19 Brands Like The Fold for Sophisticated Workwear Style
Dressing for work five days a week is a maths problem before it's a style one. The Fold handles the style half with London-cut tailoring and dresses that run from £235 for the Rassina Jersey Dress to £895 for the Avila Jacquard Maxi Gown, and then the maths half comes back around. Building a full rotation at those numbers doesn't work for most of us.
These 19 brands sell the same thing The Fold sells, which is clothing sharp enough for a client meeting that you'd still reach for at 7am without thinking. Most sit well below it on price. Two sit above. Every figure below was read off the brand's own site this month, in the currency that site quoted, with no conversion.
Quick comparison: the closest matches on cut are Theory and Reiss. The cheapest routes in are Everlane, Lulus, Banana Republic and Aritzia. Lemaire and Joseph are the luxury end. Allbirds is here for the commute rather than the meeting.
| Brand | Price checked | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Theory | £245 trousers, £445 blazer | A first proper suit |
| J.Crew | Mid-range | Colour in a grey wardrobe |
| Everlane | $148 trousers | The cheapest good trouser here |
| Vince | £365 to £495 trousers | Soft tailoring you can sit in |
| COS | Mid-range | Architectural shapes |
| A.P.C. | €260 to €350 trousers | Quiet French basics |
| M.M.LaFleur | $229 to $329 | Machine-washable suiting |
| Reiss | Premium | British tailoring with a trend edge |
| Banana Republic | Mid-range | Filling gaps without overthinking |
| Lemaire | €450 to €1,950 trousers | Fluid, oversized tailoring |
| Cuyana | $228 trousers, $328 blazer | Buying fewer things |
| Sandro | Premium | Parisian pieces with hardware |
| Joseph | £295 blouse, £495 trousers | One silk piece to keep |
| Aritzia | Mid-range | Trend-led suiting |
| Massimo Dutti | Premium | Classic European cuts |
| Lulus | Mid-range | Occasion dressing on a budget |
| Club Monaco | $198 trousers, $298 blazer | Borrem suiting separates |
| Sezane | Mid-range | Softer, less corporate workwear |
| Allbirds | $100 to $110 shoes | The commute |
Theory
Theory is the closest match to The Fold on fabric and cut. On Theory's UK site the Treeca Pull-On Trousers in Admiral Crepe are £245 and the Staple Blazer in the same crepe is £445, so a matched suit lands around £690.
The difference shows up at the waistband. The Fold builds a tailored, fastened waist, and the Treeca is a pull-on style with no closure digging in through a long day at a desk. If your office runs less formal, that's a straight upgrade in comfort. We wrote up the wider field in 19 brands like Theory for women.
Best for: a first proper suit you'll wear until the fabric gives out.
J.Crew
J.Crew sits a tier below The Fold on price and brings colour that The Fold's palette doesn't touch. Blazers and blouses arrive in prints and brights alongside the navy, which matters if your whole wardrobe has drifted grey.
The trade-off is consistency. J.Crew reworks its tailoring season to season, so the trouser you liked in spring may not be cut the same way in autumn. Buy the fit you like when you find it rather than waiting for a sale.
Best for: injecting colour into a workwear rotation that has gone monochrome.
Everlane
Everlane has the cheapest trouser on this list that still looks like tailoring. The Utility Seamed Wide-Leg Pant lists at $148 in 97% organic cotton with 3% elastane, and it was marked down to $128 when we checked.
Cotton behaves differently to the suiting crepe The Fold uses. It creases at the back of the knee by lunchtime and it doesn't drape the same way, so these read smart-casual rather than boardroom. For a workplace with no dress code they're the best value here. Our full write-up lives in brands like Everlane.
Best for: a first pair of grown-up trousers under $150.
Vince
Vince makes tailoring you can sit in for eight hours. On the women's trousers page prices run £365 to £495, with the Elsa Fine Suiting High-Rise Straight-Leg Trouser at £470 and the Camille Italian Wool-Blend Flannel Wide-Leg Trouser at £495.
Where The Fold builds structure into a piece, Vince takes it out. The waistbands are softer, the shoulders are unpadded, and the whole thing leans on fabric weight to hold its shape. That reads as expensive in a relaxed office and underdressed in a formal one, so match it to your room.
