The Brooks Brothers Lifestyle
Upscale clothing retailer Brooks Brothers expands offerings with new lines and new stores.
Susan H. Fishman

After nearly 190 years in business, Brooks Brothers continues to create new concepts that appeal to customers.

For nearly two centuries, Brooks Brothers has been an American icon, perhaps best known as an elegant and sophisticated clothing retailer. Now, the company is introducing a new “lifestyle” concept with three new stores and plans for more throughout the country.

The first ready-to-wear fashion emporium in America, Brooks Brothers was founded by Henry Sands Brooks in 1818. Known for exceptional quality and luxury, Brooks Brothers stores have outfitted presidents, statesmen and celebrities with everything from sportswear and Polo shirts to customized suits, sport coats and trousers in classic American style.

Catering to both men and women, Brooks Brothers has grown to 103 factory stores and 102 retail stores in the United States. Internationally, the retail portfolio consists of 144 stores, including the company’s airport locations. In the retail arena, Brooks Brothers currently has 93 full-line retail stores, six women’s stores and three Country Club stores, the newest retail operation based on the company’s “lifestyle” collection, called “Brooks Brothers Country Club.”

Among the 103 factory locations is another sportswear venue, called “346,” a take-off from the Brooks Brothers factory store that is priced about 25 percent less than a retail sportswear operation. The mall-based, moderate store offers limited suiting for customers and sportswear for both men and women and averages about 5,000 square feet.

Brooks Brothers’ stores showcase the merchandise in a traditional design.

Over its many years in business, Brooks Brothers has rolled out several new lines and improved its quality and customer service. Most recently, the company introduced its Black Fleece line, which was created by CFDA award-winning menswear designer Thom Browne. Known for the “Golden Fleece” symbol (the flying ram logo stitched on Brooks Brothers Polo shirts and found throughout the stores), which was adopted as the company’s trademark in the early days, Brooks Brothers played off the name and logo to create the new high-fashion, upscale line that will roll out in the 30 top company stores this fall.

In 2001, Brooks Brothers introduced Digital Tailoring, an innovative body scanning technology that allows the customer to customize men’s suits, sport coats, trousers and dress shirts. The technology provides custom-made clothing, precisely tailored to fit the body’s unique contours and specific proportions.

In 2003, the Country Club Collection was born. The new line of lifestyle clothing, met standards of quality, comfort and class. Not strictly for golf or tennis, the tightly focused line of clothing is designed “for easy movement from the course to the clubhouse and on to the dining room.”

Country Club

The traditional Brooks Brothers stores have carried the Country Club collection for the last several years, and the private label has done so well, the company decided to test it on its own.

“We thought if we did just a store with Country Club, along with our sportswear — shorts, casual trousers, swimsuits, etc. — it would stand on its own in a resort area,” says Kathy Self, chief real estate officer for Brooks Brothers.

There are currently three Brooks Brothers Country Club stores located in lifestyle centers in resort areas. The first Country Club store opened in Sandestin, Florida, in May 2007 and another soon followed in Newport, Rhode Island, where Brooks Brothers opened its original store in 1909. The third store is located in Tucson, Arizona. Future locations are planned for Sarasota, Florida; Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and outside of Houston.

“Lifestyle centers lend themselves to Country Club because there are so many golf clubs, tennis clubs in the area,” says Self. “Our sportswear collection in Country Club is really designed for the customer from the golf course or the tennis court to anywhere in between. So it’s for the participant and the spectator.”

Self adds that the company will continue to pursue lifestyle centers or freestanding stores in resort areas where it feels Brooks Brothers sportswear would be something that the customer would be interested in.

The Country Club store is designed like a “Country Club.” The fixturing is all antique, rustic white. You don’t see any cash registers, and the counters or desks look like a bar with stools. The stores are decorated based on the area of country they are in, so for example, the Newport store has a “sailboat” theme and caters to the boating customer. The average square footage is 2,500 to 5,000 square feet. 

“It’s a very comfortable place to come in and sit down and relax, notes Self. “It’s kind of like a pro shop or a very nice, resorty sportswear store. It does not look like a Brooks Brothers store.”