A Brush with not so Greatness

I need to have a garment brush. Wearing dry-clean only jackets, vests, pants and frock coats to steampunk and Cowboy Action events, I should really brush them down more often. I also have several hats that could use a good brushing. So, on the way home yesterday I stopped by Heinz Healey’s on 5th Avenue.

“Heinz Healy's has everything any gentlemen needs for any occasion.”

Yea. Not so much. When I walked in and asked if they had any garment brushes, the clerk had a somewhat dumbfounded look on his face. When I clarified by explaining what a garment or clothes brush was he responded that he didn’t even know where one would begin to look for such a thing.

Really? I see them online from $5 “As Seen on TV” brand plastic pieces of junk to $150 natural bristle brushes sold by London gentleman shops that have been open for 150 years to $400 antique sterling silver brushes. You’re selling me suits for hundreds of dollars and you not only don’t have but don’t even know where I would get a brush?

I went to Burlington on Smithfield Street and the people there didn't have them either, suggesting I buy a hair brush.

The English accented clerk at Brook's Brothers offered to look online because they didn't have anything.

That’s about as far from “everything any gentleman needs” as you can get.