Best for: a workplace that has retired the stiff shoulder.
COS
COS is the mid-range answer for anyone who likes The Fold's precision but wants a stranger shape. Cocoon sleeves and volume through the leg turn up in the same neutral palette, and the price sits well below The Fold's.
One practical note. COS moved to cos.com, and the old cos.com address no longer resolves at all, so any bookmark you saved a few years ago is dead. Update it before you go looking for the sale section. We compare the house against its nearest rival in brands like COS and Arket.
Best for: sculptural pieces that read as design rather than uniform.
A.P.C.
A.P.C. sells the plainest clothes on this list, and that's the point. Full-price women's trousers on the trousers page run €260 to €350, in cotton and in wool blend, with almost no detailing to date them.
The Paris site lists everything in French and euros, which is worth knowing before you start hunting for a size chart. A.P.C. also runs deep seasonal reductions, so a €350 trouser turns up at €175 once a collection rolls over.
Best for: building a wardrobe you don't have to think about again for five years.
M.M.LaFleur
M.M.LaFleur designs around the parts of workwear that annoy people. The Moreland Travel Blazer is $329 in the brand's OrigamiTech fabric, the Colby Travel Pant is $229, and the Woolf Classic Jardigan, the brand's cardigan-blazer hybrid, is $259.
The pitch is fabric that survives a suitcase and a wash. The Fold's crepe dresses want a dry cleaner and a hanger, while M.M.LaFleur's suiting goes in a carry-on and comes out wearable. This is a swap on function rather than a saving, because M.M.LaFleur sits in the same premium tier.
Best for: anyone who travels for work and hates ironing.
Reiss
Reiss is the other British contemporary label doing what The Fold does, at a premium price and with a broader remit. Tailoring, occasion dresses, coats and casual pieces all sit in the same shop, so a single order can cover more than the working week.
The Fold builds its range around the working week, and Reiss splits its attention between the office, the wedding and the weekend. That makes Reiss the better single stop if you need one dress to do all three, and the weaker one if you only ever shop for work.
Best for: a dress that covers the office and the wedding.
Banana Republic
Banana Republic is the mid-range option for filling gaps without deliberating. Suiting separates and knitwear cover the ordinary end of a work wardrobe at a fraction of what The Fold charges, and the sale rail is generous enough that patience pays.
Read the composition on the product page before you add to bag. Banana Republic prices wool-blend tailoring and lighter synthetic shirting into the same bracket, so two items at one price can be built from different cloth.
Best for: replacing a worn-out staple this week.
Lemaire
Lemaire is the luxury end of this list and works in the opposite direction to The Fold, replacing structure with volume and drape. Women's trousers on the trousers page run €450 to €1,950, with the Baggy Pants in Tropical Wool Blend at €590 and the Straight Pants in Glossy Leather at the top of that range.
This is the least corporate brand on the list. The clothes read as design rather than office wear, and they need a workplace that reads them that way. If your meetings happen in a studio rather than a bank, Lemaire is the interesting spend.
Best for: a creative office where a suit would look overdressed.
Cuyana
Cuyana builds around buying fewer pieces, and the range is small enough to prove the point. The Wool Double Breasted Blazer is $328 and the Ponte Classic Pant is $228, both in the soft neutrals the brand has stuck to for years.
Ponte is the reason to look. It's a knit rather than a woven, so the trouser has stretch and recovery that a Fold suiting trouser doesn't, which changes what a long commute feels like. The silk tops sit higher, from $158.
Best for: a two-piece rotation you can wear on repeat.
Sandro
Sandro brings hardware and detail to a category that mostly avoids both. Blazers arrive with contrast buttons and cropped proportions, which is a long way from The Fold's clean line.
The site opens on a country picker before it shows you anything, so choose your region first or you'll be looking at prices you can't buy at. Sandro sits in the premium tier, and the pieces date faster than a plain jacket would because the detailing is the point.
Best for: the one memorable jacket in an otherwise plain wardrobe.
