This post may contain affiliate links and Corporette® may earn commissions for purchases made through links in this post. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Liking these posts? Follow Corporette on Twitter — this is the edited version of what we’re reading! (We also Tweet if we hear about a good sale.)
– Nancy, Beth, George, and Ned… these names would all be familiar to many of the women of SCOTUS. [Ms. JD] At left: we highly recommend this great little book, Nancy Drew’s Guide to Life
(available at Amazon for $4.95). – Don’t show your chest hair — and other rules on business casual dressing from one NY law firm. [Above the Law] – Do female travelers have different needs than male travelers? [The Glass Hammer] – Eight rules for outlet shopping… [The Chicago Tribune] We would add the following: don’t bother with “factory stores” — the clothes were never sold in the regular store, and are generally of a cheaper quality (but for almost the same price). 
LA 2L
The one exception I would make to the no factory stores rule is when the store is *actually* at the factory, which is rare nowadays since most of the factories are overseas. I sometimes go to the American Apparel factory store in downtown LA to get casual clothing basics like plain t-shirts, yoga pants, etc. They don’t have work-type clothes, and their prices aren’t as deeply discounted as they were in the past, but I’d say that’s the one type of factory store that I would go to. Traditional “factory stores” at the outlets are usually overpriced junk as the OP mentioned.
Kathryn
Brooks Brothers never sells its regular merchandise in its outlets, I understand.
MJ
Yes, Brooks Brothers’ factory stores are not of great quality, particularly for shirts. I would say that JCrew factory stores have much better deals on JCrew basics like their t-shirts, and I cannot tell the difference whatsoever.
y
I have found that J.Crew outlet has slightly lower quality than their reg stores; and what I can not figure out is that if I am patient enough, I can actually find lower priced items online (coats & jackets especially). I haven’t been successful finding “great deals” at their outlet. I have noticed the same thing for Banana Republic.
I am not convinced about the female travelers’ having different needs than men. Both men and women, need to be safe, traveling both for business and pleasure (anywhere, really). I have seen men being mugged traveling in Europe. I do understand that maybe the safety concern is becoming more so when traveling to countries where it’s less common for women to travel (or dine in restaurants) alone (like some of the countries in the middle east?).