WTAPS

[maj]

[maj]

[can-]

i'm on the fence with double taps. if you took away everything on the internet telling you how cool W)taps is, would it still be that cool? do the clothes stand on their own?

the ecwcs and parasmock are cool, and their bdus are definitely up there.

[RycePooding]

I like how wearable a lot of it is.

[ramseames]

Fuck, I was gonna make this thread.

Vans collab was a depressing example of letting the brand get diluted and as much as I wanted a pair initially in retrospect I'm very happy I stayed away

[maj]

i ordered a tee today, philly one, quite excited.

i think ryce hit the nail on the head about wear ability, it's just nice stuff which allows you to nerd out with the military repro cuts in the jackets and pants but to the average person it looks like h&m or pantagonia.

wtaps x vans was indeed horrible, sounds mad pretentious but people who usually shop at pacsun after seeing kanye rocking some posting them over tumblr makes me a bit ill.

[ramseames]

Too easy to get, too cheap, too many pairs. Aside from my ignorance of new york shopping there's just 5 retailers for all of north america (and 3 of those are Haven), and they basically gave a full size run of all the colourways to every vans vault account across america. Think its pretty much openly acknowledged that brands like this live and die on their exclusivity, not because they're really that expensive, but they're expensive enough for their target demo that you have to really want what it is they're selling to be willing to spend that much. When you boil down the brand association to being a $20 price increase and a little woven tag then you're letting anyone be a part of that. which sort of ruins it.

FPAR is where its at. Bought a couple tees and a toque via proxy and got absolutely murdered by customs when I picked up from the post office but I'm still happy.

[maj]

thinking proxy is the only way to go now, went into hideout the other day and they just said they stopped stocking all together and just selling stuff off they had about, end still a good shout for tees but the mark up is a bit sickening on some pieces useless for any bigger pieces however. hoping FB does a good varied collection this f/w as i really hate using proxies as the british post/ lack of returns is so unpredictable but i think i'll eventually bite the bullet.

just waiting for some jungle pants and a shell to pop up in my size on the bay of dreams/fuk and it'll be sick.

do you find sizing all over the place? some tees are like normal euro sizing, but others are asian. tried on some sweats and they seem to be asian but then the jackets seem to be normal in some cases and tiny in others. not sure if it depends on season or just the market the specific piece was intended for.

[ramseames]

I'll still buy stuff from haven because it's convenient to get to try it on and handle it and I like the guys there and it would be a shame not to have a store like that here. But yeah, when it's a really big item and you'll save a couple hundred by proxying it's hard not to. You don't save any money on the tees though, not with how the fees workout.

My sweat is an XL and it's like a smallish L, FPAR tees are L and like an inch too short but otherwise good, and my flannel is pretty much TTS. Which only makes me want to buy stuff in person all the more.

[starfox64]

you clowns need avatars

i would like a wtaps field jacket but i don't want to spend like $500+ on it.

[ramseames]

Thought they had to be assigned by committee.

If you click the last link maj posted, stylistic space, they have a bunch of m65s and such at really good pricing.

[thomaspaine]

I guess I don't really get this brand. Here's what I know:

* The name is pronounced "double taps"

* They like to use crossbones

* Streetwear dudes on the internet love them

I want to say it seems like military inspired americana, or like vietnam era inspired streetwear, but most of the stuff I see for sale is just tees/hats/hoodies that say wtaps.

Not to be dismissive but I don't know what all the hype is about? Maybe my opinion would change if I could actually see the stuff in person.

I do like these sneakers but $200 is a lot to drop on canvas sneakers

[ramseames]

Vietnam inspired steetwear is like 60% of what they do, the other 40 is more trad/ivy stuff. Really have to go handle it to get the appeal, it looks too expensive for what it is until you get to see all the little details and just how nice everything is. Outerwear/shackets are their strong point.

As far as those sneakers go;

A. They're made in Japan

B. That's a north American price, the converted Japanese price would be lower

C. It keeps them exclusive to within the circle of people who really love what they do. Like you said, you like them but you don't think you would pay that much for them.

