Bates & Thigpen owner Bradley Bates Jr., on right, and his son, Brad, who also works at the store. Photo by Collin Richie
By Faith Dawson
When fancy-dress appointments appear on your calendar, Bates & Thigpen, in business since 1924, is Baton Rouge’s go-to haberdasher.
Bradley Bates Jr., grandson of the original founder, also sells shoes, shirts, pants and ties (plus uniforms to some law enforcement agencies). But it’s a basic off-the-rack suit, priced around $300, that forms the backbone of the business. And because their store is located downtown, Bates says he sees mostly buying customers, as opposed to those browsing shopping malls.
Is it just a stereotype that men hate shopping for new clothes?
Well, not exactly. Some shoppers just want to buy it and be done with it, Bates says. “I think the majority of them are pretty easily guided [because a suit is only an occasional purchase]. They would spend a lot more time at Academy trying to figure out what fishing shirt they would want than what suit they would want.”
What are well-dressed Baton Rouge men wearing in these warmer months? “Seersucker pretty much runs the whole show” for summer, Bates says, noting that some men wear a charmingly rumpled seersucker suit every day.
“Most of them don’t get right until they look like they took a bath and slept in them because they’re kind of wrinkled-looking,” Bates says. “They’re probably as close to wearing pajamas as it could get.”
Just like anything else, it’s easy to find a suit online. But it isn’t easy to get the perfect fit. “It doesn’t usually work out,” Bates says. “Because we do our own alterations, I will get people that will bring things in [that they bought online].”
“There’s a lot to be said about service,” he continues. “Our prices and service have apparently been good. The people that come in here realize, ‘I’m going to pay a fair price for it, and it’s going to fit me.’”
And customers see what has kept Bates & Thigpen in business for more than 90 years.
“We enjoy them,” Bates says. “They’re family. It’s always good to see them.”facebook.com/BatesThigpen
Hat tricks
Men of greater Baton Rouge, take off those baseball caps. A good hat can do more than just keep the sun out of your eyes. It can be the exclamation point to your look.
Consider the fedora, the Panama or even a Western (aka “cowboy” hat).
“Hats went through a cycle. They’re back now. They’re back strong,” says Bradley Bates Jr. of Bates & Thigpen.
Bates offers some tips before buying:
• A felt hat looks dressy and is traditionally a winter hat.
• Straw hats are more porous, come in lighter colors and tend to have wide brims, so they’re cool.
• You do not need a brown hat to match all your brown clothes, a black hat to match black clothes, etc. Modern hats are often designed to complement more than one color.
• Consider your personal style: If you like to wear jeans a lot, pick a more casual hat like a Panama hat or snap-brim caps.
• If you’re tall and broad, a thin-brim hat may look too small on you. If you’re slight, a very wide brim may overwhelm you.
• Hats are sized numerically, but the size does not tell the whole story: Heads are shaped differently. Try some on to find the best fit.
• It should sit just above your ears and not be so tight as to give you a headache.
