Put This On

Two Closeout Sales

Two stores are having closeout sales at the moment, both with pretty good deals.

The first is at Pockets Menswear in Dallas, Texas. The owner is retiring, so everything in the store must go. Things at this point are discounted about 75% off. Nelson there tells me they have

• Zegna shirts for about $120 (sizes 15.5 through 17, and medium through extra-large)
• A few Incotex pants for about $70 (sizes 32 through 34 waist)
• A couple of Boglioli sport coats for about $500 (sizes 44 and 46 in US sizing) 
• Lots and lots of ties from brands such as Luciano Barbera, Zegna, Nicky, Seaward & Stern, and Altea. There’s also a couple of E. Marinellas left, but not many. Prices for these are about $45. For ease of ordering, I’ve included ten photos of some of their inventory. When you call, you can tell them something like “I want the brown tie on the left hand side of picture 8” (or something like that). Note, in pictures 1 and 3, those are mostly wool knits, but there are some in silk. 

When you call, ask for Nelson. He’s familiar with Put This On and the photos above, so he’ll be able to sort you out. Their phone number is (214) 368-1167. Nelson said it’s fine to call today and next week, but ideally not over the weekend, as they get super busy then. 

The second sale is at Independence in Chicago. They’re selling off all of their Swims Premium Classic galoshes and pricing them at $60. Colors available include orange and black. Again, you have to call in the order, however (the number is 312.675.2105). Ask for Timothy. 

Mauve, Flannel, and Tweed

Last fall, I wrote a post about other shirts readers might want to consider after they’ve built a solid foundation of light blues and whites. The softer shades of pink and lilac, for example, can be easily worn underneath navy or grey jackets for a livelier look, and ecru adds something interesting without straying too far from white. I also like striped shirts in brown, grey, or green, so long as the shirts aren’t dominated by those colors, and not combined with similar trousers (e.g. no mid-grey striped shirts with mid-grey wool trousers).

Well, add mauve to that list. I recently found the two photos you see above – the first from Heavy Tweed Jacket and the second from Luciano Barbera’s blog. A warm tweed sport coat combined with a comfortable pair of grey flannel trousers is nothing new, but when you swap out the standard light blue shirt for a striped mauve, I think it becomes a slightly more interesting look. These can be worn with your standard fall and winter ties, such as the ancient madders and woolens you see above, and the warm tones all around can be brought out through a pair of shell cordovan shoes made from Horween’s #8 leather.

Since seeing the two photos, I’ve been looking for a nice, striped mauve shirt for myself, but not with much luck. Light pinks and lilacs are easy, but this very specific shade of mauve seems elusive. The one place I found was Cottonwork, who has a version of it here. Cottonwork tells me that there’s a very subtle weaving pattern to the material, which is only visible on close inspection. Alternatively, they have this plain weave, but it’s in a slightly cooler shade of purple. I’m thinking about getting the first material made into a semi-spread collar shirt with a French placket and no pocket, precisely to wear with things such as tweed jackets and grey flannel trousers.

Note, Cottonwork is an advertiser of ours, but before becoming so, I was a customer (and fan) of theirs for a quite a while. Of the five online made-to-measure shirt operations I’ve tried, I found theirs to be the best. Their shirts fit me better and were more nicely constructed (e.g. higher stitch count, straighter seams, nicer interlinings, etc). You can create a custom shirt through them by submitting your measurement online, or by sending them your best fitting shirt and asking for it to be copied. To read about how to take advantage of custom shirt programs, you can read my series on the topic here.  

I’m very excited that the Museum of the Rhode Island School of Design is planning a menswear exhibition for this spring called “Artist/Rebel/Dandy: Men of Fashion.” It doesn’t open until late April, but with folks like PTO pals Guy Hills and Luciano Barbera featured, it should be a wonderful show.

It’s On Sale: Rugby Ralph Lauren & Luciano Barbera 

There are two flash sales of note today: Rugby Ralph Lauren at RueLaLa and Luciano Barbera at Gilt.

The Rugby selection is limited, but they do have a few sweaters and a tartan duffle coat that I think looks like a nice alternative to all the solid colored coats you typically see. You should also know that Rugby’s own online retail site has added further price drops to their sale section, too, where you can buy a tuxedo jacket, pants a shirt for $520 altogether. 

The Luciano Barbera selection at Gilt has several fall sport coats that look ideal, however, the price is a bit steep. I know $700 isn’t exactly chump change to most people, but it’s almost a quarter of the retail price (if Gilt is to be believed). 

-Kiyoshi

Luciano Barbera says this is the perfect cuff. Who are we to disagree?

MyHabit Comes Into Its Own

In the wake of the quick growth of the flash sale site Gilt, many competitors sprang up. Gilt had secured relationships with many great companies, and generally had a good sense of what brands to align themselves with, so the first year or so was rough for these other guys. There was a lot of Nautica sales, in other words.

Recently, though, I’ve noticed that Amazon’s offering, MyHabit, has started to offer some great discounts on great brands. Today, for example, they’re offering E. Tautz, Luciano Barbera, Pringle and Jil Sander. Of course, they’re also (literally) offering Nautica, so the range of quality is broad, but it’s absolutely worth taking note. In the same time period, Gilt’s strength has weakened - their discounts feel smaller, their brand quality less consistent, the proportion of their offerings that are re-listings increased dramatically.

Many of the items on MyHabit are on significant discount - in a sale called “The Gentleman’s Essentials,” they’ve got Incotex trousers for $49, and many of the Luciano Barbera items were as much as 80 or 90% off. Nothing to sneeze at.

If you haven’t tried MyHabit, it might be worth signing up to get their sale announcements. I’ve been grateful to The Silentist and This Fits for their posts about good sales, but I think I’ll pay more attention to my inbox going forward. Do the same, and you might catch a great brand at great prices.

(A quick note: when we link to these sites, we usually use referral links when we remember because hey, why not, but frankly the benefit for us is pretty marginal and doesn’t affect our editorial decisions.)