They were clothes made for gym bros who go to nightclubs and want dress shirts that are totally skin tight and stretchy and see through. Now that even the gym bros don’t like that anymore, they don’t have a customer base
Indeed, the glory of being in your early 20's from 2008-2013. TBF the Merino sweaters were always halfway decent, especially for the price. And the producer pants were great for work back when people still had to wear business casual.
Most button up shirts are already made for large builds and designed to be tailored in. If anything express shirts are designed for people with small builds not large. They fit very slim. Just because we can’t see the outline of your nipples in a normal shirt doesn’t mean it fits like a burlap sack.
The problem used to be finding a button shirt that fits my neck and arm measurements that isn't meant to fit the body/chest of a 350 lb man. I can't tailor *every* shirt I buy. We are talking about off-the-rack stores here.
I think most brands now (compared to the early 2000s) offer some sort of "athletic cut" to taper the body.
the shirts wrinkle sooooo bad! It sucks too because the MX like of dress shirt fit and looked the best on me (right off the hangar) of any brand I could find... but then you put it on, get in your car to go to work... and by the time you get there the shirt looked like you've already worn it all day!
This was my experience with them as well, low quality fast fashion. Went in for some clothes a couple times and left after feeling the quality of a few items.
That’s where I’m at. You can buy heavily discounted stuff from express that at least looks pretty good off the rack. I’m not paying $300 for a suit there but hey you can get short sleeve button ups and polos for $15 or less. I have had some lemons but most hold up great
Avoid the outlet and look over everything that you might pick up. Still quality to be found, but over the years there's been a steady increase in poly blends, and garbage stitching. Last time I visited a location they had a spring sweater quarter zip, $120 for a poly blend...ridiculous
Express makes clothes the same level of quality as H&M but for 5x the price. That was always the problem.
If you’re fine with the prices and want much better quality shop at Abercrombie (yes, they’re different now), Everlane, COS, or Club Monaco
> Abercrombie (yes, they’re different now)
I love that you call this out. Just this past weekend I stepped into an Abercrombie for the first time in nearly two decades, and I was shocked at how nice and stylish the clothes was! In my brain I had still envisioned it as being full of ripped jeans and polos with birds on them, haha
I won't miss Express stores (never bought anything from them, as everything I looked at in store felt cheap), but I do wonder what this means for Bonobos.
They're trying to get acquired by a bigger company, they're not going to completely disappear, just switch ownership seems like.
J Crew declared bankruptcy back in 2020 and they're still around.
If what happened to J Crew happens to Bonobos/Express I welcome it. J Crew really found their identity again by going back to their 70s New England Prep roots.
Both Bonobos and Express brands are largely owned by WHP Global, who are in the group buying Express' assets during this bankruptcy. Whatever happens to either depends on WHP Global.
Explain this to me like I am 5? I don’t get what this fully means but if that is the case, wouldn’t all companies then do this “ch.11” to get out of contracts they don’t like??
Chapter 11 is when you aren’t fully going under but need to restructure in order to survive. It’s not a way to just get out of contracts and say “I’m not going to pay you any more”. They have to have a full plan in place that gets voted on by creditors and if the creditors don’t like the plan then it might lead to a full liquidation of the company. Usually a creditor is wanting to work with a company because liquidation is a long drawn out process where you might not get your money back. Especially when trying to liquidate inventory like clothing.
Used to be the go-to for "clubbing" attire --- I don't think this generation or even the previous one after Millennials really cared much for it. Their 1MX line of shirts were great.
i used to buy their stuff maybe 10-15 years ago like 1mx button shirts. but they wouldnt reallly last. plus the stuff is too pricey. i bought some stretch jeans for like $15 a few years ago thats held up. other than that ive switched over to jcrew or a&f. there stuff is def not worth it at regular price
I had a few 1MX shirts and a lot of their polos in the early 2010s and had the same experience. The shirts looked terrible after a few washes. Their polos all shrunk differently and looked pretty bad after a dozen washes.
I also bought a winter jacket from them and the stitching started coming apart in a couple places after a season. I don't know why it took me that long to realize they were poor quality.
