J. Crew Fall/Winter Collection 2025
The Kingdom of Prep Returns, But is it Hanging by a Thread?
Walking out of the J. Crew store in New Haven, Connecticut over the summer I had concluded that J. Crew was a brand moving in the right direction, with a focus on material quality and a return-to-basics mentality. I am happy to say that they presented ‘mostly’ that same philosophy in this year’s Fall and Winter collection. J. Crew always has their larger sales around Black Friday, hence the timing of this review.
In the past I have covered certain pieces from each collection that I had purchased and stood out to me. I will not be doing the same for this review. Below I will include photos and personal experience with every garment I write about, covering the bases of the whole collection instead of going in depth on just a few items. The only items I personally purchased from this year’s collection are the classic rollneck sweater, as well as two of their ‘Broken-in’ oxford cloth button down shirts in a slim and classic fit.
Let’s start this review with a quintessential piece of every prep collection, the aforementioned oxford shirts. J. Crew only has a ‘Broken-in’ option for their oxford shirts which makes them soft and plush to the touch, definitely a worn in feel, and that is not a bad thing. The material used is not at the quality of some higher-end brands, though for the price matches up quite well with its few competitors. The material is on the thin side without feeling like a cheap fabric, just more lightweight.
It can be worn well under a sweater, blazer, or alone like any oxford shirt and the striped pattern colors look great. The only styling to note is even for a slim guy like myself the ‘Slim Fit’ is a little too slim and a bit suffocating when wearing with an undershirt, but this is partially a personal problem as I am right between sizing S and M. Perhaps size up with the slim and size down with the classic fit if you are like me. The shirt could also come down a bit more in the torso allowing for more tuck away material but that is a personal preference. The big gripe is the S,M,L.. sizing choice instead of numbered stylings. This would have alleviated my problem of the caught-in-between sizing which will definitely affect other men.
Now that I have gotten the good stuff out of the way, I have to address the theme of this review and the letdown of these shirts. When I picked up the oxford shirt off of the rack I took a look at some of the buttons and noticed some of the poorest stitching I have ever seen on a new shirt (shown below). I thought it could be a problem with the specific shirt so I looked at a few more, and a few more; Nope, in almost every shirt I noticed a button problem. This traces back to a few weeks earlier when I received a couple of the shirts in the mail and assumed mine was a one off. J. Crew nailed almost everything else about the basics in this collection except the stitching, and that pattern does continue. I conclude that the bones of their OCBD offering is good but only if they can fix their quality control and manufacturing issues.
After a disappointing first experience with the J. Crew collection this season I decided to look at some of their most heavily advertised material, the basket stitch sweater. The basket stitch sweater is made of pure cotton and nicely styled like their other offerings. It has a high neckline making wearing a button down underneath sometimes a bit uncomfortable but will cover an undershirt underneath allowing you to wear it as a standalone sweater if you choose. It had heft to the material even being cotton and the weave was well done giving off a good visual texture. The garment is fully fashioned, meaning cut from one piece of fabric with the ends attached by machine link. If you wear a necklace with a pointed edge it could catch and tug at the stitching in the neckline either damaging your jewelry or the garment, just something to be concerned about with this kind of neckline stitching and looser garment weave. Overall the basket stitch sweater seems well built although I would have liked to see some extra consideration taken with the neckline choice.
“Overall the basket stitch sweater seems well built although I would have liked to see some extra consideration taken with the neckline choice.”
