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I have to disagree with you about the quality. I buy a lot of stuff from JCrew, particularly for work. I am a bargain shopper by nature, so I stalk sales and hit the outlet a lot. But I find that its worth every penny. I have shirts that have been washed hundreds of times and look as crisp as the day I bought them. While my BM dresses were not from JCrew, I love their BM dresses. I think the difference is that the styles are more modern and don't necessarily look like "BM dresses" and are dresses that many gals wear after the wedding. I buy clothes wherever I find something I like, Target? sure! But when it somes to some items that you need more structure with (pants, suits, coats), I just feel that you get what you pay for and while there are certainly higher end brands, JCrew has never let me down.
I agree that J Crew is expensive, but I guess people think that because it's a chain store that people with wear the dresses again! My friend got her BM dress there for another wedding, complained about the price, but ended wearing it to many functions afterward! I also liked a pair of shoes there but they were charging over $200...craziness!
amariem, I totally feel ya on this! I kind of wondered about their bridesmaids dresses when I saw how many people swear by them. I guess I look at the dresses by JCrew and just don't see why they are so expensive. I thought the same thing about them, why not go to a bridal shop and get one of those dresses for my girls, they don't look all that different and they are cheaper. I will say I've never shopped at JCrew, so I can't say anything about the quality or anything like that but I've always wondered why they cost so much more than other stores with similar dresses.
I never pay retail for J. Crew. I love their stuff and think the quality is great, but it is a bit overpriced. I stalk their outlets and final sale.
I went back and forth considering whether to use J. Crew for bridesmaids dresses. In the end I decided not to due to price considerations for a few of my bridesmaids, but if I was in a slightly different situation, I would have gone with J. Crew. Their customer service is amazing and you can definitely wear the dresses again. I know so many people who have worn their J. Crew BM dresses to several other weddings.
I think J Crew is overpriced. The qual doesn't make up for their prices. But with bmaids dresses, they have the corner on the market for straight-sized cute dresses. Granted I wouldn't buy one of their regular strapless or tank style dresses (like the sophia) for a bridesmaid dress as it is such a simple (and in my opinion, not cute) pattern. Those you can get at DB for half the price (which is still way too much for some of that crap).
I do think it sucks that they don't make their bridesmaids dresses in Women's Sizes.
Personally, I think JCrew quality is good. I have lots of clothes from there and I've always found them to be well-made. IME, they last a long time, I have several sweaters that I still wear from college. I also like their styles, they do a good mix of trendy and timeless. I do agree that their pricing is a little high (has gone up in recent years), so most of the time, I buy things on sale. Their sales are great, especially the final sale where you get things REALLY marked down.
In terms of dresses, I chose JCrew for my BM because I prefered the styles to traditional BM dresses. The fabrics were more what I was looking for and the dresses looked like a regular cocktail dress instead of a BM dress. I also wanted to give my gals the choice of dresses and I liked their selection. Also, JCrew dresses are true-to-size, so I knew my BM wouldn't have to deal with ordering a dress based on a size chart and having to wait 4 months for it to come in. Finally, all my BM were able to find their dresses on sale and none spent more than $75! That's WAY cheaper than a BM Dress!
I looooovve J.Crew. I find most of their clothes to be very well made as far as construction, material quality and fit. They sometimes use delicate materials that don't hold up well, but those aren't the types of items I buy anyway. They make some cute and trendy stuff and I love them for their timeless classics. All this being said, I pretty much never pay full price. I know that I can count on the sizing so I buy a lot if J.Crew items on eBay. In fact, I've purchased about 5 of their dresses on eBay in the last couple years. Being a short girl, the fact that they have petite sizes is also a plus!
I do believe that JCrew is totally over-priced, and while the quality I think is better than average, it's not good enough to jusify their prices for the most part. I always buy 'Crew stuff on sale. I never pay retail.
But overall, I DO like the store a lot. I love its style and how the pieces are trendy and timeless at the same time (as someone already pointed out).
I have to say that I've never been into J Crew but both of my bridesmaids love them. They independently sent the the link for the BM dresses. I liked the styles but wasn't crazy about the colors until I saw them in person. I ended up loving the dress they like and they were able to order them for less than $100 since they were on sale. (Pink was on clearance at the end of the summer.)
I've never been excited about any of their other clothes but on of my girls insists they've been ramping up their quality. Last weekend I went in there and bought my first t-shirt and pair of shorts from them. I wouldn't pay full price for anything there, but feel like I got a great deal on the items I just bought (shorts for $19.99 and an embellished T for $30 - normally I would never pay $30 for a T but its so cute with fabric flowers perfect for the sailing excursion the weekend of the wedding).