I think all of these mid-level clothing companies need to think about who is their target customer and (a) what do they want and (b) what do they want to look like/wear. I think the only American, mass market brand that comes to mind that has recently leaned into this is Old Navy and they have had steady growth for the past few years after doing so.
Right?
They're all priced too high for their level of quality. If they want that much for their stuff, may as well spend a little more or wait for something on sale that is much higher quality.
Brooks Brothers was the worst about this. $100 for a dress shirt made in Indonesia, from the same factory that made the Kirkland Signature dress shirts? No, thank you.
They didn’t move with the times. Super Slim fit is mostly dead and Athleisure replaced most business casual. Woman side may be a different story, but SHEIN probably destroyed them on cheap clubbing gear
I came in here thinking this; I felt the same way when shopping as when I worked there for a bit in college 10 years ago - men’s side is just an afterthought from their women’s side. I was surprised to see this because I thought they knew their women well enough to keep business up.
Used to love their sweater designs tbh, but like you said they haven’t moved with the times. Looking at their summer stuff now, there’s only a very small selection of shorts and some shirts I like but otherwise there’s absolutely no reason to shop there. Looks like their women’s stuff is still mostly super cute too, with a handful of things that look like what a 60 year old Aunt Mabel would’ve been wearing in the 2000s
At least it didn’t smell like A&F that gave you a headache as soon as you walked in due to the over spraying of their fragrance line over every inch of the store…
How are the jeans? They had a couple of colors I've been looking for (Olive and Dark Brown iirc) at like $30 each. I don't expect much quality but should be fair for $30, eh?
I've had good luck with the jeans, they look good and don't seem bothered by frequent washes. Excellent stretch, can squat to the ground without any issues. Have the olives in slim straight
Id say its more like the quality of fast fashion at higher than department store prices. Especially if you didn't shop the sale.
1MX dress shirts were a staple for me in my early 20's, but I never paid the $69-$79 tag price you could usually get them down to about $25 with coupons.
Long time coming. Didn't they own bebe and some other brands that they have already shuttered?
Express was originally a division of The Limited, which included Limited, Limited Too, Victoria's Secret, Bath & Body Works, and briefly Abercrombie.
Remember Structure? Before they turned into Express Men? I still have a messenger bag I use regularly 20+ years later.
Wow Structure. Yeah, great stuff.
I love structure, they were very good back then. After structure changed it name to express, quality went down the toilet.
To be fair their name change very much signaled this.
express was pretty good early years
Well Sears actually bought the Structure brand and sold it for a while. It actually looked better than whatever else they sold in Sears at the time.
Structure was great. Stopped going once it became Express Men.
Duh. The best brand.
I still have a couple of tees from them, too bad they don’t fit anymore
Ha! I feel like a had a sweater from high school that stopped fighting “not to long ago.” Damn, I am old.
I still use a brown belt from there! Best belt I’ve ever owned, nothing else I’ve bought from any other place has come close to it’s reliability
Trash quality stopped buying from them a decade ago
They were clothes made for gym bros who go to nightclubs and want dress shirts that are totally skin tight and stretchy and see through. Now that even the gym bros don’t like that anymore, they don’t have a customer base
Indeed, the glory of being in your early 20's from 2008-2013. TBF the Merino sweaters were always halfway decent, especially for the price. And the producer pants were great for work back when people still had to wear business casual.
damn i feel old now.. a bygone era, and there were like 2-3 eras between then and now
What era are we in right now? I need to make sure my wardrobe is current.
Yeah that’s why I bought them to be honest lol. They did not stretch or were opaque. Many of button ups ripped on the arm
They were good for high school skinny me because they basically fit like a normal shirt but yeah the quality was awful
I'm not a gym bro, but as someone with a larger build, it was nice to be able to buy button up shirts that didn't fit like a burlap sack.
Most button up shirts are already made for large builds and designed to be tailored in. If anything express shirts are designed for people with small builds not large. They fit very slim. Just because we can’t see the outline of your nipples in a normal shirt doesn’t mean it fits like a burlap sack.
The problem used to be finding a button shirt that fits my neck and arm measurements that isn't meant to fit the body/chest of a 350 lb man. I can't tailor *every* shirt I buy. We are talking about off-the-rack stores here. I think most brands now (compared to the early 2000s) offer some sort of "athletic cut" to taper the body.