Talking about J. Crew’s other sweater offerings this season, the other heavily marketed style was the rollneck sweater. Even though it is supposed to be nautical it was chosen to be woven in a heavy cotton. This is something that would make any sailor very cold out on the water, but on land like the rest of us it should serve its purpose just fine. I am willing to excuse the material choice as the wool options are far more expensive and are much more delicate; the cotton is also surprisingly warm although not insulating; the heft and weight to it feel cozy on an evening couch session or afternoon stroll. The styling is simply wonderful, the rollneck is quite customizable leaving room to roll the sleeves, hip, and neck up or down is great to have a more casual or dressed mood and gives it a vintage appeal. The heritage was found in the styling, bringing back memories of the past which was well executed. The shoulders are a bit thin and sometimes show through as the bottom of the garment pulls down but the stitching is well done (where there are stitches) and seams are clean. The garment from torso to neck is one piece of fabric so it is well held together and if taken care of, will last a long time. I would be careful with the loose knit and try to prevent snagging as the net-like, ribbed nature of the weave makes it very drapey and loose although it is part of the appeal. I will note that the cotton they used does have a fair amount of yarn bloom (the fuzzy pilling on the surface after a few wears), this is nothing to be concerned about generally if it is treated gently but does tell us something about the manufacturing process. J. Crew is most likely using short low-spin cotton which is slipping out of the twists and pilling. On higher end garments they will use long and stable fibers that are tougher to unbind. Again, this isn’t a big problem as it will go away and it is just an initial shed of the weakest and shortest fibers that likely won’t come back but it is something to note. A short go-around with a fabric shaver should clear it up.
Keeping the positivity was the J. Crew cashmere line. I was deeply impressed with how well they had constructed much of the cashmere line. The neckline has a flat-felled seam that keeps the edges from being exposed, wrapping them back under the torso fabric. This shows attention to detail from the brand and is a highlight of the collection. The cashmere was soft and plush as well as heavily marketed around New York Fashion Week although it seems they had plenty of stock left and have been on deep sales so perhaps they didn’t sell as well as they predicted, although I am not sure why as the quality was fantastic.
Something else to talk about was the cardigans, they were well built in construction although the cardigan I had found on the rack had only two holes stitched through instead of four. I checked the others and saw it was a QC flaw again. Cardigan buttons often get stretched and are subject to a fair amount of wear and tear so seeing this was incredibly disappointing. Once again, the styling and material choices were not the issue—the execution was. Talking about the stitching on the garment, all of the seams were done well with no exposed material. The cuffs were also rolled in leaving little room for snags and pulls. It may be worth getting the buttons resewn by a tailor if you find many of these items on sale as the material quality is quite good for the price, the buttons just seem to be a letdown.
“the material quality is quite good for the price, the buttons just seem to be a letdown.”
What caught my eye this year was the redone sport coat lineup. The two classic options of the tweed jacket and gold button navy blazer were the ones on the rack that I chose to take a look at. In recent years J. Crew has made their sport coats an afterthought in their lineup but after speaking to some employees and the store manager who gave me the rundown on this year’s collection, it seems that the brand has decided to put more effort into them for this season’s run. I assume they are looking to redefine their brand image for a higher-end market as we saw with the cashmere. The tweed jacket is using high quality 370g weight wool which is a heavy weight fabric from the Moon Mill in England. From our research it seems to be a highly reputable mill that supplies a wide range of brands with fabric. The jacket was in their classic (Crosby) styling with well sewn buttons and a good lining. In isolation this jacket is a big step up from their recent options and for the price of $448 retail it raises the question of how much more you need to spend for a good looking jacket. Some other options to consider in this price range would be the No. 1 Sack Coat in Harris Tweed from Brooks Brothers which is currently on sale as of writing this for $558 (review coming soon on Brooks Brothers) although retails for around $800. The navy blazer was more of the same with styling, a slim and attractive cut that runs a bit small (as is normal with J. Crew slim-fit). The offering they had in store seemed to be one of their all season offerings with a wool-cotton blend although that particular style with the gold buttons is likely in-store only as we cannot find this particular garment anywhere on the website, although the 100% wool one is available for $448 (We saw the cotton blend ones in different styles on sale for $250 at one point this week while doing research for the review). As seems to be a theme the buttons are where the price starts to show, getting them tightened up would definitely be recommended with some loose threads showing off the rack. The stitching throughout the rest of the garment seemed on par with some higher end offerings and overall the material felt a small step below the tweed although still quite good especially for the price. For trying to compete with the lower-end segment the material quality put much of the competition to shame with the closest contender most likely being Bonobos who frequently use synthetic fibers and disappointing linings in their jackets and aim more toward the young New York finance crowd. We don’t have very much experience with Bonobos jackets but from their website and the ones I have seen in person the J. Crew option is well-made in comparison. (Another pretty basic carry-over offering from their past collection is shown in the bottom photos. Updated with perhaps more interesting materials although nothing we thought was worth noting specifically.)
