Please Explain a $795 Polo Shirt to Me

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


In the middle of a story about Teresa May’s scandalous $1,250 leather trousers,1we get this:

President-elect Donald J. Trump had been able to fashion himself as a working-class hero despite his luxurious Brioni suits, which can cost as much as $17,000. Mrs. May’s predecessor, David Cameron, who….

Yikes! A $17,000 suit? Fine: I’m a yokel who doesn’t get clothes. But if you told me that Trump drove a $500,000 car, I probably wouldn’t blink. Still, I was curious, so I hopped over to the Brioni website. It turns out you can buy this gray continental three-piece suit for $5,250. Or you can buy this seemingly identical pinstripe version for $6,900. Someone help me out. Why do pinstripes cost $1,650?

But there’s more! Even if I don’t really get it, I sort of understand how a suit from a famous Italian designer can cost a fortune. But Brioni also sells other, more pedestrian stuff, like this burgundy polo shirt—for $795. I wonder if Trump owns any of these? And even in theory, what can you do to a polo shirt to make it worth $795?

For what it’s worth, if you want to Dress Like Trump™, the cheapest thing you can buy from Brioni is a baby-blue tie with an embroidered B on it. It’s only $230.

1Seriously. It’s called Trousergate.

Fact:

Mother Jones was founded as a nonprofit in 1976 because we knew corporations and billionaires wouldn't fund the type of hard-hitting journalism we set out to do.

Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2022 demands.

payment methods

Fact:

Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2022 demands.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate