The Most Expensive Items You Can Get At J.Crew

Ah, J.Crew. The once preppy retailer is transforming its style and raising its prices in the process. The clothing company is seemingly following along with the in-crowd and switching things up, similar to retailer Abercrombie & Fitch. This time, J.Crew has decided to take a page out of its sister store Madewell's book and is styling basic clothing items as high-end staples. In true Madewell fashion, there's even a hidden section of the new J.Crew site that will make your eyes bug out when you see the price. You almost won't believe how expensive these items are. 

Despite the fact that this retailer filed for bankruptcy in 2020 during the pandemic, J.Crew is going hard with some seriously pricey offerings. The majority of them are collabs, which is a selling tactic taken by tons of different retail brands, including Madewell and Free People. It makes sense that J.Crew is following a similar suit as Madewell, especially since the parent company decided to throw more time and effort into building up Madewell instead of the preppy retailer.

Similar to Madewell is the price point of the new collabs. While you can occasionally find some affordable finds on the website, the brand is a more elevated version of your typical retailer. We're talking more basic styles but with higher prices. Here are some of the most expensive items you can buy from J.Crew.

J.Crew is trying its best to keep up with the times, but if their extravagantly priced earrings and expensive cable knit sweater in the "new arrivals" sections are a little too cheap for you, you'll be happy to know that there's a dress in the collaborations section of the website worth even more money. The lemlem Eshal Short Tiered Dress is a whopping $495 — making it the most expensive item from J.Crew as of this writing.

Don't get us wrong, the lemlem Dress is gorgeous. According to the website, the beautiful blue print is exclusive to J.Crew and was designed by their own team with lemlem, the apparel and home collection brand started by Liya Kebede. The brand employs African artisans to make the one-of-a-kind pieces for them, so it combines buying a dress with making a philanthropic statement. 

Shockingly, there are no reviews for the dress on the website, but there are other lemlem items sold on J.Crew's website. The lemlem Welele Flutter-Sleeve Maxi Dress is extremely popular — it's a cool $425, making the price point not far behind the other lemlem design.

Another pricey collab from J.Crew comes from their team effort with Diemme, an Italian footwear manufacturer. If that phrase alone doesn't make your wallet pucker, then the price of the shoes will. According to the J.Crew website, the Diemme x J.Crew Roccia Vet hiking boots will set you back $449. The boots are "made entirely by hand at the Calzaturificio Diemme factory in Onè di Fonte, Veneto," which the brand thankfully translates into normal-shopper speak by saying it's a small town in northeastern Italy. The fancy description alone makes you actually think these boots are worth the price.

That being said, there are two five-star ratings of these boots on the J.Crew website. So, maybe they're the best-of-the-best and the world just hasn't caught on yet. The J.Crew collab, which comes in three trendy color combinations, are the most expensive pair of hiking boots from Diemme. 

Unfortunately, these boots are only available in six sizes and none of them include half sizing. They are labeled as best-sellers on the J.Crew's website, just like the expensive sundress mentioned above, so maybe there's something to the style that we don't know about. 

While there are some seriously costly collabs available through J.Crew, there are some expensive items that the brand thinks up, creates, and sells all by itself. The silk items from J.Crew are without a doubt the most expensive part of the website to shop. According to Panaprium, silk has a limited availability, and it costs more to make, so it makes sense that this section of the website is higher than, say, the cotton section. 

When it comes to silk dresses, the price is right up there with the other expensive items available on the retailer's site. The Ruffle Silk Dress in Freesia Floral normally retails for $398. The gorgeous long-sleeve maxi-dress is absolutely gorgeous, and the sheer amount of silk needed to make the design gives reason to the price. However, this is not your typical pick-up-and-go dress that you need for your next event, it's an investment.

Who knows if this is the best selling strategy for J.Crew, but the collab and specific high-end item strategy seems to be working for its sister brand, Madewell.