Forgive me for bumping, but I am of a mind to weigh in on this topic.
After over a year on the road, the strain of Asian laundry shops on my limited portable wardrobe, and a certain "I am tired of looking at this decrepit t-shirt," I decided to rehabilitate my closet (i.e. my suitcase).
Having visited the city repeatedly since 2012, finding good deals is getting harder. This is on top of the aggravation of sizing/cuts.
I'm a (physically) stunningly average Western man. I wear an M in most North American, Australian/NZ, and EU brands. Usually need slimmer cuts for US labels. For an aggressively "Starving teenage heroin addict"-slim-cut continental label's shirt, I may go to a large. Uniqlo is a border between M and L. Trousers are a 32 (casual) or 34 (tailored). My shoe size is annoying large for my (1.79/5'10") height - a US 11.5/12 or EU 45/46.
While I won't go as extreme as Annalisa's "Chanel or crap," I do find that I am paying either $80 for a passable "emergency" purchase at Uniqlo or being hit by a $700+ sticker on a Western label I'd trust. To give a concrete example, I have been looking for spring/summer-weight sport shirts, a silk-on-leather "summer" belt, a pair of chino shorts, dress socks, some "nicer" t-shirts for happy hour, and some less-nice t-shirts/tanks for running. I have also been open to a pair of chinos and loafers or boat shoes.
Back in the states, I tend to source my stuff from Polo, Brooks Brothers (love their less-branded Red Fleece stuff), and carefully selected items from better branches of Nordstrom Rack and Saks Off Fifth, with a ceremonial annual visit to mainline Nordies for the anniversary. In short, I don't need to shop often, as I try to buy "quality for "crap prices." I enjoyed my BB, Polo, Ted Baker, Paul Smith etc gear. I could also get Polo undershirts and CK boxers at Marshalls/TJ for pretty cheap, to boot.
I'm an aggressive outlet/end-of-season shopper/sale shopper, and i consider myself relatively informed. That is, I like to know the going price "back home" (incl the brand's own website). A number of men's clothing forums are extremely helpful in furnishing info about a given retailer's various sales as well as the byzantine world of outlets. [Given that outlets are more profitable than mainline, in many cases, much of the inventory has never seen the inside of a full-price shop] Helpfully, labels for brand-specific outlets can give clues. Brooks Brothers and J Crew use different labels, for example. BB made-for-outlet used to use "346." Now they use BROOKS BROTHERS 1818 in block capitals versus "Brooks Brothers Est 1818" in cursive.
Back in the Day (tm), acceptable deals seemed more abundant. City Gate outlet did sell stuff from my preferred brands (Christopher Bailey era Burberry had some good stuff, chavs-in-knockoffs aside) at what I considered decent prices. At the time, I was living in Australia when A$1 = US $1.05. Buying in Australia was a double-screw, so HK was a breath of fresh air.
These days, it's insane. Yesterday, I wandered into the Polo RL outlet. A plain white small-pony t-shirt was $300. A standard striped or solid oxford button (classic - i.e. potato sack fit) was $950, knocked down from $1200+. While I don't expect to pay the TJ maxx price of US$39.99+tax, could ya meet me somewhere around the US$65 mark?! Yes, HK outlet shopping working on the "buy more, get bigger discount", but even buying 6 items for the max 20% additional discount isn't worth it. One, I don't want that many new pieces from RL, and two, the plain OCBD shirt still isn't worth it for $760. For that price, I will just go to a tailor to have my stuff custom-made. The more interesting/"edgy prep" stuff starts at $1,100. To even find it though, I had to sift through all sorts of excessively overbranded "LOOK AT ME! I CAN AFFORD FREAKIN POLO" stuff. Pass
Rinse and repeat at Hugo Boss - No, $1085 for a pair of shorts is not a good deal, both considering international pricing and the nightmares I will put them through. Sadly, rinse and repeat at the Ted Baker outlet. Their prices were somewhat more reasonable, but again, $700+ for a shirt from Paul Smith's poor relation is...
Tung Chung rant over.
My "market research" in IFC and Times Square (TS) was similarly frustrating. I paid a call to Brooks mainline in both malls to check them out. Looking at some nice Red Fleece t-shirts @ TS, they had what I call the "customary Hong Kong 20% off" discount applied. At $312, that's still a few dollars more than US full retail @ $34.95. I still bought it. You win this one, 346 Madison Ave. I went across the corridor to check out J Crew - to look, rather than buy. I got burned by enough of their poorly made stuff in college to avoid ever actually buying anything there, aside from some $5 socks at an outlet in Florida.
They wanted $715 for a pair of shorts. Mother-bloody-J Crew wants the better part of a Benjamin for shorts. This sort of poor price-to-quality ratio has played out over and over in my HK adventures recently.
The only good deals I found?
Lane Crawford Warehouse @ Horizon Plaza (South Horizon MTR, 800m walk) is actually exclusively for Lane Crawford overstock. The streetwear section would be heaven for Japanese apparel enthusiasts. Being way over my sartorial head, I wandered to the chino and sport shirt section. I found a bonanza of ultra-discounted Paul Smith and Scotch and Soda stuff. I picked up a pair of perfectly-fitting Paul Smith summer weight chinos for $720 marked from $2400. Given that I'd happily pay $130-150 for Paul Smith jeans/trousers on sale, this was actually a bargain.
A lonesome rack shoved in the back of the Tung Chung Citygate Brooks Brothers had summer time mainline overstock at 70%. I found the perfect shirt for $370.
In both cases, naturally, sizing in my area was limited. Great for XS and S sizes as well as XL. Limited in L. Hen's tooth rarity in M.
Thank you for enduring this rant. Next port of call: Stanley market for some t-shirts.