America's Oldest Clothing Company Is Making Prep Look Better Than Prep
Think of Brooks Brothers, and you’re likely to think crisp button-up shirts worn by Old Money, East Coast elites. There’s truth to that: it's America’s oldest apparel brand, is most famous for selling incredibly WASPy shirts and slacks. But what might the label look like if it loosened its collar?
The answer lies in an incredibly suave pre-fall capsule created for the Japanese branch of Los Angeles retailer Ron Herman. Nothing epitomizes this attitude more than the new Brooks Brothers tote, created from a natural-colored cotton canvas and sporting a simple strap, an inner pocket, and — this is key — absolutely no logos.
In terms of totes, even one plucked from a bookstore gift shop would have more personality, but that’s entirely the point. It looks like a more muted cousin to something like the L.L. Bean Boat & Tote, yet it’s double the price, at ¥20,900 (around $132). Brooks Brothers might’ve lost much of the sheen it had in the heyday of preppy style, but the name clearly still commands a more high-end price point — even through a collaborative release. (And especially in Japan, where it's a separate imprint operated by Daido Limited and BB Japan Holdings LLC.)
In this vein, the bare basics bag complements a handful of retooled Brooks Brothers classics designed with special patterns exclusive to Ron Herman and subtly altered silhouettes — boxy Oxford shirts are woven with finer threads while cargo shorts borrow details from US military M-65 jackets.
Good as this all looks, it’s not that far outside of Brooks Brothers’ wheelhouse. Its Brain Dead release from a few years back incorporated streetwear elements into sweatsuits and two-piece navy suits, while its ongoing Junya Watanabe partnership remixed the traditional sack blazer with camouflage lining and a hardwearing cotton-polyester gabardine outer.
In both cases, the DNA of its collaborator grafted cleanly onto the heritage of Brooks Brothers. That continues with Ron Herman: the ocean-salted, laid-back luxury of its early Melrose Avenue era comes through even though Japanese conglomerate Sazaby League Ltd. purchased Ron Herman in 2019.
Five years on, the restraint reads less like an aberration and more like the point.
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