Really, J Crew, Really?

I'm a fan of J.Crew. Those of you who see my clothing (or have dug through my hand-me-down bags) know that. And you b-tches who inspected the labels in my closet can confirm as well. (BTW, I'm over the American Eagle jeans - I just acquired the Stella "barely boot" jeans from Express and those rock even more...esp when they costs just $42!)

But my J.Crew fan-dom may have reached its limit.

I hit the mall last night to buy a new iPhone cover and I decided to stroll through the really bad mall J.Crew. Some J.Crews are good, this one is not. But I saw a sign in the window announcing a partnership between J.Crew and Levis 501 jeans. That's cool, I thought, I'll bet the prices are moderate and the styling is classic. I went in search of the jeans but had no luck: apparently it is just a men's collaboration. All J.Crew had for women was an uninspired pale-hued spring clothing line and their usual mediocre, overpriced denim. I happily left empty handed.

This morning, I'm driving to work listening to Bloomberg Radio (keep your comments to yourself) and there's an advertisement...for all Levis jeans...on sale this weekend at JCPenney...25% off original prices...

My curiosity had been peaked.

Hmm, I thought, I wonder what the price differential is between the J.Crew/Levis branded jeans versus the straight-up Levis jeans available at JCPenney.

You know where this is going.

J.Crew Levis jeans = $98 - $325
JCPenney Levis jeans = $32.99 - $46.99 (original $44 - $64)

Sure, J.Crew has a few different washes...but they also had identical washes available at JCPenney! In the same styles!!! Is it really worth paying 3x more for the same product just because you're buying it at J.Crew? Oh wait, my mistake: some of the J.Crew jeans have "Made exclusively for J.Crew" printed on an interior pocket -- not quite the same product after all.

Who is going to buy overpriced J.Crew/Levis 501 jeans? Is anyone that into the J.Crew brand that s/he is willing to pay at least 3x as much for a product you can buy at your local JCPenney? Who are these undisciplined consumers that are making our favorite retailers think they can get away with these types of mark-ups?

THINK BEFORE YOU BUY!