This is a list intended for men. Most of these brands carry women's clothing too, but you won't find women's-only preppy brands, like Lilly Pulitzer, listed.
It's worth remembering that all of these companies are in business to turn a profit and therefore sell trendy clothes along side their more traditional offerings. These "fashion" pieces are easy to avoid once you understand just what traditional clothing is.
True traditional clothing means that a five-year-old boy, his 40-year-old father and 75-year-old grandfather all wear the same things.
The following list is by no means exhaustive. But it should give you a solid idea of what stores to shop at for traditional clothing.
Brooks Brothers
Founded in the year 1818, Brooks Brothers is the oldest clothing manufacturer located inside the United States. They invented "traditional clothing". They are the most genuinely trad brand.
In fact, it's somewhat surprising that we don't all say "the brooks look", as opposed to "the preppy look", when describing traditional clothing.
Some Brooks Brothers historical highlights:
* In 1896, John E. Brooks, the grandson of Henry Sands Brooks, applied buttons to collars of dress shirts, thus creating the worlds first button-down collars.
* They created the first pink dress shirt for men in the 1890s (still the best shade of pink available anywhere; women didn't get a pink dress shirt until the 1930s).
* The Shetland sweater, introduced in 1904.
* Polo coat about 1910.
* Madras, introduced from India via Brooks Brothers to the public in 1920.
* Argyles: in 1949, Brooks Brothers became the first American retailer to manufacture argyle socks for men.
* The first lightweight summer suits made of cotton corduroy and seersucker were introduced by Brooks during the early 1930s.
When it comes to the iconic polo tennis shirts, Brooks was third, after Lacoste (1926) and Fred Perry (1951). They released their first polo in the early 1960's.
Lacoste
Nicknamed "The Crocodile", French tennis legend René Lacoste created the worlds first polo shirt in 1926. Becoming immensely popular in the early 1930s, the polo shirt has endured to become a genuine preppy icon. Any self-respecting prep has numerous Lactose polos in his collection.
Ralph Lauren
A former employee of Brooks Brothers, American designer Ralph Lauren struck out on his own in the late 1960s and went on to become, perhaps, the worlds best-known brand offering traditional attire.
In the early 1970's Mr. Lauren sewed a little logo of a polo player onto some his women's shirts. This logo was so successful that virtually every clothing maker on the planet tried to emulate his success with their own brand logo, leading to a plethora of unique shirt logos by the 1980s. None of them were successful. That is until 1998, when Vineyard Vines introduced their preppy clothing line featuring a whale logo.
Ralph Lauren carries one of the largest selections of traditional (casual) clothing available.
Vineyard Vines
Founded in 1998 on Martha's Vineyard by brothers Shep and Ian Murray. They started out making ties by funding themselves, charging $40,000 to their credit cards, and have since gone on to become the only clothing company since Ralph Lauren to be fully embraced by real preps.
Vineyard Vines was placed on Inc. magazine's list of the 500 fastest-growing businesses in the U.S. in 2007. That same year their profits neared 40 million.
They sell a great polo, as well as belts, oxford shirts, shorts, and bags.
L.L. Bean
Founded in 1912 by Leon Leonwood Bean, L.L. Bean is "Prep mecca". They are the most genuinely preppy brand.
They started out selling outdoor equipment such as firearms, backpacks, tents, as well as producing a full line of clothing.
Their iconic duck boots (created in 1912 by Mr. Bean himself) are a mandatory item for preps. Other must-have L.L. Bean items are their flannel-lined chinos and their (now-famous) Norwegian sweaters, among other things.
Author Hunter S. Thompson referred to wearing L.L.Bean shorts in a number of his works, most notably during the "Wave Speech" featured in chapter 8 of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
Some preps like to collect their vintage catalogs for nostalgic reasons.
Annual sales for the company tops 1.5 billion a year.
J. Press
Founded in 1902 on Yale University's campus in New Haven, Connecticut.
J. Press carries on a traditional Ivy League style of men's clothing. The company caters most to the old-fashioned preppy subculture that eschews popular culture trends. The company makes an effort not to outsource the production of its clothing to developing countries or to use synthetic materials in its line.
According to The Preppy Handbook, their (former) store, on 44th Street between Fifth and Madison Avenues, was chosen because it was equidistant from the Harvard Club and Yale Club.
Lands' End
Lands' End began as a sailboat equipment company in 1963 in Chicago, Illinois.
The company is named from its sailboat heritage, after Land's End, but the misplaced apostrophe in the company name was a typographical error that they could not afford to change, as promotional materials had already been printed. It remains today.
Sears bought the company in 2002 (for 2 billion), but many preppy staples can still be found among their offerings.
Honorable Mention:
Tommy Hilfiger
Founded in 1984, the Tommy Hilfiger Corporation went public in 1992 with a full line of traditionally-inspired clothing.
Some will cry foul at my listing Tommy Hilfiger among the poser-prep clothing outfitters. And while I understand that Mr. Hilfiger has stated publicly that he came to regret the hip-hop crowd adopting his clothing in the later half of the 1990s, there is no denying that his company went to great lengths to cash-in on the trend.
Mr. Hilfiger claims to have repented his trendy ways, and has declared that he wants to return to his traditional roots and regain his brands cred with preps - yet, one glance through their catalog tells a different story.
So until they make a full return to authentic preppy clothes they shall remain ingloriously positioned between my list of genuine preppy brands and my list of pseudo-preppy brands (see below).
All that being said, their classic polo is still a viable choice for the trad minded.
Brands to avoid:
Below is my list of brands that many believe are "Prep" --but simply are not.
J. Crew
The official story is that J.Crew was founded in 1983 by Arthur Cinader in "the hopes of capitalizing on the success of The Official Preppy Handbook" and Ralph Lauren.
This company is, perhaps, the most despised brand among real preps. This distaste may be due to the fact that so many people believe that they are the real deal. Well, they're not.
Avoid. Few brands will make you look more like a try-hard.
About the only item I could tolerate would be their logo-less tennis polo.
Abercrombie & Fitch
There are many reasons (see below) why you should avoid this brand like a disease. Being perceived as the ultimate prep-poser is perhaps the number one reason for the traditionally-minded man not to wear their trendy clothes.
Founded in 1892, Abercrombie & Fitch was a respectable outfitter of sporting and excursion goods, particularly noted for its expensive shotguns, fishing rods, fishing boats, and tents.
In 1976, Abercrombie & Fitch filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Shortly thereafter the name was revived, when in 1978, Oshman's Sporting Goods, a Houston-based chain, bought the defunct firm's name and mailing list for $1.5 million.
The company has been accused of promoting the sexualization of pre-teen girls by marketing thongs to 10-year-olds and padded bikini tops to 7-year-olds.
In 2013, the company came under fire for comments made by the CEO, stating that his brand is only suitable for "the good-looking, cool kids," and that there are people who don't belong in his clothes – namely fat people.
Classy.
Hollister
An American "lifestyle" brand by Abercrombie & Fitch. Officially designed to attract consumers aged 14–18. (See above)
American Eagle Outfitters
Founded in 1977. Officially, the brand targets 15- to 25-year-old males and females.
Some of the brand's best-selling products are low-rise jeans and graphic T-shirts.
Bottom line: they are not prep and I would rather wear a potato sack than don their trendy and cheap clothing. Avoid.
Aéropostale
Founded in 1973, they officially target 14-to-21-year-old young men and women.
Another brand that tries to market themselves as a preppy outfitter. And many young people believe that they are.
Well, they're not.
The above list of wanna-be preppy brands to avoid is not exhaustive. But those listed are the main brands incorrectly referred to as "preppy" by the masses of trendy youth today.
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