Spring 2012 Custom Shirt Event

The Spring 2012 Custom Shirt Promotion and Range Reduction Event






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Allen Edmonds 90th Anniversary Promotion

Tom James Company is proud to participate in a special
 promotion from Allen Edmonds that celebrates their 90th
 Anniversary. It’s a celebration of quality and craftsmanship,
 while providing an extraordinary value for our customers.

From April 24 through May 9, 2012 the following 14 styles
 of shoes and belts will be available for purchase at a
fantastic price reduction.

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The Ageless Style of Denim Shirts

The Ageless style of denim shirts

 

 

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Welcome to the Family Connaught Group

April 12, 2012 at 9:49am

Connaught Group sold for $22M in bankruptcy auction

Women’s wear direct-seller The Connaught Group will be sold for $22 million to a joint venture between Tennessee-based Tom James Company and Hong Kong’s Royal Spirit Group, following an April 5 bankruptcy auction in New York.
The purchase price consists of $20 million in cash and the assumption of the lease for Connaught’s midtown Manhattan office space, relieving the company of a $1.9 million lease rejection claim. Royal Spirit Group, a clothing manufacturer that was Connaught’s largest creditor, will also waive its $5.4 million general unsecured claim.
As LCD reported, Connaught filed for Chapter 11 protection on Feb. 9, listing assets of $50.64 million against $61.3 million in liabilities.
The sale will close by April 19 at latest, according to an asset purchase agreement filed with the court on April 10. The Worth Collection, a fellow direct-seller of high-end women’s wear, was named back-up bidder for Connaught’s intellectual property, with a $7 million offer. Discount gift and home accessories chain Tuesday Morning will serve as the back-up bidder for the company’s inventory, with an offer of nearly $2 million.
According to a court filing by Consensus Securities, Connaught’s investment banker and financial advisor, the company received seven qualified bids, one of which was an offer to serve as a liquidation consultant, and another which purported to offer an alternative to the sale process.
Royal Spirit originally approached Consensus and Connaught about a potential restructuring, instead of a sale, but no agreement was ever reached, Consensus said. Tom James – “the world’s largest manufacturer and retailer of custom clothing,” according to its website – also spoke with Connaught about a potential sale prior to the auction process. The two joined forces on March 16, creating Forty-Three Eighty Company in order to submit the winning bid.

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Business Casual: All Business, Never Casual

Business Casual: All Business, Never Casual  Repost of WSJ.COM



Business casual: It's one of the most dreaded word combinations in the office.
What was supposed to be simple has turned out to be wildly complex. Are short-sleeved shirts permitted? Denim skirts? Capri pants? And if a golf shirt is OK, why not a collared soccer jersey?

The business-casual trend has created entire companies of people who are unsure of what to put on in the morning. Too often, they make the wrong choice. People think "it's OK to wear a tank top with bra straps showing because the tank's Dolce & Gabbana," says Alicia Kan, global head of communications for Synovate, a market-research unit of London's Aegis Group PLC.
Little wonder that Rachel Donaldson, a Denver image consultant whose clients pay her for work-wear advice, calls business casual "the black hole of style."
If you work in a corporate environment, it's just as important to get business casual right as it is to nail traditional business dress. Maybe more important: Savvy corporate politicians know that casual days are the times when their appearance will be most closely watched.

 

"People actually judge more on those days because they assume they're seeing the real person," says Jonscott Turco, a New York psychologist and human resource-consultant.
Traditional business dress is seen as a uniform; it does for the office what uniforms do for prep schools. It simplifies decision-making and makes hierarchies easy to read. We all want to identify the upperclassmen when we step into the elevator.
When the uniform is put aside, people feel free to set aside the power signals and express their style sense. But they often fail to recognize that, just as in high school, they're still being judged. It's human nature to respond to visual cues. Bell-bottomed pants may be back, says Ms. Kan, but "the best dressers resist the urge to wear them, because clients balk when you show up looking like Charo."
Creative expression aside, there are few upsides to the business-casual trend for workers. Think it saves money on expensive suits? If only. Since different offices interpret it differently, moving from company to company can mean acquiring a new business-casual wardrobe at each career stop.

