I’ve posted before that I was very happy with Jos. Bank clothes because they sent a regional director out to help replace a bundle of my clothes. I will tell you now that I wouldn’t buy another article of clothing from Jos. Bank again. Every article of clothing I own from their company has fallen apart within a year. Sure, they keep replacing it, but that isn’t the point. I want to buy clothes that will last. I didn’t want to rent clothing.
So I looked around for the best places to buy men’s clothing and decided to give Nordstrom a try. I’ll outline all the differences between Nordstrom and Jos. Bank and how Nordstrom gets everything right.
1. Nordstrom has very knowledgeable and credible sales people, at least the one that I have worked with. Jos. Bank has a few guys in the store that know about pants and shirts but obviously they have no idea if something fits me right. Recently I took back a pair of pants without my wife. When she saw the new pair and how they fit she was appalled. They were tight and they made the cuff far too high. It looked like I was wearing floods. But the guy at Jos. Bank swore they were perfect. At Nordstrom they brought a tailor into the dressing area to decide how the pants fit, if they needed to be taken in or taken out. That just didn’t seem to be an option at Jos. Bank. They only measured for length. Everything else was, apparently, perfect.
2. Nordstrom has a tailor on site. He doesn’t come in on certain days. Nor does Nordstrom send the pants out to get fixed. Nordstrom’s tailor knows what he is doing. And knows every bit about how the pants should fit and if they are wrong or right. Jos. Bank has a sales guy who only seems to be interested in my purchasing clothes, because nearly everything fit perfectly when it didn’t.
3. Nordstrom dress clothing are superior to Jos. Bank’s clothing. The Hugo Boss pants at Nordstrom are amazing. The cloth is a huge step-up. The pants might be twice the cost but I won’t be bring these back to Nordstrom in a year with seams coming apart. The dress shirts are soft, fitted correctly and can be washed at home rather than being sent to a dry cleaner. The extra cost of the shirt is made back in 6 months by the savings in my dry cleaning bill.
After trying to be a Jos. Bank customer the marriage is over. Nordstrom understands customer service and quality products. Sure, it costs more, but over time it will pay for itself. Especially when this is my work clothing and I have to live in them ten or more hours a day.
By the way, I’ve since donated most of my Jos. Bank clothes to charity. The necks have since shrunk for some unexplained reason and the seams in the pants are coming apart. Good riddance Jos. Bank.