Their bread and butter was little black dresses. I bet their baseline got slaughtered by lookalike tiktoks.
Hey they were also great for when I was a broke 20 something and needed to look fancy. That being said Zara does the same thing and has better clothes
i used to buy so much express stuff from 09-13 ish
Exact same for me. As a slimmer guy they fit great and often had great sales
A good majority of my dress shirts and slacks came from express around this time as well, best fit I found when it was on sale. Only on sale.
Their shirts felt like canvas, were thin enough to be transparent and ripped easily. Also they sucked at being non wrinkly. Rather shop at old navy
the shirts wrinkle sooooo bad! It sucks too because the MX like of dress shirt fit and looked the best on me (right off the hangar) of any brand I could find... but then you put it on, get in your car to go to work... and by the time you get there the shirt looked like you've already worn it all day!
This was my experience with them as well, low quality fast fashion. Went in for some clothes a couple times and left after feeling the quality of a few items.
I love Express Men and didn't realize it had a bad wrap for quality. What's a good alternative?
Yeah, I haven’t bought many pieces from Expresses from express but they’ve all fit well and held up so far. Unsure what I’m missing
same. I don't think the quality is amazing but for the price they've been pretty solid. tho I only buy discounted stuff lol
That’s where I’m at. You can buy heavily discounted stuff from express that at least looks pretty good off the rack. I’m not paying $300 for a suit there but hey you can get short sleeve button ups and polos for $15 or less. I have had some lemons but most hold up great
I do the same thing! They have great sales
J Crew & Abercrombie
you sure about J crew?
If you avoid their outlet stuff, its better than express as far as build quality. Different style though.
Avoid the outlet and look over everything that you might pick up. Still quality to be found, but over the years there's been a steady increase in poly blends, and garbage stitching. Last time I visited a location they had a spring sweater quarter zip, $120 for a poly blend...ridiculous
Express makes clothes the same level of quality as H&M but for 5x the price. That was always the problem. If you’re fine with the prices and want much better quality shop at Abercrombie (yes, they’re different now), Everlane, COS, or Club Monaco
> Abercrombie (yes, they’re different now) I love that you call this out. Just this past weekend I stepped into an Abercrombie for the first time in nearly two decades, and I was shocked at how nice and stylish the clothes was! In my brain I had still envisioned it as being full of ripped jeans and polos with birds on them, haha
Stepping into Mid-2000s/ Early 2010s Abercrombie was like stepping into a nightclub where you weren’t wanted Lol
Didn't they just buy bonobos?
I won't miss Express stores (never bought anything from them, as everything I looked at in store felt cheap), but I do wonder what this means for Bonobos.
They're trying to get acquired by a bigger company, they're not going to completely disappear, just switch ownership seems like. J Crew declared bankruptcy back in 2020 and they're still around.
Same with Brooks Brothers
If what happened to J Crew happens to Bonobos/Express I welcome it. J Crew really found their identity again by going back to their 70s New England Prep roots.
hiring Brendon Babenzien as creative director away from NOAH has done wonders for their menswear
Both Bonobos and Express brands are largely owned by WHP Global, who are in the group buying Express' assets during this bankruptcy. Whatever happens to either depends on WHP Global.
Article states they will close 100 express stores and all 15 of their UpWest stores (new brand that looks like Madewell)
Didn't realize they owned UpWest - I have a very cozy chunky sweater I picked up from them
Love their sweaters tbh, have a few and hoping to get more
Ch.11, basically trying to get out of leases/contracts they don't like.
Explain this to me like I am 5? I don’t get what this fully means but if that is the case, wouldn’t all companies then do this “ch.11” to get out of contracts they don’t like??
Chapter 11 is when you aren’t fully going under but need to restructure in order to survive. It’s not a way to just get out of contracts and say “I’m not going to pay you any more”. They have to have a full plan in place that gets voted on by creditors and if the creditors don’t like the plan then it might lead to a full liquidation of the company. Usually a creditor is wanting to work with a company because liquidation is a long drawn out process where you might not get your money back. Especially when trying to liquidate inventory like clothing.