A business casual look

Consider the progress of Neonu Jewell, export compliance counsel with Accenture in Chicago. At a Fortune 500 hospitality company where she used to work, a dress code barred denim -- so some people wore sweats. At her next job at a Washington law firm, senior attorneys were disapproving of women who wore open-toed shoes on summer Fridays. At Accenture, 37-year-old Ms. Jewell says, business casual still involves suits or at least carefully maintained slacks, shirts and blouses, which she says reflects the highly professional work environment there.
For some workers, the only solution to casual-dress confusion is to try to send the same messages of confidence, capability and power that traditional business attire conveys. Melisa Wilson, senior vice president for Union Bank of California in Los Angeles, works in the relatively new field of financing renewable energy, such as wind and solar power. But when it comes to dressing for work in her business-casual office, she prefers to upstage the khakis-and-golf-shirt masses. "I have been wearing more skirts and pants with heels," she says, noting that she tries to think "business appropriate" rather than business casual.
My survey of a half-dozen corporate style and image consultants indicates that women take more leeway with business casual than men, possibly because they have more choices to make. And that is creating business for the style consultants. "We're generally called in because a human-resource department has gotten sick of how the women are dressing," says Evelinda Urman, a Greenwood, Colo., image consultant whose company, Style Matters LLC, is often hired by human-resource departments to solve business-casual dilemmas.

Without exception, the consultants I spoke to advised both men and women to stick close to traditional business attire. Men might remove a tie or wear dress pants and a nonmatching jacket. Women shouldn't reveal any more skin than they would in traditional office clothes.
Slacks and unmatched jackets are an oft-recommended option for women. Power signals, such as shirts with collars, well-made shoes and good watches, are important. And no garden-party looks, like capri pants and sun dresses. If you work in an office that frowns on open-toed shoes for traditional events, don't show up in sandals on casual Friday.
Ms. Urman suspects that one of the reasons that dresses have been such big sellers for women professionals is that they simplify the what-to-wear decision in a business-casual office. Dresses, though, should still signal competence and power. No plunging necklines, and keep the length near the knee.
The whole idea of dressing for business is to put a suit of armor around the body. Gretchen Neels, a Boston communications consultant, says she was asked recently by an M.B.A. student about the wisdom of buying a suit with trendy, long "city" shorts. "I told her, 'No way. Spend money on classics that include a skirt or pants, but preferably both,' " Ms. Neels says.
Sandy Dumont, a Norfolk, Va., image consultant, says she gets regular calls from corporate clients asking her to do workshops explaining proper business-casual attire. "I say, 'No,' because there is no such thing," Ms. Dumont says. "You are either dressed for business or for casual activities."




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You are What You Wear

You are what you eat, and now, apparently, you are what you wear. A new study from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University has discovered that workplace clothes do much more than make you look sharp or change how others perceive you. In fact, it changes the way you perceive yourself and how you perform.

In this study, a group of participants were given simple white lab coats (something that a doctor or scientist would wear) and asked to perform the same test as the regularly clothed group. Those in the lab coats made half as many mistakes as the people dressed normally.

Researchers suggest that white lab coats are associated with professions that display higher levels of care and attentiveness, and that’s how this select group of participants performed.

In the past, we’ve heard of studies in which simply changing your body language can make you feel more confident and powerful, and in many ways, this study is an extension of this. Wearing the right clothes not only gives others the impression that you’re handling business, but it convinces you, too, and that’s why there’s an improvement in performance.

 

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What to wear to a Job Interview

By John Casi with select editing by Erik Peterson

Pre-note. This article only addresses men’s clothing. This is not an attempt to be sexist. I just don’t know women’s fashion and am unqualified to write an article about it. I’ll try to get a co-worker to write a companion article in the coming weeks addressing women’s attire for an interview.

