About This Site
The goal of this blog is to create an easily browsable archive of vintage Banana Republic Catalogs for collectors and resellers, as well as to celebrate and document the history of Banana Republic of the 1980s. You can browse the catalogs individually, or browse by clothing type (Women’s shoes, Men’s Pants, etc). Hopefully this makes it easier to find the proper names of a garment and understand it’s place in the BR timeline. eBay sellers are encouraged to use the site to research items and are free to use catalog scans to illustrate this auctions. I have chosen not to watermark my images, but I would ask that you include a credit and link to the site and the Found It on Abandoned Republic badge.
My story is this: I loved Banana Republic clothes when I was a teenager. That made me a bit of an outsider among my peers, though my close friends (drama club dorks) shared the enthusiasm if not the wardrobe. I was never comfortable with teen fashion in the 80s, it all seemed pretty ridiculous to me. Of course, to a lot of other people dressing like a background extra from Raiders of the Lost Ark was pretty stupid too. Nonetheless, the aggressively retro style and pretensions of adventure and romance that Banana Republic traded in was right up my alley. I visited the BR store each time I left New Mexico for a larger city. San Francisco, Washington DC, New York and London stores all got a visit from me. I wish I had kept the clothes of course, but styles change and things get tossed.
I picked up my first catalog from my father, who actually WAS the adventure traveller I would never be. He lived in the Alaskan wilderness while I grew up in the suburbs of a New Mexico town. The illustrated Banana Republic catalog was particularly attractive to me as a young artist. So distinctive and beautifully rendered, I’m still kind of astonished they pulled it off as much as they did.
It’s been eating away at a little corner of my brain ever since, because what I am is a collector and amateur archivist. So when I came across a giant collection of catalogs on eBay I decided it was up to me to put an archive together.
For the record, I still shop at Banana Republic, I like their clothes and have no problem with them being a high-end GAP. My attitude is not “BR used to be great and now it sucks and it’s so generic and boring”. That may be true, I’m no fashion expert and don’t care to be. But clearly, classic BR was a product of its time and was bound to change into something else. It would have been nice if the Ziegler’s had been able to retain creative control and manage it’s evolution, but that’s corporate America for you.
If you are an artist or designer who worked for BR and would like to share your work and experiences with us please get it touch.
It was a grand day when 35 vintage Banana Republic catalogs arrived at my house. That same week I picked up a vintage BR shoebox to keep them in and a Bi-Plane gift box I have big plans for.
Excellent work! I too was a BR fanatic and owned tons of their stuff. Can you explain what happened to their line of goods and are any still available? I remember one day there was the old BR and then one day poof! There are a lot of things I’d buy again if I could find them.
I was working at a Banana Republic store in Atlanta in the summer of ’88. Selling Gurkha Shorts and Photojournalist’s vests, but the store had started selling more traditional clothing, although with an outdoorsy bent. I remember that the news came down that the company had hired a new chief designer from Ralph Lauren/Polo. Keep in mind, at this point in the 80s, after Raiders of the Lost Ark and Out of Africa and Crocodile Dundee, the whole safari/adventure trend in clothing was fairly prevalent. At the end of that summer, I went back to school for another full year and graduated and never worked at BR again. But I noticed that after my time there, the store slowly did away with the ‘adventure’ wear and added more and more to more traditional clothing, and within a few years the jungle motifs in the store decor were gone too. So, it didn’t happen overnight, but there was a definite corporate ‘push’ that started in earnest in ’88 but had even begun a little before that.
Thanks for saying hi, Ned! Your recollection about the timing is just right. They pulled the plug on the safari theme in fall 1988 when Mickey Drexler came in and cleaned house, but there was a transition period for sure. Can’t get rid of all those jeeps and elephants overnight!
What a neat blog- I was refered over here from a Vintage Bath and Body Works Tumblr. I can’t wait to read more of your site! I love it when people have such a passion for things from their youth!
Take care!
You’ve made a massive contribution to a certain subset of late Boomers and early GenX, this is priceless. The memories are thawing and trickling in and it’s astounding. Thank you so much for all your hard work. Superb!
Gurkha shorts high school/college ’83-’85
British Drill pants high school/college ’83-’85
wore these a ridiculous amount
several other forgotten favs will surface from further perusal
Welcome, ZieglerFanBoy! Thank you for he comments, I am glad you have found us!
Sounds like you were a well dressed (if not a bit geeky) young person!
Great website! I was a teenager in the late 80s and loved BR then too. One of my favorite shirts was an orange and red cotton button down. Very Southwestern (I grew up in Las Vegas, NV). Had some Gurkha shorts too. I used to read the entire catalogue. Was glad to get the book that compiled some things from the catalogue (Ballantine Books, ’86).
I set out to find the Mattress Ticking shirt I wore freshman year and here it is … I remember the Jeep and the dried grasses (or something) in the storefront at the mall! The original BR was a pretty cool idea, I think … nice site 🙂
Worked at the Stanford store for a few years from 1983 onward. But I was a catalog addict from years earlier in Hawaii where I grew up. Would love to grab some of those older items now. I will say that the years working at BR gave me a schooling in quality clothing that unfortunately has made me a quality clothes snob to this day. Good website.
Aloha…JJ
Thank you, JJ! I’m jealous you got to work there! The Stanford store was one of the earliest!
Thank you for all this work! I first walked into a BR store in about 1985 in South Coast Plaza, a film maker in my late 20’s just returning from Afghanistan. The Zeiglers had it figured out. It wasn’t just the styles but the wonderful fabrics, the feel of quality, and the personal connection with the goods. I lived not far that store for a few years before moving to the Mideast (with my BR clothes and bags!). Seeing these catalogs brings back great memories.
I still have my original Correspondent’s Bag which has accompanied me around the world, since supplemented by a Billingham, both of which have been worn to tatters and only recently retired (I’d love to upload a pic). And I still use my original Low Profile bag. (Actually I bought two. I’m glad I did.)
It seems this is a labor of love for you, and we old devotees appreciate it. I was gratified to read in the Zieglers’ book that Dan Fischer, the Gap owner, later regretted forsaking the Zieglers’ vision, it appears, for both financial and aesthetic reasons.
Warm regards,
James
Thank you, James, it is indeed a labor of love and I’m so glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for sharing your memories!
Hi Robyn – I discovered Banana Republic when the semiconductor company I worked for sent me to Singapore to train some of the engineers in our manufacturing facility. I needed some all cotton clothing for the tropical climate and the only game in town was the Republic. I picked up some short sleeve safari shirts and cargo pants for my trip.
I am now retired and have taken up photography. Your website brought back many memories of return trips to their store at the Stanford shopping center but alas it is long gone. But by the wonder of eBay I located the very first version of the photojournalist vest which is now in the mail!
Thank you for bringing back wonderful memories during these trying times.
Thanks for sharing, Peter! What a great testimonial for the old BR! Take care and stay safe!
I like you loved the wardrobe of the old banana Republic. I saved to get a particular dress which I’m not to wear to school. I was in high school at the time moving towards college.
I was blindsided by the change. I still can’t get over it. I don’t like unfortunately the new banana republic. I guess I love the Kitch the original. I think there was a place for it To continue. Oh well things do change.
If I ever become a millionaire “ not gonna happen because I’m a teacher” I think I’ll re-create it as a workspace for my creative endeavors. Glad this site is here.
I know it’s Christmas but want to get this comment in the queue. I can’t find the “I found it on ABR” badge and want to use it when I list a bush hat for sale. I still have my personal red cord equestrian shirt, side button Khaki pants, open top Carpenter tool bag (which I can’t find here), navy cargo shorts. Sold a mesh ivory shirt dress and Jumpsuit ages ago (regret the Jumpsuit sale as it looked great on me, the dress not so much).
Many many thanks for this great blog, I found my people! Juliet
No worries, I took that image down. Feel free to use what you need!
Hi Robyn!
I just stumbled over this website through Pinterest.com. I am a medicine student from Germany, born 2000, and NEVER heard of the “Old” Banana Republic.
Your website is just incredible! The BR style is EXACTLTY my clothing style and I have always struggled to find new ideas as I’m incognisant of any modern brands with that kind of fashion.
So thank you for putting that much effort in keeping the adventure-traveller-style alive!
The descriptions of the BR shops sound very interesting – I wish I could still visit one today.
I will certainly look into your website more often!
Michael
Thank you, Michael! Glad you found us!
Hi there. This site is such a treasure trove! I arrived here by clicking on the link in the WSJ article about the “new” Banana Republic. I was wondering what you think of the brand’s direction these days and how it’s reaching back into the archive for design ideas? Do you think the new collection is a worthy tribute to the original BR? I’m too young to have been aware of the old safari/adventure aesthetic and in fact was totally unaware of the brand’s heritage until I came across the WSJ article, but I noticed the brand’s new direction lately while perusing the website and found the clothing so much better and more interesting than usual. (I mean, NATURAL fibers??? Silk, cotton, suede, shearling, linen, ramie … so much nicer than the usual polyester and nylon offerings.) I thought, “Weird; what’s going on?” and actually did a Google search because I figured they were trying something new to try to improve BR’s financial situation these days. I hadn’t shopped in almost a year and a half because of the pandemic (working from home in lounge wear until recently, economic uncertainty, etc.), so I was taken aback by the “new look.” I think this is a good idea, just as I think J. Crew should return to the “preppy New England blue blood” look they used to do in the 90s. It seems to me that the market became saturated with mid-level mall stores selling corporate basics, and there’s no future in that for these brands trying to survive the death of malls and the “retail apocalypse.” If Banana Republic made shopping in their stores an event again, it would be cool. Hand-wringing about the risk of romanticizing the colonial past aside, I absolutely love this travel/adventure aesthetic and would love it if the stores had a similar theme in the future. But then again, I’m a history and archaeology nerd who LOVES Raiders of the Lost Ark (lol), so I’m not sure I’m a representative sample of the wider population. In any case, I know that BR intends to keep selling work basics in addition to their retro “safari” pieces, but I like their new direction so far. Based on what I see on this site, the brand has a pretty amazing heritage, and I hope it figures out a way to use that to its advantage.
Hi Kate! I’m so glad you found the site! Thank you for your thoughtful and insightful comment.
I’m really happy to see that the brand is showing awareness of its roots and trying to incorporate it into a modern clothing line. The New Look is very striking and inspired, in my opinion and I think its a worthy tribute. You’ll never really recapture the hard-core BR enthusiast who is looking for something more traditional but that isn’t the point. I do agree that making shopping something of a destination again would be really welcome, but we’ll likely never see elephants and jeeps on the sales floor again. We will have to go to Disneyland for our Indiana Jones and Jungle Cruise fix! Still, based on my experience with the people involved (see my recent visit to the BR archive https://www.secretfanbase.com/banana/my-visit-to-the-nyc-banana-republic-archive/) they are bursting with ideas and a genuine enthusiasm for the heritage so it will be interesting to see what develops!
Thank you so much for creating this website. It brings back so many memories as I worked at BR back in 1985-1988. I worked in telephone sales and would be one of people answering and taking orders over the phone. I had the 6:00 a.m. – 2:30p.m. shift and worked down on Bluxome Street. This part-time job helped put me through college.
By far the most popular items were the Gurkha shorts and Pith helmets. Who would have thought. I started there right after the GAP acquired BR and saw first hand their explosive growth. They were definitely not prepared and I remember that many of the items in catalog were often backordered for months to the dismay of the customer…”I just got the catalog today!” Stores were popping up all over the place so I would often tell them go try the store and see if they had the item stock. Most of the time the customer had no idea there was a store close by and they would so excited they couldn’t wait to get off the phone with me.
After the Zieglers left, BR became a lot more “corporate” as far as I could tell at HQ. They brought in new leaders for phone sales and customer service that had more experience running larger teams. This lasted for a couple years and then they realized that with all these new stores opening up, phone sales was going slow down and it did. Creatively, the clothes and vibe of BR changed as they were starting to go in a new direction which is what you see BR as today. Not a bad thing but just the way it is.
I just discovered your website, and I’m impressed with the dedication and work you put into preserving the vintage Banana Republic. Of course, I never had the pleasure of experiencing these stores because I was not born yet. I frequently shopped at the modern BR, utterly oblivious to their history until my parents revealed that they sold safari gear. Like you, I’m a big fan of the safari style, even though it’s not necessarily a big fashion trend. The style truly evokes a sense of adventure and exploration. I also love those safari adventure-type films. My curiosity led me to browse online for what BR used to look like. I can’t believe how cool BR was. Everything looked fantastic, from the safari props, to the animals and jeeps, the interior design and decor, the book section, and the lovely illustrated catalogs. It was such a unique and exciting idea, and I cannot believe it lasted for such a short time. Clothing retail shops today have become generic, cheap, and lack the charm that BR used to have. Indeed, it was a product of its time, but I think modern stores reflect on the increasing affinity to all things superficial. I wish I could walk through the old BR stores to see it myself. Thanks for sharing your archive and giving people a glimpse of what BR once was.
I also worked one summer at a Banana Republic here in St. Louis when BR was the coolest store around, located in brand new and then-very–trendy Union Station, which had just been renovated. I remember the managers got these cool “elephant-skin” memo books from the BR management (really it was textured leather, not actual elephant-skin). Of course I dressed myself from the store using the employee discount. I never stopped dressing myself that way, however, and turned to other suppliers when BR made its switch into corporate wear. I’m glad to see it’s gone back to its roots in the past couple of years.
Don’t have any recollection or connection to the stores or the brand. But just listened to the podcast, “How I Built This” where Mel and Patricia Ziegler interviewed by Guy Raz. Really interesting. Guy Raz mentioned Abandoned Republic website, and I ended up here.