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I get what the article is getting at, its lovely for what it is trying to do. my take: Cloths are what people you meet look at. They create a mood in the spectator and leave an impression of who you are. First you have to figure out who you are, who you use to be and who you want to become. Who are the people you meet? they use to be what? who do you want them to be? After doing that you pick cloths that compliment t…
I'm a raving fan of Uniqlo. I love that they offer simple, unbranded merchandise and that they're conveniently situated in most of the major cities that I frequent.
I split my time between the US and Australia - and a few other places in between - and the most important thing for me is replaceability. I try not to check bags, so like to have a tight carry on setup. If I find a shirt, pants, jacket, that I like - I want to know that I can easily replace it if needed while on the road. This means almost my entire wardrobe, top to bottom, is Uniqlo.
I sometimes wonder if I'm part of the problem when it comes to being a disposable culture - I almost certainly am - but the convenience for me is too great to give up.
I hate the complete lack of transparency in garments. We need to know all the details, including the weave? For someone that sweats a lot in hot & humid climates, why does one white cotton shirt show the sweat, and another doesn't? Why do I feel cooler with a thicker cotton shirt than a thinner one?
What's even more frustrating is that its impossible to find even a brand that uses good quality fabrics all the time. Even expensive outdoor gear can be hit and miss.
For cotton, many of their models are loopwheeled which is a fantastic low tension fabric that ages really well. All they are doing is to copy American techniques from the golden age of workwear and sportswear. In fact, they try to produce perfect reproductions.
Modern streetwear brands like Outlier and Acronym are also really good.
I love Ventile cotton as it's natural and fairly rain resistant. You can find several brands that use Ventile made by Stotz in Switzerland in coats. For pants, if you don't like denim German Ripsmoleskin is fantastic.
Finally, knitwear from Inis Meain and SNS Herning is machine produced but absolutely fantastic. Expensive but not insane prices like some superb Italian brands.
All these brands I mentioned are really high quality. Plus the production process and materials employed are really transparent. There are many others with different styles I would also trust like Merz B Schwanen, Maison Margiela or SEH Kelly.
I find this article and it's premise interesting, mainly because quality actually isn't my primary metric when buying clothes. I'm a raving fan of Uniqlo. I love that they offer simple, unbranded merchandise and that they're conveniently situated in most of the major cities that I frequent. I split my time between the US and Australia - and a few other places in between - and the most important thing for me is replac…
It's interesting how synthetics were mostly lumped together and largely undifferentiated. To be fair, that post is over 5 years old and some seemingly significant advances in fabrics for consumer garments have become widely available in the meantime. I've personally come to feel cotton is vastly over-rated as a clothing material for anything but cost-saving goals (which certainly is an important factor.) Of course th…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Another Carhartt fan! I’ve got a Carhartt bunnyhug that I wear all year round. They somehow made it warm enough to be a great add-on under a lighter winter coat, and cool enough to be ok up to about +15C. It’s black and the dye faded quickly, but it has otherwise held up way better than any bunnyhug I’ve ever owned. Plus the small bit of cognitive dissonance when people see the the sweater and then realize I’m workin…
Is bunnyhug a common term?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
YKK doesn't mean quite as it did. More an indicator of probably adequate than quality these days.
YKK signals from the designer to everyone who sees the garment: "I can't afford for this garment to fail because of the zipper". That is, they are selling into a crowd that attends to reputation signals. That is, in and of itself, a good signal. Take it as one of many. Submariney sort of story, but still useful: https://slate.com/business/2012/04/ykk-zippers-why-so-many-d...
Presumably they've been as keen to reduce quality down to a price as most everyone else, by trading on the brand name rather than the actual quality that built that name. Or maybe Levi's or whoever are specifying the next cheapest zip down. They still do better than the unbranded, but that is a pretty low bar.
I get what the article is getting at, its lovely for what it is trying to do. my take: Cloths are what people you meet look at. They create a mood in the spectator and leave an impression of who you are. First you have to figure out who you are, who you use to be and who you want to become. Who are the people you meet? they use to be what? who do you want them to be? After doing that you pick cloths that compliment t…
Is everyone not heading to a funeral? ;)
I get what the article is getting at, its lovely for what it is trying to do. my take: Cloths are what people you meet look at. They create a mood in the spectator and leave an impression of who you are. First you have to figure out who you are, who you use to be and who you want to become. Who are the people you meet? they use to be what? who do you want them to be? After doing that you pick cloths that compliment t…