I’m an old guy but I still remember when the light went on in my head about how American marketing works. It was many years ago and I needed to buy suits for a new job (back when you wore suits to work). I wanted nice but my budget was limited.

I went to the outlets and was told by someone that the Brooks Brothers suits sold “exclusively” in the outlets (their “346” brand) are nothing more than cheaply made versions of what they sold in their brick-and-mortar stores. (This was before online shopping.)

I bought two suits anyway. They were right though. The suits wore out fast. You get what you pay for.

Have to be careful. Companies have figured out how to exploit BF. They now produce a lot of products (TVs for example) just for BF. Lower quality and missing a few key features but at a “great” price. This formula has been around a while. Outlets used to have real bargains too. Now, not so much.