How I Buy Clothes

After writing about the Foundational Wardrobe and Menswear as a Hobby, I felt that I was hinting toward my interest in musing out Why and How people buy things. Ultimately this came from countless discussions of fatigue and dissatisfaction from fashion enthusiasts, a sentiment I have yet to feel for myself. At first, I thought that this was just the difference between general fashion and classic/vintage menswear, but as the Hobby creeps into the world of menswear (and as the look itself becomes a trend), I’ve started to see the attitude wash over my friends and mutuals.

I originally thought that the reason behind fatigue and dissatisfaction was simply because of the plethora of information we are subjected to today. We see so much out there on the internet, from brand lookbooks to influencer-saturated social media platforms. Hell, with this being the Best Time for Fashion, I’m sure we actually get to see cool fits out in public (more so if you live in a metropolitan area with fashion events/flea markets). With it being an unprecedented time for fashion as a hobby and for social communication, its easy to simply call everyone sheep and say that the internet and following trends are to blame.

However, I recently saw a TikTok that made me shift my perspective.

@madeintheurl
Replying to @roman 🖤 last thing ill say about all of this #madeintheurl
♬ original sound – madeintheurl

To summarize, MadeInTheURL talks about what he thinks the Four Stages of Fashion are: Discovery, Desire, Got it, Had It. He posits that Desire, the stage where you know what you want but you don’t have the means to get it, is probably the most important stage. Since you are unable to simply grab what you like, this stage forces you to figure out what you like, why you like it, and how you go about achieving what you want. For most people, at least in the past, this led to enthusiasts finding alternatives, scouring for vintage, or saving up. That way as you get older, get higher income, or get aware of more avenues to purchase, your Got It stage is a natural extension built on the decisions and tastes you made in Desire.

However, this has changed: the new wave of fashion enthusiasts are able to Discover something and immediately go to the Got It stage, skipping the Desire part almost completely. Now, while MadeInTheURL is mainly talking about reps, I find that this ease of purchase happens due to everything: the explosion of niche brands, major brands actually starting to cater to hobbyists, and the explosion of vintage. People can [almost] easily buy anything they want. And with Discovery happening all the time, people get to own and wear things without that crucial Desire period of introspection.

Even outside of the groups that use Discovery (that mainly focuses on trends and designer/new pieces), guys who follow basic wardrobe turn clothes into turnkey purchases; they aren’t clothes but items to own and forget about. The result is people who don’t have a deep connection with their clothes, which makes it no surprise that people start to regret, fatigue, and revamp much earlier than ever before.

So with all of that in mind, I decided to think about my own buying process and see how it may or may not line up with other people.

I think some context is needed before I get into the actual mechanics of purchasing clothes. As I stated in my Foundational blog post, I am a vintage guy. Buying vintage was how I built a majority of my hobbyist wardrobe (until it became my actual wardrobe) and therefore my entire POV. This meant that I had a very specific taste and I was at the mercy of only being able to purchase whatever was available. Add on the fact that I got into it really young (tail end of high school/early freshman year of uni), and you get someone whose entire experience [almost] has been defined by the Desire stage.

Information (Discovery) played a huge part in this. Unlike some guys today who get into menswear through agnostic/business-appropriate tailoring and eventually discover other things through social media (Wythe’s take on western wear, EG’s pocket-saturated workwear, the updated prep of Rowing Blazers and Noah), I saw everything all at once. Granted it was through the lens of the 1920s-1960s but my god, it had it all. Every day I saw people posting yearbook scans, photos of actors, and countless Apparel Arts illustrations. As a result, I was exposed to many facets of menswear: ivy-trad, swing attire, workwear, milsurp, resort wear, western wear. People even wore it regularly and posted it in Facebook groups and The Fedora Lounge so I could see what it was like IRL. Again, it’s not a one-to-one comparison to the updated designers of today, but there is an argument that I was exposed to the Foundations of what these designers looked at.

In short, I discovered a lot when I was younger. This also meant meant that I languished in Desire for that much longer as well. This also meant that I had a lot of time to figure out what I liked, what I didn’t like, and most importantly, what was a priority for my money. This meant that I really was relegated to non-traditional sources of clothing like curated vintage sellers, eBay, and thrift stores; buying from the mall was simply not an option because they didn’t make what I wanted.