FWIW they're really nice, just don't own a pair because the max size is us11

[bels]

How do I feel about deliberately overpricing and limiting things just to keep them exclusive and help people who have the time/money available feel special.

[germinal]

How do I feel about fashion.

[starfox64]

or upscale restaurants, wine, etc.

[bels]

Not everything that's expensive and limited is expensive and limited just for the sake of it though.

[germinal]

true, i was being facetious

wtaps is at heart a lifestyle brand, the products will always be secondary... it would lose any attraction if everyone could buy it.
if they weren't expensive and limited just for the sake of it (i.e. they justified the expense through e.g. "artisanal craftsmanship"), would they be able to sell the same lifestyle?

[ramseames]

Neither are they, though. Going back to what I was talking about with regards to the vans collaboration, what I'm saying is I'd rather them make something interesting/well constructed than just dilute themselves with cheap branded things.

Edit: dammit didn't see germ's reply.

[starfox64]

is it really a lifestyle brand? i mean, it is in the west, where there are limited stockists and absurd pricing structures that are driven by geeky otaku wannabees who fetishize this stuff over the internet. or at least that's mostly how i see it, i dunno, maybe more fashion-y people are actually interested in wtaps, nbhd, etc.

i see these japanese brands (nonnative, wtaps, neighborhood, sophnet, to a lesser extent bape and visvim) as just these kind of average japanese clothing companies that blew up with a subsection of western fashion fans through the internet, which has distorted their perception for most of us. their pricing schemes are a lot more sensible in japan, and they are also way more widely available. red wing, viberg, inverallan, and maybe supreme have all had the same experience going the opposite way. even clarks dbs are like $250 or so in japan from what i remember.

[RycePooding]

what do you guys mean by lifestyle brand? Is APC a lifestyle brand? What' the WTAPS lifestyle promote?

[bels]

tbh I don't know what a lifestyle brand is.

[maj]

agree on the fact if i could get it at asos this stuff would be shite, but then again most things would that live on branding. definitely made well from the limited stuff i've handled but that only goes so far, just the idea of dressing like an action man still lives on in peoples mind and they play on it heavily. the cuts from what i've seen are all similar/updated to the milsurp counterparts down to the materials but the different tags and occasional pattern change is just enough to stop you looking like a gearqueer compared to if you were to dress up in milsurp.

all in all it's pretty neckbeard and no diffrent from people wanting to buy yeestyle to look like a final fantasy character, but it's part of the charm.

[maj]

mail man just dropped this off.

[sknss]

that carpet is not where this thing should be

[purkinje]

I ordered ripstop BDUs and a jungle jacket from stylisticspaces a week or two ago and they came the other day. I've worn the BDUs a few times, and they seem really nice for something that's been used heavily and is being sold with a big discount. The material is really soft and they're pretty warm for such a thin fabric, wind resistant enough to stay comfortable in fall upstate NY weather but breathable (with ventilation holes) for indoors. Visually I got what I paid for, they're baggy but I'm not swimming in them, which is pretty much what I was looking for. I don't think I'd pay $400 for them but used they're a good buy so far.

Not much to say about the jungle jacket, stitching and material is good but it's comparable to surplus. Snaps are often difficult to close but that may be due to its age. As maj said a lot of the price is definitely in the branding.

[ramseames]

Small editorial with some fw13 stuff done by Grind magazine:

[can-]

I like taps but this looks like a j crew catalog IMO .

what's their pricing like if you buy @ JP prices? is this feasible?

[starfox64]

prices are like between nonnative and visvim in japan. $150-250 shirts, $650 boots, etc. still probably more expensive than what i would want to pay.

one of the issues, though, is that they don't allow online shopping in japan, so it's kind of tough to see exactly how much things cost. stores can say what they have for sale, but not actually show pics of the products. i guess you could cross-reference that with the lookbook, but it is honestly more work than i want to put in.

[ramseames]

Can you not get full buys of each season at isetan or wherever?