10 Stores Like Express to Shop the Latest Trends in Women’s and Men’s Clothing

Express has been a favorite of style-conscious, young men and women across the United States. For our today’s post, we have carefully selected to share some other stores like Express to shop similar quality clothing and on-trend accessories.

Most of these alternative clothing brands are cheaper than Express, while some are a bit expensive. But we assure you, we have spent hours upon hours in research to help you find EXACTLY what you are looking for.

Express : A Quick Intro to the Company

Express is a trusted name in the world of American fashion for well over four decades. Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, Express first opened its doors back in the year 1980.

In addition to a full-featured eCommerce website, Express also operates a chain of more than 600 brick-and-mortar stores across the United States, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and several other countries.

Presently, Express is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bath & Body Works, an American specialty retail business group that owns many other world-famous fashion brands including Victoria’s Secret and Lane Bryant. Last year, Express clothing stores generated almost $600 million in revenue.

Top 10 Express Alternatives

• 1. Banana Republic
• 2. Abercrombie Casuals, Jeans/Ref: Hollister and Gilly Hicks
• 3. Forever 21 (Cheaper, Fast Fashion)
• 4. H&M 2nd Lasrgest (Ref: Zara by Inditex)
• 5. J Crew #5 (Ref: Madewell)
• 6. LOFT (Feminine & Casual etc. etc.)/ Ref: Ann Taylor/Ascena Retail, Lane Bryant, Justice, Dressbarn
• 7. Macy’s (Not among the Direct Comp: but good deals)
• 8. Guess (One Thing /Jeans)
• 9. Urban Outfitters (Ref: Anthropologie, Free People)
• 10. Buckle

Banana Republic comes from the house of GAP, America’s largest clothing company that also owns Old Navy, Athleta, and Intermix. GAP also is the third-largest clothing business in the world.

Generally, the price range of clothing, and accessories at Banana Republic is comparable to Express.

However, if you spend some time at this clothing store, in many cases you’ll find amazing deals and discount offers on a wide range of versatile and contemporary classics for men and women.

Ambercrombie & Fitch in business for almost one century and a half. A&F is considered the original authority on classic American casual clothing for men and women.

Please note, in some cases, A&F may be somewhat expensive than Express. If you are on a budget, visit Hollister, a more affordable version of Abercrombie & Fitch.

By the way, A&F is the parent company of Hollister, and clothing for both labels is produced on the same manufacturing units. You may also want to check Gilly Hicks (another label of A&F), which designs and produces amazing-quality intimate apparel for young women.

You might have heard already, Cheap does NOT always mean Low Quality. We don’t know about others, but that’s true as long as Forever 21 is concerned.

Forever 21 was originally founded by Do Won Chang (a Korean-born American businessman) in 1984. In 2015, Forever 21 was one of the fastest-growing FAST fashion retailers in the United States.

In 2020, Forever 21 was acquired by Authentic Brands Group, a New York City-based brand management company that operates many other popular American fashion labels including (but not limited to) Brooks Brothers, Nine West, Aeropostale, Juicy Couture, Barneys, Frye, Eddie Bauer, Hickey Freeman, FOH, Volcom, IZOD, Lucky Brands, and Reebok.

Here comes a European alternative to Express that operates in more than seventy countries and is very popular in the United States as well.

With over 5000 brick-and-mortar stores and a full-featured, mobile-friendly, online clothing store, H&M is the second-largest clothing company in the world. H&M is one of the best places that can serve you as a cheap alternative to Express and other similar clothing companies.

J. Crew is one of our personal favorites and we hope you already know this fashion label too. Most Americans consider J. Crew as a synonym for the finest quality, versatile, and timeless clothing for men and women.

Please note, J. Crew may not be cheaper than Express. But if you fall into the group of fashion enthusiasts that always prefer quality over price tags, shopping at J. Crew is going to be a very pleasant experience for you.

Moreover, if you are a fan of Express Jeans, we encourage you to check out Madewell, a subsidiary of J. Crew, known for its seriously great denim jeans collections for women.

Here comes another great place to shop high-quality clothing for women. LOFT is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ann Taylor.

Please note, quality-wise, women’s clothing sold at LOFT stores is superior to Express. AND, quality comes at a cost. We hope you understand that.

Macy’s is NOT actually among the direct competitors of Express and most other alternative clothing retailers we listed on this page. Macy’s is an American department stores chain that has been around for almost two centuries now.

From clothing and shoes to housewares and furniture, Macy’s sells products under hundreds of categories. Macy’s has a HUGE inventory of men’s and women’s clothing by hundreds of top-rated brands. AND, the best part is, you can get most pieces at Macy’s for up to 30% OFF the original price.

Macy’s also is the parent company of Bloomingdales, another very trusted store to shop upscale fashion at unbelievably discounted prices.

Guess is another world-famous American fashion brand. With reference to this post, if we had to recommend only one thing from the entire product portfolio of Guess, we would have chosen their denim jeans collection.

We have already recommended A&F in this category. But we strongly recommend that you also check out the latest denim styles at Guess before making a purchase decision.

Urban Outfitters is one of the major clothing retail companies in the United States. UO can be recommended as an all-in-one alternative to Express for every style and taste.

Urban Outfitters also owns and operates several other popular fashion brands including BHLDN, Anthropologie, and Free People.

Urban Outfitters has a FREE shipping and FREE returns policy. So you can try anything absolutely risk-free. AND, if anything goes wrong (which is highly unlikely) you can return your order for a full refund.

Buckle is another place that is somewhat different from the other options listed above. Buckle is a leading clothing retail company that offers a wide range of men’s and women’s clothing at impressive discounted prices.

We hope this post has helped you find at least one alternative to Express that is perfect in your case. However, if none of the above worked for you, we hope Buckle is what you need to visit.