Stetson - The daring complexity of a niche and the greatest pun of all-time in Men's fragrance

Nice post! To think that i always ignored Stetson at Walmarts et al any time i came across them. Then a recent thread on Cuiron smell-alikes mentioned Stetson's Rich Suede. I ordered RS last week through a friend visiting the States, and should get it in a few weeks. Your thoughts give me further comfort (not that i am averse to blind buys ;0)

Thanks for sharing.

double post

These are the notes of Stetson Rich Suede by Coty:

leather accord, blue cypress, blue sage, osmanthus petals, orrisroot, bemi resin, myrrh, crushed saffron, cedarwood, rich suede accord, orange dewdrops

The jasmine and rubbery/synthetic amber combination is too much for me. I've got a couple of unused vintage ones on my swap list (2 oz. and .5 oz.), for those who are interested. I do have an old "publicity version" (whatever that means) of Opium for women which I do like. For some reason, the rubbery amber in that one doesn't bother me (which is why I think the jasmine combined with it is causing me problems).

EDIT: Untamed by Stetson smells like Fresh's Cannabis Santal a bit.

I was just thinking to myself I wish more colognes had Orange Dewdrops in them.

How do you all know you have 'vintage' bottles? Are the bottles (or boxes) different?

Here in the UK, time was (not so long ago) that most of the Stetson range were always the great el cheapo frags on the 'Bay - I saw plenty of 100ml bottles going for a few pounds BIN, I even remember seeing a vintage 80s bottle that literally went for pennies (plus P&P) at the end of an auction. Unfortunately, by the time I managed to get a sample to smell how great it actually was, everyone else had caught on and so it is these days they rarely go for less than £20 for the same 100ml, if they come up for sale at all - a quick check now lists only a 22ml bottle for £9 + P&P BIN.

Ho-hum.

Mine comes from a relative who has had them since the 1980s, so that's how I know.

I have a bottle and wear it from time to time. While there are great things about it, it can be mistaken for an expensive odd ball oriental, I find it is never completely convincing - sort of like Tabu. I think Ms. Sanchez got a little bit giddy with her four star review. I ask, in reality would anyone really pay more than $10 for it?

I agree with everything you say. Except for the last sentence - yes I would, because I think it smells far better than that. Unfortunately so do other UK 'Bayers. I wouldn't pay more than £15-20 for 100mls.

Stetson is a recent find for me. I rank it just behind Aqua Velva as the best bargain in frags.

I find this fascinating as I honestly think most US stores have a hard time unloading it. Have you read Ms. Sanchez on Lady Stetson? She prefers it to Chanel No. 22. I've yet to smell it, but somehow I think Chanel spends a little more on their formula.

I've a bottle of the plain Stetson (the one with the picture of Tom Brady on the cover) and I must say upon first smell I was highly surprised. It certainly is not what I expected a rugged heterosexual American-Cowboy-ey scent to smell like a rich Floral Oriental.

I agree that Stetson is a powdery floral oriental kind of like a butch version of Chantilly for women. Give it a burlly name like Stetson!

Forgot to mention before that I think it smells like Lutece, IIRC.

Ruggles, indeed Lady Stetson smells "cheap" in comparison to No.22. I still think LS is rather decent given its humble market positioning, though. It certainly is as worthy as some of the designer dreck being palmed off these days. They could spuce it up a little, remove some of the aldehydes, give it a chunky pink bottle with bling, and make alot of money on it.

TS also really likes another old cheapy called "Sex Appeal" by Jovan. I've yet to smell this one. I've always though Stetson was one of the best of the Drug Store men's frags though.

Not trying to hijack the thread here, but if you like KL Homme, you'll probably like Sex Appeal For Men. It really is an excellent scent, at a fraction of the price of KL Homme. I just posted a review of it.

I'm actually dying to try it, I think it sounds fab and I'm all for good, cheap masterpieces, but I have never seen a tester of it anywhere. I heart aldehydes!

I have the cajones to layer Stetson and Aspen !

the Stetson frags are as good as many designer scents

I have to agree. I used to not like Stetson, but now that I've resampled it recently, I quite like it. I don't get the whole "it's a feminine in a man's bottle" stuff. Why, because it's floral?? I find it very masculine.