Looking around the rest of the store there were a few curious workwear offerings and odd coats they had on display. The peacoat in the photos was well-made and at a decent price point if you are in the market for one, but I would go try it on yourself in store as peacoats sizing can change drastically from person to person. The car coat they had on offer was nothing special for the price of almost $600 although definitely well-thought-out design wise with a cross neck button collar and well-placed jacket pockets. Other workwear they had on display were barn coats that mimic the classic L.L. Bean designs. If you are in the market for a new barn coat I would recommend buying them from L.L. Bean and not from a copycat design as no one gets it better than the classic. The J. Crew offering is quite nice with the big corduroy collar and well-stitched buttons but for more money I can’t imagine that it is much better if at all than the original. There were also some odd garments that seemed like remnants from the old J. Crew were still on the rack, something worth noting (Photo of a sweater like this shown in the bottom photos with the material label).
“remnants from the old J. Crew were still on the rack”
J. Crew also launched a brand new line of denim this year which is their ‘Classic Fit’. From what we can tell the 484, 770, and 1040 naming scheme is now totally reserved for their ‘Stretch’ line of denim which contain varying amounts of synthetic fibers. Anywhere from 2% to 30% so make sure you are buying the right ones. The new line is made well with solid rivets and good denim, the fit seems to be like the 770 straight-fit but with no taper toward the calf. It is an attractive cut although with similar options from Wrangler for less expensive we find it hard to recommend unless it’s on sale. The Wrangler denim is a classic and definitely worth checking out if you are looking for a rugged pair of jeans. Prep is starting to embrace denim and it may be worth giving a dark wash pair of jeans a try.
“Prep is starting to embrace denim and it may be worth giving a dark wash pair of jeans a try.”
The last specific item we wanted to talk about was their new ‘Classic Trouser’. This is another one of their offerings from the slimmed down collection that covers a lot of bases without the fluff of different cuts and stylings like they had in the past. The simplification of the collection has been a great move from the brand and we wish they would condense it even further to a back-to-basics brand and narrow down the collection. The basics seems to be what they are doing best with this garment being no different. They use a high quality wool with a true straight-fit style that will fit many men. The buttons are well-stitched with a cross button on the inside to help with a beltless look and comfort as well as hold the trousers flat on slimmer men like myself. The higher rise is very welcomed allowing them to sit on the true waist and come pre-cuffed at the bottom. If you remember my previous review you would know that this is not the first of this trouser line I have reviewed and the ‘Classic Trouser in Canvas’ they had on offer over the summer scored similarly high praise from myself and their ‘Classic Chinos’ have garnered a similar reputation as the best for the price.
Overall the takeaway from this review is that J. Crew is in about the same place they were 6 months ago when I published my last review, just this time with a few good looking sport coats and a removal of some of the dreadful styles they kept dragging along season to season. The ‘Seaboard Knit’ seems as though it is sadly here to stay with its synthetic mess of materials; the button stitching and certain sweater seams are a concern but the bones of a solid lineup is still here. The materials have been stepped up and some of their offerings were quite the welcomed surprise. From a short conversation with a store rep it seems they have been able to turnover more men’s inventory in recent months than in the past and they have received a lot of praise for certain pieces like the boisterously promoted cashmere line which was executed perfectly and helped them reach a higher-end target audience. The focus on materials was a smart choice from the brand although they now need to focus on their manufacturing and quality control as what they have put out for their oxford shirts is nothing short of disappointing. Then again I find myself reaching back for their OCBD’s week after week so clearly they have some appeal. The Kingdom of Prep seems to have followed the path less taken by brands nowadays although it seems they have done a bit of off-roading that they need to smooth out.
Even the bag had a loose thread…