J Crew is expensive...but I have 3 of the Jackie cardigans and they are such high quailty that they were worth every penny. I agree about some of their T-shirts...I am not a fan of the tissue thin ones, and the Painter tees get snagged on freaking anything and pull really bad. But on their jeans, pants, shoes, dresses, and sweaters, I think the price is worth it, especially if you hit up an outlet or final sale.
i think j crew is incredibly hit and miss, quality-wise.
their knits seem to really be junk. i'd never ever ever ever ever buy another junky j crew cashmere sweater again. they SUCK. . i've been suckered time and time again, and bought j crew cashmere that looked so pretty in the catalogue. it pilled instantly, and was unwearable after two times. also the T-shirts suck. this "tissue thin" fabric thing looks great for a photo, but they are ready for the trash can in two weeks.
on the other hand, some of their higher-end items are beautifully made. as well made as any catalogue item you could find anywhere. for example, i bought second-hand -- and sold again on eBay cause it didn't fit -- a jcrew "rebecca" dress that was silk tricotine, a wonderful high-quality real silk. it was originally $350, i think.
the REAL DIFFERENCE between something like that an a dress from david's bridal or alfred angelo is that the latter are selling you POLYESTER. so my question is: why should a polyester wedding or bridesmaid dress cost hundreds of dollars???
I only buy from them online during sales. Their staff has been fantastic for returns and ordering help over the phone. I mentioned that a pair shoes were for my wedding and they gave me an even better discount and didn't charge me shipping.
I don't think the quality of their clothes is bad at all! My entire wardrobe is almost all JCrew (with a few anthro additions :). I love their aesthetic and I always buy on sale. I'm using their bridesmaids dresses and didn't pay over $150 for any of them, one was on sale for $75! I looked at some alfred angelo BM dresses but honestly thought those were way worse quality than the JCrew ones...
I'm not a big J. Crew fan either -- I agree that their stuff is generally overpriced. Also, they really don't do a good job fitting my body type (pear-shaped). It seems like if you have any hips at all, J. Crew is not your friend.
But I did get J. Crew bridesmaids' dresses for my girls! I didn't love their prices at first, but I also wasn't excited about the usual bridesmaids' lines (Bill Levkoff, Jasmine, Alfred Angelo, etc.) because I'm a fabric snob, and I didn't want to pay $175 or more for something that looked and felt like cheap polyester. And then a miracle happened -- the navy blue Sophia dress went on sale, AND I ran across a 30% off coupon. I got my girls' dresses for way less than the traditional bridesmaids' lines! And when one of them didn't fit quite right, I was able to exchange it for a new size with no problem, which would never happen in a bridal salon. So even though I'm not in love with J. Crew's everyday clothes, I do think their bridesmaid line can be a bargain, not to mention an easy shopping experience. (Don't get me started on what they charge for their shoes, though. And I'm still a bit baffled about their high-end wedding dresses -- why would you shop the J. Crew website if your gown budget was $3,000?)
I think the quality of the materials used is good, and so is the workmanship. The fit tends to also be really good (for me at least), which saves a lot of money on alterations. So for the $30-80 extra (depending on where you would have gone instead and which style of dress you get), I think J. Crew is a pretty decent deal.
I do think J. Crew is overpriced, but everything I've bought from them has been very good quality.
JCrew is expensive, but I always try to buy on sale. Granted, where can you buy nic clothes for cheap nowadays? I am tall with practically no hips--I'm really limited by the stores I can shop at appropriately for work clothes. JCrew notoriously makes their stuff longer lengthed. It's cut modestly too. Their quality is very nice, though, for everything I have purchased--just b/c it is see-through/sheer (which is in) doesn't mean it's poorly made, though. I have a very nice purse I spent a few hundred on and it is very soft and gets nice the more I wear and use it. I always get compliments. Everything in their wardrobe line is constructed nicely, too--shapes, ruffles, etc. They're very complimentary. But yes, pricey if you think that $50 is too much for a shirt. Since I only buy a handful of clothing items at a time, I don't mind spending that for something nice in my closet to wear to work. I just got a really sheer ruffly orange blouse from Limited. It's very adorable but I also didn't buy a ton of other stuff since it wasn't cheap. When I was just a student, I thought the prices were insane, which is probably your sticker shock =]. Now that I work full time, it's not really a big deal
Banana Republic is expensive, too, but I just loooooove them. But JCrew, BR, and Limited make up most of my wardrobe. $90 for pants is a lot, but they're all work clothes. Theri customer service is all great--lots of long pants for me, plus they hem them. For me, tjey hold their shape better than the Target stuff in my closet. I'm also very careful about how I wash and dry my expensive clothes. You can't just toss them in the dryer on high and expect them to last and last.