Stetson became something of a running joke between me, this guy I work with and my stepson. Around the playoffs the stores were literally flooded with Stetson giftsets for Christmas with Tom Brady all over them. I'd go to Kmart there were hundreds. Wal-Mart, hundreds. I go to this guy I work with "Do you wear Stetson". He's like "no", and I'm like "but Tom Brady wears Stetson and he's in the playoffs" "there is so much Stetson around everyone should be wearing it". I bought a bottle after Christmas when the stores started clearing out the giftsets, and wear it on the occasions when I work with this guy then make a big deal about it. I'm working with him tomorrow so I'll probably make a big deal about it again. My stepson is 9 (which is around the age I started wearing cologne) and he thought the whole thing was funny, so we bought my dad a bottle for Christmas. Then I was searching through a box of old colognes my dad used to wear that I've had for a while and find an old bottle of Stetson that was never used (probably dating back to when it first came out because my dad hadn't worn cologne in years, up until we started getting him some as Christmas gifts in the last few years). I gave it to my stepson and told him he had to wear Stetson every day now. Everyone gets a good laugh out of it.

I don't actually mind the stuff, it smells OK. Some people can pull it off better than others. I don't really think of it as a ladies fragrance, more of a powdery mens fragrance from the late 60s and early 70s that was released later and somehow remained more popular (probably due to more marketing, I mean when was the last time you saw a big name star advertising British Sterling on prime time TV?).

I incidently bought All American by Stetson as well when it was on clearance. They could call it "Essence of Generic". Its such a generic smell you'd be hard placed to describe it. Its a pleasant woodsy fougere thats not enitrely placed in any terms. Its not overly sweet. Its not aquatic. I usually wear it when I don't know what to wear simply because it is so inoffensive and so generic no one would take notice. I mean it seriously seems so commonplace I can't imagine what they were trying to do except for create an easily unplaceable background smell that no one would mind. The sprayer on this thing is as bad as Safari with its super fine mist by the way.

While I don't really think original Stetson is a feminine scent, and all of my own inside jokes aside (mostly relating to the overabundance of the stuff and plethora of advertising), it is a fairly complex scent. It seems though this stuff has skyrocketed in price. I mean you can still get it cheaply enough because there is so much out there, but $11.99 for a 1.7 oz bottle seems a tad steep for what is largely considered a cheap cologne. They've got some of the large bottles up in the $20 range, at which point you can get something a lot less commonplace. Maybe at a higher price it makes it more appealing because people will disassociate it with cheap? (I can say I got two bottles for $3 and $4 respectively, paid $1.50 for the All American, but I did pay full price for my dad's so he'd have it in time for Christmas). Also while I don't wear it I notice Gravity has followed the same trend and is getting expensive. I remember that stuff selling for $7 and they're up in the $15-20 range now too. Oddly its only a select few of these that are regarded as cheap that went up substantially in price and not others. Maybe they're trying to make them seem more premium. People might shrug at a $7 bottle but at $17 they might say "That must be good stuff if it costs that much".

I found Stetson to be very disappointing. I hate powder, and this is excessively powdery on me. I'll give it this, that it's not totally linear ( funky top note - powder heart - balsamic drydown ), but that's about the best I can say about it.

Same, powdery to the max, and not particularly complex. If I had to pick an el cheapo I'd go with Monsieur Musk - more understated and slightly less cheap-smelling.

I remember when Stetson used to be advertised without Tom Brady in it. Now that they have to pay Tom Brady, maybe that's why it's more expensive; because his salary doubles the price!

I think Florals can be quite masculine
smell Amouage Gold and tell me its feminine

I tried Stetson about 6 months ago, I didn't really think too much of it, it smelled nice but nothing I had an urge to yearn for

My blind-ordered Stetson arrived today, and I have to say it is really unexpectedly beautiful, especially for the price. It also reminds me a lot of my recent favourite Caron Third Man, but is still different enough to justify having both.

Dunno, guess you'll just have to wait to find out.

Stetson smells fantastic. I think if it was made to spec with better materials, it would end up coming off too powdery (if it isn't already) so I like it the way it is.

However, the cheap-and-cheerful wardrobe niche this would occupy for me is better filled by some of the Al-Rehab oil roll-ons, like Aseel, Khaliji, and especially Sondos, which is very powdery.

thank you. i haven't ordered it yet; hence the question, you know. kind regards.

Stetson fragrances never did anything for me personally.

why thank you; that's extremely helpful of you.

I will join the praise chorus. I saw it in a drugstore on a trip to the US. I couldn't resist a blind buy for only $12, and I was a bit shocked at the disparity between the name and the frag, but I like it! I am a little leery of giving it four stars, but I wonder--would I feel the same if I didn't know the price? I think it could be an old-time European gentleman's fragrance. A bit animalic, not for everybody, but very nice for me, and very cheap!

thank you very very much, tsuzumi. i appreciate your input.