It is always safest to over dress for an interview. Even if the place where you are interviewing is a casual or even outdoor environment you should plan on wearing a suit unless told otherwise. There are almost no reasons to not wear a suit to an interview. The only exception is if part of the interview involves going out of the interview room and into a non-suit environment or performing some non-suit task. An example might be walking into a construction zone, or demonstrating a mechanical proficiency. So it is most likely in your best interest to plan on wearing a suit. If your suit is three or four years old, but fits well and is a black, dark gray, or navy you don’t need to buy a new one. An interview suit is not a fashion statement per se, but rather a proclamation. It tells the interviewer that you respect them and the process and that you should be taken seriously as a candidate.

1.    Buy the best Suit you can comfortably afford. It is generally better to have one $200 suit than two $100 suits. There is a limit to this logic though. If you are interviewing for a $32,000 job don’t wear a $1,500 suit, even if your rich family member gave it to you. The interviewer is sizing you up and trying to determine if you’ll be a good fit in the organization.

2.    It always helps to bring a friend for a second opinion even if you have bought suits before. Also, if possible bring the accessories including shoes and shirt you plan on wearing with the new suit to the interview. This will help ensure a good fit and match.

3.    A suit has to be fitted. This may take a week or so. Allow yourself enough time to get the suit before the interview. Ask before buying how long it will take to tailor the suit. If the retailer cannot meet your deadline, buy the suit elsewhere or find a tailor who can. It is important to do so before committing your money. If the interview is tomorrow ask to see “Separates.” Separates are pants and coats sold separately. They are often made of the same material / patterns as suit sets and can be worn with less tailoring.

4.    Make sure the suit is a conservative color. Unless you currently wear suits everyday, buy only a navy or black Suit. In addition to being very conservative, dark suits are easy to accessorize with a black shoes, black socks, a black belt, a solid colored shirt, and simple yet fashionable tie. If the suit has pin stripes, the stripes should be the width of a pin and understated. Again the suit should be conservative. Whether the suit has two buttons or three or whether it is single or double breasted is less important than that the color and print are conservative.

5.    If you don’t know your suit size, insist on being measured before you try a suit on. This might make the sales person uncomfortable, but it is your money and you are the customer. Remember you can insist on being measured and still be polite about it. This request is important because the sales person’s job is to make a sale. Many of them will try to talk you into the first suit they put on you and try to explain how the tailor will make it all work. There are limitations to tailoring:

• The suit should fit in the shoulders. The shoulder pads should not stick out further than your shoulders, and the suit should button easily without stretching. The tailor cannot fit the shoulders.
• 1/4 of an inch of the shirt cuff should be showing when your arm is fully extended. If you did not bring a dress shirt, ask to borrow one in your size for the fitting. A sleeve cannot be extended. If it is too short don’t buy the suit. If you are over 5’11, you will need a “Long” suit. Long is often denoted with the suffix L. 46L means 46 inch chest, long. 46R means 46 inch chest regular length.
• The “Drop” is the difference between the chest and the waist. “American Cut” suits have a six inch drop. This means a 38 inch jacket comes with pants with a 32 inch waist. “European Cut” suits have a 7 inch drop, and “Athletic Cut” suits have an 8 inch. Pants can only be let in or taken out 1 inch. DO NOT let a sales person convince you otherwise. I did, and the belt loops in the back of my first suit touched each other. If your drop is less than 5 inches or more than 9 inches, you either have to buy a custom made suit or buy separates. Buying separates is much more cost and time efficient than the custom made option.
• If you do choose to buy separates, you will still need to have them tailored for an ideal fit.
• Trust the sales person to hem to the right length. If you did not bring dress shoes for the fitting, insist they loan you a pair. It is crucial that you are wearing dress shoes as most men’s casual shoes do not have an elevated heal. Whether you choose straight leg or a cuff is a personal choice. A cuff is often times more expensive to tailor.                                                                              

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