The weird thing about vintage is that prices can be all over the place. Sometimes you come across something rare for a cheap price. Or a basic, like a navy DB suit, is expensive (relatively speaking) because it’s vintage and the seller knows what it is. This made for an unorthodox method of building a wardrobe but it did make me incredibly intentional with my buying. If I had an inkling of interest in something in front of me at a store or eBay, I would have to decide right then and there to buy it. If I hesitate or wait, I had to be okay with never seeing it again. Saving up was hard to do, because there was no guarantee something would be there when you had enough money. This did not lead to overusing a credit card. I often passed on things; after all, I was a teenager with only a few hours of work each week. I tried to only buy what I knew I wanted and what I knew I was going to wear.

This vintage background is probably what makes my experience a little bit different from other people’s. Not everyone has a specific POV in mind when buying clothes. But getting this Foundation and my own ability to source alternative methods to get what I want (picking vintage myself or finding repros/similar items), factors into how I buy my clothes today. It makes me patient, introspective, and also puts reasonable caps on what I want (mainly because I’m used to finding deals on eBay).

This lead to one of my personal rules when buying: do it through vintage as much as possible and do it in person (thrift stores, vintage stores, flea markets). This rule mainly applied to things that best exist as vintage, where details, cut, cloth are near-impossible to find from modern RTW. That’s why a lot of my rayon sportshirts, ties, and casual pieces like milsurp, workwear, and outerwear are nearly all vintage. I’ve been very lucky to get the exact ones I like, all from the backlog of clothes I’ve always been interested in. If it doesn’t fulfill that, I tend to not buy it.

This makes it easy for me to resist offerings from even the most illustrious brands, including The Armoury, Drake’s, Bryceland’s etc. They seldom make things that fit what I want to a “T”, at least not at a price I would be comfortable spending. While this still holds true today, most of my pieces I now own did not exist as RTW at the time of my purchase, or at least not done well; vintage stores didn’t even stock them often. Even if I really wanted a chambray sportshirt or m43 pants, I couldn’t just grab it if I wanted to. I was forced to really think about it. But my successes taught me that if I simply kept hunting, I’d find the one for me. Hell, I was able to get chambray workshirts and a sawtooth westerner at the flea too (and not for crazy prices). This is what keeps me from buying RTW today– I still get lucky!

I also try to use vintage when buying other menswear basics, mainly in terms of trousers, shirts, and a handful of sportcoats. These are things I don’t necessarily need true vintage for but my tastes in these items tend to align with things commonly found at thrift stores: wide high-waisted wool pants, boxy point collar shirts, and fall/winter sack jackets (yes, even in LA). Other stuff like pleated shorts, would come on eBay (specifically through Polo RL).

Let’s take my OCBDs as an example. Today, most makers have moved past the skimpy collars and have made some incredible, rolling designs. I do not deny that these garments are worth it, especially with niche, small scale production (or even going bespoke). However, I find OCBDs quite often on eBay and at the thrift (even in LA). I’m even wearing a beloved yellow Brooks one as we speak (found at my local Goodwill); my friend Jack (at 16.5 neck) has also found “Makers” label ones on eBay. Even considering my beloved chambray or my blue-striped ones (which tend to fetch higher prices), I haven’t spent over $60 for a button-down collar shirt.

But the Desire stage is still quite long here. It took me months to get a simple blue uni stripe OCBD from Brooks that wasn’t slim or non-iron. I could have bought it new and saved me time, but I am always skeptical when it is that easy. Hot take, but the time to find this shirt, even when its Foundational to my style, helped me figure out just how Foundational it truly was. I got along fine before it and I’d be fine without it, but when it all aligns, magic happens. That’s how you get connected with your clothes.

Now mind you, I do not buy things just because they are at the thrift. They still need to line up against the backlog, which again is rather “basic” compared to what other people shop for. I do not want to compromise, but I’m glad I’ve never really had to. My taste in OCBD matches the Brooks ones I find regularly. So if I do ever get the hankering for another OCBD, I feel like I can find it quite easily. That’s what keeps me going!

Obviously, not everything can be found at the thrift or on eBay. That means you have to open yourself to spending a bit more for designers, bigger brands, and custom clothiers to get what you want. I’ve already spent a lot of time talking about each of these things before, like my commissions, my love of Ring Jacket, and my journey to buying Aldens. The common through-line here is that these are things that I’ve always wanted, but simply lacked accessibility to acquire it; I’m referring to tailoring appropriate for an LA climate that also lines up with my existing taste.

Sometimes patience pays off and the stars align, like me acquiring open weave sportcoats from Drake’s or Ring Jacket on heavy discount thanks to sample sales or Drop93. It is still much more expensive than the thrift or eBay, but as I get older and more intentional, this is the price I have to pay to get what I want. Within reason of course; it’s not like going bespoke for everything is actually possible (I don’t think a tailor wants to get into the nitty gritty with me about design).

