A thread on affordable casualwear I like on eBay. Requirements: plenty of stock and under $100. 🧵
Taylor Stitch Shirts (~$50 eBay)
Great value new; even better value used. The fall/winter shirts are made from surprisingly thick fabrics. I like the Yosemite (chamois) and Crater (plaid flannel) models best, although they also have some cool Westerns and chambrays.
Dickies, Carhartt, & Stan Ray Painter Pants (~$50)
Robust, double knee construction. Cool way to wear white pants bc they don't feel as aggressive as white jeans + they look better dirty. Wear with chambray. Plenty on eBay, although this pic is from UnionStationVintage on Etsy
Vintage Lee Rider Jacket (~$75)
Cooler than Levis Type III bc it has a more interesting silhouette (cropped, v-shaped) and slanted chest pockets that aim toward the shoulders (kinda like peak lapels). Warning: these can be wonky to size; buy from a place that takes returns
French Chore Coat (~$75)
I like the beat-up vintage ones best. A dime a dozen on eBay and Etsy. If wearing a stinky chore coat grosses you out, you can check for new ones from brands like Vetra, Le Laboureur, Arpenteur, and Le Mont Saint Michel.
Scottish Shetlands (~$50)
A bit prickly, but good over an oxford cloth button-down shirt. Harder wearing than cashmere, and much more affordable, too. Anything made in Scotland will be good. Type "shetland (Scotland, Scottish)" into the search bar + click "include descriptions"
Stan Ray Fatigues ($80)
If you don't want to sort through vintage military fatigues, check out Stan Ray on eBay and Etsy. Made in Texas from OG 107 sateen fabric. Beware of sizing (triple check measurements). A size 30 waist may need a size 32 pant.
Vintage Cargo Pants (~$80)
Articulated knees, box pleated pockets, and drawstring hems can all help to create a more interesting shape on the bottom half of your outfit. Search "German Bundeswehr pants," "p44 pants" and "military surplus cargo pants," but triple check sizing
Chambray Shirts ($75)
The look of a denim shirt, but lighter weight and good for summer. Easy to find on eBay from brands like Ralph Lauren, Bronson, and J. Crew's Wallace & Barnes. Engineered Garments is also great but will run you a little north of $100
If you find this helpful, I round up cool menswear-related eBay finds for a site called Put This On twice a week. Prices tend to be a bit higher than $100, but the general idea is to help ppl build quality wardrobes on a budget.
a lot of ppl who claim to be progressive struggle to make the connection btw the things they care about—fair wages, labor protections, & homelessness—with their belief that clothes should cost $20
the items in this thread may be outside of your budget and that's fine! no one has to engage in fashion. but the idea that clothes should cost $2 sits at the core of many of the problems ppl complain about. it's not all about evil corporations; it's also about you, the consumer
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Let's start with an experiment. Here are two men wearing tailored jackets with jeans.
Which do you think looks better?
If you choose the outfit on the right, then we have the same taste. But why does he look better?
The answer stems fro a basic rule of classic tailoring: the jacket needs to have a certain relationship with the trousers so as to form a harmonious whole.
On April 30th, Josh Smith of Montana Knife Company said you won't have to worry about tariffs if you buy American.
Last week, he realized his costs are going up bc he imports equipment and steel. And so do his suppliers.
IMO many people aren't aware of how much they import.
Genuinely not posting this to gloat, but hoping that people reevaluate how much of their life is connected to an international supply chain. Many small businesses, including artisans, will see their businesses shutter because of these tariffs, regardless of how they voted
Extremely long, but if you want to hear it, Josh breaks down the challenges he's facing. I hear similar stories in menswear (e.g., 3sixteen needing to import the best denim, which comes from Japan). All this now faces tariffs.
Glad I bought a Sebenza in MagnaCut before all this.
In this thread, I will tell you, definitively, whether Sydney Sweeney has great jeans.
This way, you will be more informed when shopping for your wardrobe . 🧵
I should state two things at the outset.
First, I never comment on womenswear because I don't know anything about it. This thread isn't actually about Sweeney's jeans (sorry, I lied). But in the last few days, I've seen grown men buying American Eagle jeans and I can't abide.
Second, while clothing quality matters, it's more important to develop a sense of taste. Buying clothes isn't like shopping for electronics — you don't "max out" specs. It's more like buying coffee — you sample around and identify what notes you like. Develop taste.
Sometimes I think about the closure of G. Lorenzi, a Milanese gentleman's shop that had been around for almost 100 years until their closure in 2014. The shop was special because it carried so many one-of-a-kind items from artisans — total handmade craft production, not factory.
At the time of their closure, they still carried over 20,000 items of 3,000 models, including speciality knives, picnic sets, and nutcrackers. They had over 100 styles of nail clippers and 300 different hairbrushes alone. Proprietor Aldo Lorenzi scoured the world for artisans.
There's nothing wrong with factory production. But as more of our lives get taken over by machines — including art and writing — this sort of production feels special.
Trailer for "A Knife Life," a documentary about the store by my friend Gianluca Migliarotti, available on Vimeo
I spent 15 yrs on a menswear forum. The longest argument I had was over a tiny detail that can be seen in this photo. For 6 months, I argued with the same five guys non-stop every day. The argument got so heated the forum owner banned one guy for life.
As I've mentioned before, there's a lot of coded language in menswear. Navy suits can be worn with black oxfords because this was the uniform of London businessmen. Brown tweeds go with brogues because these clothes were worn in the country. In this way, we get formal vs. casual.
The same is true for shoes. Tiny details come together to communicate something, much like how words form a sentence. Black is more formal than brown; calfskin more formal than suede or pebble grain; plain design is more formal than broguing. All of this stems from history.
The year is 2024 and you're browsing for a new shirt online. You come across a store selling shirts from Portuguese Flannel. You do your research and find they make quality garments: clean single-needle stitching, flat felled seams, quality fabrics, MOP buttons, classic designs
So you go ahead and purchase one. The shop charges 139 Euros and throws in free shipping. Given the exchange rate in 2024, that means you paid $163.19.