And tehre is a HUGE difference b/n their BM dresses (which if you buy on sale are great like $80) vs a traditional polyester shiny bm dress that nobody'll wear again.
J.Crew outlet is a lifesaver, seriously - I got my favorite work pants there a few years ago - they're exceptionally well made and fit so perfectly. They were still a little more pricey - but I can't complain. And some of their stuff is too darn cute to pass up - even for a poor girl like me!
Although I think the dresses are kind of pricey, I chose the color and fabric of the bm's dresses and let them choose the style. They were able to order a couple of different styles each to figure out which one they liked best and return the others. They were also able to exchange sizes with no problems. I liked that I was able to give the bm's a couple of options and that they were actually able to try on the different styles which is not always possible with traditional bm dresses.
Hey @MelissaB! We got the Sophia dress too! Love them! And one of my girls has already worn hers to another function so I can say they <span style="font-style: italic;">really can wear it again!
@cjaruba -- Yes on the rewearability -- one of the guests at our wedding actually showed up in the Sophia dress! (In brown, not navy, so it wasn't completely identical.) I felt pretty good about picking a dress that someone would actually put on by choice :-)
The only bad thing I've heard about J. Crew Bridesmaids is that the boning on their strapless dresses is super-uncomfortable. My SIL wore the taffeta Lorelai in a different wedding and the boning actually gave her bruises under her arms!
I'm with you, their stuff is cute but sooo....expensive. I think the quality has gone down hill. Same with Ann Taylor. I used to love Ann Taylor, and thought the quality made up for the price, but lately, I donno, maybe it's just me but I feel like the fabric isn't what it used to be and prices have only increased. But I do like the look of the styles on people.
I've browsed their stuff but I can't bring myself to pay huge amounts of money for low-quality clothing. I've done that with other popular stores that the majority loves and learned my lesson the hard way. Their bridesmaid dress selection doesn't appear to be universally flattering either. I do know several people who agree so it's not just me. But if other people like them, then good on them. Obviously it's not for everyone but then neither is any clothing vendor for that matter.
I have two sweaters and a skirt from J. Crew that I bought in 2001, and literally, they all look brand new - and they're machine wash. That's quality!
My wedding dress was the sophia long in silk tricotine, and it was a DREAM! Worth every penny of the $170 price tag (on sale). Very well constructed and styled, and comfortable at the same time.
That said, I have very few pieces of regular clothing from JCrew. I'm just built in different proportions than is flattering in most of their clothes. But I do think they are beautiful, and the price tag definitely makes them investment pieces.
I've also had great customer service every time I've worked with them (lots while planning the wedding). I've found that you usually pay more to have the luxury of good customer service/a good return policy, like Nordstrom.
I just read this post and wanted to add something about J. Crew. I love their stuff but find a lot of it is for small chested girls. I had a horrendous time fitting into their dresses. I am a size 4-6 and the tops were so tight while the hips were way too big. I really feel their stuff is for less curvy girls (in the actual, not euphemism) sense.
I think J. Crew has done a really good job of marketing itself as a wedding store. That way, they can get away with charging as much as they do. I don't really want to get into the quality argument because I don't really own anything from J. Crew, but I do agree it is overpriced for the most part.
I also agree with you regarding quality and price. I think they are way over priced for the most part, but I'd buy their stuff if it's discounted. Quality-wise, it is hit or miss. I've had few good items from them but my overall impression is that they are overpriced for what they are. There are a lot of cheap looking clothings in their store, for sure. I'd never pay retail for their stuff. I personally prefer Banana Republic, but I won't complain if someone buys me something from JCrew.
I own lots of stuff from JCrew and I love them. I've worn Jcrew stuff for years now and I love their classic pieces that I can wear again and again. I have found their stuff to be well-constructed and long-lasting. You pay for what you get. A cashmere JCrew sweater can last for many years to come, while an acrylic sweater from Forever 21 will start to ball and fuzz in one wash.
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Everytime I go in their store I find that their items are way overpriced and cheaply made. Like the shirts are so thin and see-through. And you can tell that they will probably fall apart after a few washes. And they charge $15 for a headband? come on!
Honestly, I know their bridesmaid dresses are cute and all, but why pay over $200 for a JCrew cocktail dress when you can pay generally $150 or less for a similar short dress by Bill Levkoff or Alfred Angelo at a bridal store? I don't know, it just seems silly to me that some people have their bridesmaids buy these JCrew dresses that are so expensive!
Am I missing something? Do they use really nice materials for their dresses? Do people like JCrew just because it's a popular name brand store?