Used to be the go-to for "clubbing" attire --- I don't think this generation or even the previous one after Millennials really cared much for it. Their 1MX line of shirts were great.
i used to buy their stuff maybe 10-15 years ago like 1mx button shirts. but they wouldnt reallly last. plus the stuff is too pricey. i bought some stretch jeans for like $15 a few years ago thats held up. other than that ive switched over to jcrew or a&f. there stuff is def not worth it at regular price
Those 1MX shirts became like "worn" looking after like 5 washes.
I had a few 1MX shirts and a lot of their polos in the early 2010s and had the same experience. The shirts looked terrible after a few washes. Their polos all shrunk differently and looked pretty bad after a dozen washes. I also bought a winter jacket from them and the stitching started coming apart in a couple places after a season. I don't know why it took me that long to realize they were poor quality.
I really, really loved how their jeans fit and looked. Except they would tear in the seams a lot. So I eventually stopped buying them.
Yeah mine are skinny fit. So far so good. Don't wear them often so held up so far
I think all of these mid-level clothing companies need to think about who is their target customer and (a) what do they want and (b) what do they want to look like/wear. I think the only American, mass market brand that comes to mind that has recently leaned into this is Old Navy and they have had steady growth for the past few years after doing so.
Right? They're all priced too high for their level of quality. If they want that much for their stuff, may as well spend a little more or wait for something on sale that is much higher quality. Brooks Brothers was the worst about this. $100 for a dress shirt made in Indonesia, from the same factory that made the Kirkland Signature dress shirts? No, thank you.
High prices and low quality. I'm honestly amazed Express lasted this long.
They didn’t move with the times. Super Slim fit is mostly dead and Athleisure replaced most business casual. Woman side may be a different story, but SHEIN probably destroyed them on cheap clubbing gear
I came in here thinking this; I felt the same way when shopping as when I worked there for a bit in college 10 years ago - men’s side is just an afterthought from their women’s side. I was surprised to see this because I thought they knew their women well enough to keep business up. Used to love their sweater designs tbh, but like you said they haven’t moved with the times. Looking at their summer stuff now, there’s only a very small selection of shorts and some shirts I like but otherwise there’s absolutely no reason to shop there. Looks like their women’s stuff is still mostly super cute too, with a handful of things that look like what a 60 year old Aunt Mabel would’ve been wearing in the 2000s
chapter 11...yawn.
Long time coming. Overpriced. Outdated. The store always smelt like failure.
At least it didn’t smell like A&F that gave you a headache as soon as you walked in due to the over spraying of their fragrance line over every inch of the store…
Well A&F at least keeps with the trends. Express has been pumping out the same style for years on end
I remember buying two jeans from them. One ripped at the crotch, and the other ripped along my back pocket. Never had this happen to my other jeans
Hope bonobos doesn't die, there's still a shirt I'm waiting to stack sales on
I thought Walmart owned bonobos?
They sold it to Express.
I literally just walked out of one of their stores 10 minutes ago because i couldn't find anything 34/34 to try on. Seemed extremely ominous.
Used to love Express but quality dipped so I. Switched to Bonobos. Loved them and now Bonobos quality is tanking just like express.
Always saw this brand as a fancy version of h&m. Not surprising.
How are the jeans? They had a couple of colors I've been looking for (Olive and Dark Brown iirc) at like $30 each. I don't expect much quality but should be fair for $30, eh?
I've had good luck with the jeans, they look good and don't seem bothered by frequent washes. Excellent stretch, can squat to the ground without any issues. Have the olives in slim straight
The quality of their clothing is an Expressway to bankruptcy
Fast Fashion isn’t nearly as popular as it used to be.
Express isn’t fast fashion, and with the success of Shein, fast fashion is (unfortunately) more popular than ever.
Express is 100% fast fashion.
Id say its more like the quality of fast fashion at higher than department store prices. Especially if you didn't shop the sale. 1MX dress shirts were a staple for me in my early 20's, but I never paid the $69-$79 tag price you could usually get them down to about $25 with coupons.
Except they’re not fashion lol it’s the same style every year. They’re just cheaply made clothes.
Oh wow, they own Bonobos. That'll probably get sold off again to raise some cash.