When I first moved to Hampton Roads I immediately checked out Prime Outlets Williamsburg. I had been turned onto the mall back in Jeffersonville, OH, where I would hang out at Ralph Lauren every weekend.  At the time they didn’t have a Calvin Klein, so when I moved here and realized that Calvin Klein had their own outlet I was hooked.

What I didn’t realize was that Calvin Klein is a regular staple at all of the department stores in the area.  What I also didn’t realize was that I could often find better deals where I was at, instead of going across the bridge/tunnel out of my way to find it.  Retailers tend to place a premium on the label, refusing steadfast to drop the price on it until the very last minute. 

But now Prime Outlets Williamsburg has some other labels that really are expensive in the region that are hard to find.  Hugo Boss and True Religion has opened up factory outlet stores, and it may be worth a look to see what they have to offer.  Hugo Boss is typically only sold at the Nordstroms in the area, and while most high end urban boutiques will sell some True Religion getting an actual deal on the stuff is rather difficult. 

The bottom line is that I am not going into Nordstroms fishing for a deal when I know that $50 is a good price to pay for Hugo Boss, and $100 for True Religion.  If I can get a pair of jeans out of the True Religion factory store for like $60 it would be more than I could ever hope for.  The jeans have a nice wash to them, premium fabrics yet a cut that is masculine and not as girly as lightweight jeans usually are.  They also have a sophistication in their stitching that you are hard pressed to find elsewhere.  They have character, not rough and distressed RRL or Levi’s Vintage character but a type of chic to them.  In a lot of ways they’re like LRG but more conservative.

So Prime Outlets, who I had sworn off of, may have another customer.  I also need to expand my repertoire anyway because too many times I buy Calvin Klein because I can get it relatively cheap and it is always a good buy.  Those pieces have lasted just as long, if not longer, than any other stuff I buy. 

Of course anyone who has been following Hugo Boss will tell you that the label suffers from the same dillution that has affected other brands.  There are entirely too many labels; bottom line is that any one of them are good and will suffice.  Now the problem with outlet stores is that they focus too heavily on cheap and chic brands providing a myopic outlook of the entire label.  The Calvin Klein store doesn’t sell Collection, only the Jeans label, the cK label and the stuff that says Calvin Klein, but only retails for like $100, this is all similar to the approach that was taken online. 

Now I know that I can get the whole line up of Hugo Boss at Nordstroms if I really needed to, but again, I’m not going to pay $175 for a BOSS Black dress shirt.  So this leaves me at an impasse; travel to Prime Outlets to see if I can get Hugo Boss for like $50, assuming that I am pleased enough to get it and try to snag some True Religion for a similar price.  Boss will probably be cheaper, but True Religion will give me that flair my wardrobe has been missing for a while.