Joseph
Joseph is the silk specialist here, and the London label prices accordingly. The Rubin Crepe de Soie Silk Blouse is £295, the Rihani Crepe de Soie Silk Trousers are £495, and the Tafira Gabardine Stretch Trousers come in lower at £365.
Silk is what you're paying for, and it behaves like silk. It wants careful washing and it marks, so the trousers are a considered purchase rather than a Monday default. Joseph's gabardine and wool pieces are the everyday half of the range, and they're the ones to start with.
Best for: one silk piece that outclasses everything around it.
Aritzia
Aritzia runs two in-house lines that overlap with The Fold. Babaton handles the sharp end with blazers and dress trousers, and Wilfred covers the softer, drapier half of the same wardrobe.
Mid-range pricing is the trade. Aritzia designs to current proportions, so a Babaton trouser tells you what year you bought it in a way a Fold trouser doesn't. There's a third line too, The Group by Babaton, which covers the same office wardrobe in heavier knits.
Best for: suiting that looks current rather than permanent.
Massimo Dutti
Massimo Dutti sells classic European tailoring at a premium price without the designer markup. Wool coats and straight trousers make up the bulk of it, cut conservatively enough that the pieces stay wearable for years. Where The Fold designs for the meeting, Massimo Dutti designs for the whole week.
Check which country site you've landed on before you shop. Massimo Dutti runs separate regional stores with their own sizing and currency, and it's easy to spend twenty minutes on a version that won't ship to you.
Best for: a wool coat that carries the rest of your outfit.
Lulus
Lulus is the most casual name here and the cheapest way onto the list. Mid-range pricing covers dresses and blouses aimed at a younger shopper, with a range that leans occasion and event rather than boardroom.
The cut sits closer to a going-out dress than a work dress, and the styling follows the season rather than a house line. Where Lulus earns its place is the wedding and the office party, which is exactly the occasion The Fold prices out of reach.
Best for: one-off events you won't repeat the outfit for.
Club Monaco
Club Monaco still sells the suiting separates it's known for, and the Borrem group is the part worth your time. The Cutaway Borrem Blazer is $298 and the Wide Leg Borrem Pant is $198, so the matched two-piece comes to $496.
Stock is thin. Reading the full catalogue this month, 244 of 3,826 listed variants were available to buy, and women's trousers and blazers were the deepest categories still stocked. Buy the size you want when it appears rather than waiting for a restock.
Best for: a matched suit for under $500.
Sezane
Sezane makes workwear that doesn't announce itself as workwear. The Paris label sits in the mid-range and works in softer shapes and printed silks, so a Sezane outfit reads as clothing you chose rather than a uniform you assembled.
Set against The Fold's architectural line, that softness is the whole difference. A Sezane blouse under a plain trouser does the same job as a Fold jacket without the formality, which suits a workplace that would read a suit as trying too hard. Our longer look at the label is in brands like Sezane.
Best for: an office where structured tailoring would feel stiff.
Allbirds
Allbirds is on this list for the walk in, not the meeting. The Women's Tree Breezer is $105, a knit flat with an upper of eucalyptus-derived TENCEL Lyocell and recycled polyester, and the Women's Wool Runner is $110.
There are no loafers in the current women's line-up, whatever you may have read elsewhere. Allbirds sells runners and knit flats, plus canvas slip-ons, so this covers the commute and the desk rather than the client presentation. Keep a leather pair under the desk. We rank the wider category in shoe brands like Allbirds.
Best for: the two miles either side of the working day.
How to Choose Between These 19
Start with the gap in your wardrobe rather than the brand. If it's trousers, Everlane at $148 and Club Monaco at $198 cover the cheap end, and Theory at £245 covers the good end. If it's a blazer, Cuyana at $328 and Theory at £445 bracket the range. If it's a dress that has to do a wedding as well as a Wednesday, Reiss and Lulus sit at opposite ends of the same job.
Two of these sit above the rest on price, and both earn it for a specific reason. Joseph for silk you'll keep for a decade, Lemaire for clothes that read as design. Everything else on the list is a way to spend less and dress at a similar level. More of our workwear coverage is over on the articles page, and the minimalist section covers the quieter end of the same wardrobe.
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Written by
Spencer Lanoue
