adam at similar prices) or even such as Barbour and some of the inexpensive Charles Tyrwhitt items. At the low end Merc, Relco and Warrior will increasingly eat their business.

    So I believe BS needs to decide what it is, classic Mod will endure but they need to up the quality and innovation as people are now much more discerning around clothes as a lifestyle statement. Following fashions isn’t what BS are known for or appear good at. Farah and Peter Werth are eating into their core mid end price market (Farah Vintage is Draper’s award winner of the year). As for Plectrum, I can get a Paul & Shark shirt for their shirt prices so there’s no decision to be made.

    Baracuta has been bought by a far east firm who will try to move it upmarket like Burberry. BS are trying to do this organically but without a vision. What is BS now trying to be? Global brand using British heritage, fashion brand following such as Ralph Lauren or back to the Mod core when the spending boom bursts?

    I wouldn’t wear a Ben Sherman now, it’s degraded as a brand, Plectrum was an attempt to get those jaded with the brand and low quality back, but the pricing isn’t right even if some of the items like the cardigan are (but then Art Gallery cardigans or darn it, some M&S are just better value. Plectrum is also mostly styled and sized for people in their 20s, which is daft as they don’t have the money, people in their 40s onwards often do. So a lot of it ends up sold off for discount, rather than at full price.

    Their main rival who is slightly more upmarket, Fred Perry, ruthlessly focuses on its core tribe identity and does collaborations with other high quality brands like Gloverall or the right names like Wiggo to expand and reenforce this. BS does none of those things. So for me, BS needs to decide what it wants to be and then concentrate on executing that. As it is now, BS is an entry level brand for Mod and if you stay with the scene and evolve your own personal identity around it, BS isn’t a brand many of us feel comfortable wearing on an enduring basis. When I last wore a BS to work, a colleague just said ‘Been to TK Maxx eh?’. You can get Hackett, Gant and RL at TK Maxx occasionally who use it to build brand awareness as a gateway to full price purchases, but for BS its now a core association of a brand that HAS to sell that way.

    So the question is BS samples – Samples of what? I don’t know what BS is trying to be anymore.

    What do others thing about BS now?

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