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In the fall and winter months, most wear clothes made from pure cotton or wool fibers, often tweeds, corduroy, and flannel. But in the warmer seasons, a lot of tailoring tends to be made from blends, such as wool-silk-linen, wool-linen, and linen-Lyocell. The advantage of a blend is that it gives you the best of all the fibers. Wool-silk-linen has the natural stretch and drape of wool, the casual, dry hand of linen, and the sheen of silk. Italian mills—which are generally better than their British counterparts at creating summer fabrics–often rely on blends to create unique textures, allowing designers to give outfits a bit of visual interest.
This season, Proper Cloth has a wide range of soft-shouldered tailoring made from such blends, including some from renowned mills such as Loro Piana. For instance, these wool-silk-linen jackets can be worn with their long-sleeved polos or dress shirts (go with one of the stripes if you don’t think you’ll often wear a tie). You can team them with tropical wool trousers, chinos, loafers, or espadrilles.
For something more casual, Proper Cloth also has a wide selection of short-sleeved button-ups. Since they’re an online made-to-measure clothier, these can be made into any shape or size (we recommend pairing them with the company’s camp collar if you’re going to do a short-sleeve). They offer free remakes on the first order, which ensures the perfect fit. Short-sleeved summer shirts can be teamed with jeans, chinos, and the right pair of shorts, along with easygoing slip-on shoes or sneakers.
Gustin’s business model is organized to reduce waste, streamline production, and consequently, offer their customers the lowest possible prices. In the traditional fashion model, a company comes up with an idea, goes into production, and prays that everything they make sells. In most cases, these products go through the typical chain—regional reps and retailers who require their cut of the pie. That’s how a shirt that costs $45 to make can end up costing $150 at the store.
In Gustin’s case, everything is organized by pre-order. They think of a design, open a pre-order window, and then go into production once they’ve reached a number of committed orders. On the downside, this means you have to wait a few weeks for delivery (as the items need to be manufactured). However, since Gustin sells directly to consumers and has almost no unsold stock, they can offer everything to you at wholesale prices.
This system also allows them to experiment with unique fabrics. At the moment, they have a pre-order window open for their Japan Fire Red jeans, which are made from a raw selvedge denim composed of a deep navy warp and unique red poly weft. This is sort of like the denim equivalent of Solaro, a shimmering duotone suiting that Italian industrialist Gianni Agnelli made famous. Gustin offers all of their pre-order jeans in three fits—slim, straight, and skinny—so you can get the silhouette you want.
Dapper Classics is doing a blowout sale on the remaining stock in their clearance section. From now until the end of the month, you can take an additional 40% off already marked down prices. That brings socks down to $11.40, pocket squares to $33, scarves to $39, dress shirts to $54, and their popular tailored trousers to $105.
This could be a good time to experiment with some things that you would not have considered otherwise for your wardrobe. Colorful socks in dusty pinks and bright yellow can be a way to add a bit of cheer to a summer outfit, such as tan gabardine suits or navy blazers paired with tan trousers. Brown socks in classic patterns such as polka dot and argyle can also be teamed with brown corduroy trousers in the fall, while sport fans might be inspired to wear the motifs with basketballs, footballs, or tennis racquets on game days.
All of these socks are made at a third-generation, family-owned mill in North Carolina, where Dapper Classics has invested manufacturing equipment. They’re made from fine mercerized cotton yarns and featured hand-linked toes for extra comfort. Their quality is comparable to the best European names, but since Dapper Classics makes all of their socks in the USA, American customers don’t have to shoulder the cost of international shipping and duties.
Spier & Mackay is offering 20% off a wide selection of items. Since the company debuted on StyleForum ten years ago, they’ve developed a cult following, as they offer many of the styles you’ll find at expensive shops but at a lower price. For instance, their suits and sport coats start around $300, the retro-styled knits at $58, and casual outerwear at $200. With the current 20% off sale, the deals become sweeter.
Spier & Mackay’s tailoring is made with the same cut and proportions that menswear fanatics often fawn over. The jackets have a soft shoulder line, a lapel that ends halfway from the collar to the shoulder seam, and a length that mercifully covers your rear. It can be hard to find this sort of cut for anything less than $1,500. Spier & Mackay’s tailoring is half canvassed and made from European fabrics, but typically costs a fraction of that price. Their ability to offer customers classic cuts and styles at affordable prices is also why their casualwear range has taken off. If you’ve ever admired a retro-styled knit but winced at the price, it can be a good idea to check here.
Over the last thirty years, suspenders have gone much in the way of hats. Once common in men’s wardrobes, they’ve become something of a relic of the past. But why might you want to wear suspenders? For one, they’re more comfortable than organ-squeezing tourniquets. Since your waist expands when you sit, and returns to its smaller circumference when you stand, belts are only comfortable in one of these positions. Suspenders, on the other hand, allow you to have a little extra room at the waistband to accommodate these changes. Plus, they’re better at holding up your pants. Belted trousers tend to slip down throughout the day, which requires you to adjust them continually. You can set the desired length with suspenders, put them on, and never bother with them again.
Chipp Neckwear has the most affordable ones around, at least if you’re looking for something well-made and produced in the USA. The price is $45.50, which is lower than their competitors — much like the price of their grenadine ties. They offer 20 solid colors and three stripes, the choice of black or brown leather kips, as well as gold or silver-colored adjusters.
Our friend Matt at LuxeSwap is known for helping people clear out their wardrobe by selling their gently used items on eBay. Most of his clients are everyday guys like you and me, but every once in a while, he lands a doozy. After all, he was the guy who helped Buzz Bissinger clear out his kingly collection of designer clothing after the author of Friday Night Lights penned a viral GQ essay about his addiction to Gucci.
In the last month or so, Matt has landed two big accounts. The first is the estate of Alex Kabbaz, a famous bespoke shirtmaker and moderator on Ask Andy About Clothes (a forum dedicated to traditional men’s clothing). Kabbaz ran an online shop selling high-end pajamas, knitwear, and accessories. Much of that stock is now being auctioned off on eBay through LuxeSwap, which means you can buy things such as Zimmerli and Gran Sasso knits—widely considered some of the best in their class—for a fraction of what they’d cost at full retail. The other notable auctions are from Bruce Boyer’s personal wardrobe, such as his tailoring from Steven Hitchcock and Cheo, Scottish cashmere Begg scarves, and Harley Shetland knits. The current round of auctions ends this Sunday and you can find them here.