This applies to my custom spearpoint shirts, which were one of the first custom items I ever bought. While I could afford them more easily today, they were still an investment for Younger Ethan; it wasn’t an easy “buy now” situation. I had to decide if I really loved spearpoints enough to spend that money on them. Obviously, it paid off, as I wear them almost daily and I haven’t really had to buy custom shirts in a very long time. In fact, I thrifted shirts in order to not wear my spearpoints all the time. It really goes to show how important Desire is in this process.

On that note, that is why I’ve also been comfortable buying custom clothing from Hall Madden and Atelier Fugue. Both are relatively affordable, both gave me the fabric I was after, and most importantly both gave me the cut I was after. Fugue actually takes the cake, being affordable and allowing me to deviate from his typical block quite easily, making for an even deeper connection with the clothing I commission. I do not think I would have been able to get close to my ideal by buying vintage, especially if I wanted to be able to wear it in LA. This success is why I’ve been using him to get the suits I’ve always envisioned myself wearing, like a basic brown SB or something bold like my green cotton number.

I say “always wanted” because that’s exactly what this is. The abstraction of these items (i.e, a summer-appropriate khaki DB or a brown plaid jacket in open-weave wool) was always present in my long-developed preferences. In other words, years of being exposed to all manner of vintage resulted in a backlog of clothes I was interested in. I languished in Desire, forcing myself to reevaluate my taste and priorities just so I could be prepared when the thing I wanted was right in front of me.

As a result, none of these things are truly impulse-driven but rather long-awaited purchases. Sometimes it does take a while to accomplish like me actually saving up (or rather, refraining from buying other things) to get my Aldens. Another good example is my custom commissions, where I really am getting the thing I want, the way I want it because alternatives don’t exist.

Other times, like seeing my perfect jacket come up on Drop93, it is pure chance that I should be ready for. In almost every case, the garments are always something I’ve always been interested in. The backlog truly is special in that way, being a hedge against potential impulse purchases. It also makes for a deep love of the clothes I actually own, since they’ve made it past their long limbo in the Desire phase.

So when it comes to buying things, the bar is high. A potential new-to-me garment is in heavy competition with the backlog as well as the existing clothes in my wardrobe. I like to think of it as a more intentional version of cost-per-wear, but one that makes my relationship to clothing more than just a dollar amount. I have to want it more than my existing list and I have to want to wear it more than the things in my wardrobe. Notice how I say “want” to– this is meant to focus on the joy and excitement we get out of our clothes, rather than simply judging versatility in formality.

Don’t get me wrong; new things may be quite tempting and invoke a lot of excitement. Just think about how much I love ties, which is reflected in the fact that I mainly bought ties when I was in Italy. Whether they’re vintage/second-hand or new and artisanally made, I could not resist them. It’s not even an empty purchase, as I’ve worn them all quite a bit since their purchase date. But I’m also quite picky, so it’s not like I buy ties every time I’m out.

Overall, Things seldom excite me than the things that exist in my own closet. I seldom get fatigue, most likely because of the sheer number of clothes that I own and the fact that they align with my taste (through being vintage or custom). As a result, I get joy from everything I own and I often look forward to wearing them (which is why my outfit backlog is so arge). So for me, not many things “beat out” the draw a foulard tie, striped shirt, and tassel loafers. I simply love being The Esquire Man, which keeps me grounded and prevents me from going full Bode, Visvim, Evan Kinori, etc.

Of course a week of consistently doing ivy-trad gets me excited for my other items, like milsurp and workwear. Even the rare things that are a little bolder tend to be things that make sense for my POV, like Safincore or menswear-adjacent casualwear. I look at it as adding them to the canon, rather than a jump to something completely out of left field. In other words, I am aware that the excitement isn’t fleeting. If it makes it past that bar, then I’m buying it for the long run (which requires introspection). The other things that make it past the threshold tend to be fun accessories (which are lower stakes) and I’m aware that I may not wear them “often”, like a specific tie (I have a bunch) or a piece of jewelry.

And to be clear, I don’t actually buy that often. I am not on the lookout to constantly try out new things, its just not my personality. And while it may seem like things are new, its just that things are from the archive or the simple fact that I just haven’t gotten around to wearing that piece yet; the call of other garments put them higher on the backlog (of things to wear, not buy). But granted, even with all this specificity I do have a large wardrobe.

