Just getting back to this post now. First off, thanks to everyone for their input...all of it valuable and appreciated. So I was doing some "homework" on the Duluth Trading Company and found that they had an outlet store just outside Madison, Wisconsin. This is about a 2 hour drive for me, so I called there and spoke with a real helpful lady (Bridget) who told me that not only did they HAVE the Presentation jackets in the fire hose material, but they were on sale for....ready? $10! Keep in mind that the retail price on these is $150.
So I drove out there yesterday and found 3 of them who's only listed "defect" was that they had been worn (customer returns). No stains, tears, stitching defects....nothing! (some others did have those defects listed though). So I got one in Black, one in Brown, and one in the Desert Khaki color. All REAL nice. I'm in $30 at this point.
Since I've driven over 2 hours to get there, I looked around and found they had real nice ($50 retail) sweatpants for $10 also - bought one blue and one black. Nice velcro pockets, good sturdy material. Nice sweats.
I also picked up 4 pair of pants in the fire hose material (which is like or maybe IS canvas - thick and tough, but VERY comfortable). One of them was lined with wool for warmth, the others 3 are ones that I can pass off as "business casual" pants and wear them to work (wearing one of them now in fact). The 3 unlined ones were also only $10 (retail was $55-$60 for these), and the lined ones were $27.
Finally, I picked up a pair of the blue denim "ballroom" jeans...haha....you've seen the commercials maybe? $40 retail...again, $10!
I'm sure I timed this trip at the right time, as these items are not always marked this low - generally everything is half of retail....for example these presentation jackets are usually $75 at the outlet store. Pretty much everything that isn't on some special sale is half of whatever the retail price on their website is.
I picked up 2 of them for a friend in a different size. I only picked the ones that listed a defect of "worn", so these are first quality items at almost give-away prices.
To recap - I got 3 jackets, 5 pair of pants, and 2 pairs of sweats for a whopping total cost of $120. I don't buy clothes for myself very often, so I feel pretty good about this purchase!
Warner