Now I realize that my methods of buying are not perfect and are most likely not applicable to most people. One big reason is that , my everyday style isn’t too out there. Nothing is too crazy and I am not interested in participating in every genre of fashion; I am here to execute the vision I’ve always had for myself. And that vision was already honed, thanks to being exposed at a young age to a variety of menswear details that I did and did not like. I still try to stay tangentially aware of things going on in the wider world of fashion, which is made easier through the Patreon Discord and just having friends who like other styles, but so far nothing has intrigued me enough to make me do something too rash. It’s still all about what I’ve always wanted.

That’s not to say that I haven’t had any regrets. Most of the time, they were truly impulsive and they always were because of a fit issue. It’s even sadder when you realize that a few of them were in person, like my too-big Yuketen samples (I was too excited) or a few pieces of casual wear (I just don’t wear non-tailoring). I like to think that tangible experiences are best for buying, but they can also be intoxicating because of how rare they can be. This can lead to you not evaluating fit as well as you could have or even neglecting certain details because you’re there in person. Seeing yourself wear it IRL can give you the false assumption that you will wear it more often than you actually would. When I buy online, I’m typically at home, which makes it easy to gut-check myself since I can see just how much clothing I have; again, a new-to-me garment must beat out or be as attractive as the clothes that are already in my closet.

With that in mind, I’ve noticed that I’ve really been slowing down on purchases. I know I’ve said that plenty of times in the past (which is why I write about big topics rather than individual pieces), but it really is true…to an extent. I don’t find myself buying pants, shirts, or even ties. I think that I buy bigger ticket items, as I’m finally in a place where I can afford what I’ve always wanted. Again, most of this is working through the backlog; some of it is even replacing/upgrading items from the backlog, like getting a new navy wool SB suit because I literally can’t fit into my Ascot Chang one anymore (same case goes for my white linen DB replacing my Palm Beach). There was also a year where I spent everything on shoes in order to finally have footwear I was proud of. None of those were impulses, but long overdue.

On that note, I’ve found that that I’m giving myself room for special purchases, the garments that I know will not wear as often as a grey trouser and brown checked jacket. This includes my tuxedo, the Visvim kimono coat (Foundational for Safincore), my Sagan slippers, or my white suit. Cost-per-wear does not factor into them, as they are purely emotional-yet-intentional grabs. They are expressly for the days when I do not feel like wearing a brown checked jacket. That makes them worth it, like a AYCE KBBQ or a weekday cocktail; we deserve to have those things!

Overall, I don’t think I would’ve gotten to this mindset if it wasn’t for the long periods I spent in the Desire period. I’m sure that my approach to menswear would have been completely different if I was simply able to get exactly what I want right away. I am too used to introspecting and waiting long periods of time before buying. I even know that a few people dislike it when I visit their stores because I don’t purchase anything, but its really all done to gather data for a future eventual purchase. It took me a year to buy my Sagan slippers from The Armoury!

Of course, I am starting to be past the Desire phase now, where getting older and being more established in my career has given me the ability to buy the things I want (within reason). I’m also getting through my backlog since I’ve spent a lot of time crossing items off that l made for myself years ago. I’m have no need to buy OCBDs and grey pants anymore and pretty soon I won’t need to buy suits either! What will happen when I get all the stuff I’ve wanted? Will I actually start to get fatigued?

My gut says no. I’ll just focus on the wearing part of this hobby more than ever…provided I still fit into my clothes down the line. Menswear isn’t just about buying clothes, you know!

(Of course there is always furniture, a house, getting married…)

We talk about our buying process on the latest episode of Style & Direction. I get to expand deeper on all of the points above, getting into how Discovery works for us, how long things stick in Desire, and how we actually go out there and buy our clothes. MJ shares how he uses us as inspo or rather as a way to vet potential additions to his canon. Spencer talks about how he actually likes to set money aside for potential purchases, whether its for something RTW like Alden loafers and Mister Freedom or for a future vintage purchase at a curated store. This is in contrast to me, where I keep my budgeting rather mental and I try exercise restraint rather than a true budget allocation.

It’s a great episode that really gets at the heart of how we purchase clothes. Again, it may be different from other people seeing as how we’re POV focused with years of acquiring clothing (so we aren’t in a rush to buy), but we believe there are elements there that you can use for yourself. It’s good to have deep rationales and self-imposed limits, to stay in the Desire phase and refrain from purchasing until you really know if you’re going to wear it or not. The goal is to end up with wardrobe of clothes you love to wear and will stick with for as long as possible.

I mean, it worked out for us at least!