Put This On

Q and Answer: What Kind of Shoes are Best for Snowy Days?

David asks: Is it OK to wear leather soled shoes through the snow, or should I really get Dainite?

If you’re just concerned about your shoes, almost any kind of sole - leather or Dainite - will be fine in the snow. Just make sure you follow the sacred rule of putting in shoe trees after you take your shoes off, and giving them a day of rest in between each wearing. If you don’t let the leather naturally dry out, you’ll really shorten your shoes’ lifespan.

If you’re asking for your own safety, I would recommend Commando soles. There’s a lot of academic research on this that you can read through Google Scholar. Like in most research, however, there’s a lot of bickering about variables, measurements, and definitions. Still, researchers agree on a few things.

First, leather soles can be dangerous on wet, smooth surfaces. There is debate on whether Topy soles make a difference, but most scholars agree that rubber soles with treads or cleats will provide four to five times better traction. This means they’ll better in foul weather conditions. Second, it’s better to have more heel-to-surface contact, which means Commando soles will be better than Dainite. A Commando sole is what you see above in the left hand picture, and Dainite is what you see on the right. 

For what it’s worth, I’ve used Topy-ed leather, Dainite, and Commando soles on snowy days and haven’t killed myself, but I do find that Danite and Commando perform slightly better than simple rubber protectors. Lug soles can be a bit clunky, but as you can see in the left-hand picture above, Alden has a model with recessed treads at the forefront’s edge. This will give you a slightly cleaner look. If need to wear dressier shoes, I recommend a studded Dainite or maybe using galoshes. 

Q and Answer: What Size Overcoat Should I Wear?

William asks: If I wear a 38 regular blazer, what size overcoat should I be looking for?

You should look for your suit and blazer size when buying an overcoat. Manufacturers size with the expectation that you’ll be wearing an overcoat that you’ll be wearing an overcoat over a suit jacket or sport coat. If you wear a size 38 jacket, you’ll want a size 38 overcoat.

If you don’t expect to wear the overcoat on top of another jacket, you may want to consider sizing down one size. And of course you’ll always want to try on or check measurements, as they vary from manufacturer to manufacturer. While the vast majority of brands size overcoats by coat size, it’s not universal.

Generally speaking, you’ll want the chest of the overcoat to measure 2” larger than your actual chest size for a snug fit, and 4” or so larger than your actual chest to fit over a suit jacket.

Q and Answer: How Formal Are Bow Ties?

Ken asks: Is a bow tie more, less, or equally as formal as a long tie, or does formality depend on pattern/texture etc? What about a diamond tip bow tie v. a traditional bow tie?

Bow ties aren’t really more or less formal than long ties. They’re different.

The most formal occasions call for bow ties. For black tie or white tie events, the black or white tie in question should always be a bow. These ties, of course, are very specific - either satin or grosgrain, in solid black or white.

Because of this association with evening and dinner clothes, any color bow tie is particularly at home after dark. It’s a little more fun than the long tie, and so it travels well to parties, openings and the like.

During the day, though, I’d describe it as a more casual choice. It’s certainly more eccentric. You can wear a bow tie in a business context, but only in a business context where it’s appropriate to stand out. Because stand out you will, even at a meeting of Republican thinktank employees or popcorn magnates.

One aside: when wearing a bow tie, remember that it will leave much more shirt visible on your chest. For this reason, the bow looks best with a three-button coat, or a waistcoat. Without that higher V, the expanse of shirt will make the outfit look unbalanced.

Q and Answer: How Should You Store Your Shoe Care Supplies?

Matt writes to ask: Can you suggest a kit or supply chest for shoe care products?

Ethan Desu once wrote something that I liked very much. He said that you should enjoy the process of polishing shoes, not just the results. Ethan learnt to polish shoes with a friend who liked to sit around, drink tea, and talk all afternoon. Polishing shoes was just a good excuse to do those things. 

I find a lot of truth in that. I personally polish shoes alone, but I find the process very calming and meditative. Though you don’t need a supply chest to enjoy the process, having something nice can make it feel more special. Let’s review some options, going from the highest-end to the most affordable. 

If money were no object, you can get a shoeshine kit from Ephtée (pictured above). Ephtée is a French company that specializes in handmade, customized shoe trunks and storage sets. Their supply chests cost anywhere from $600 to $1,500, depending on the box and what you get in it. A Suitable Wardrobe also has three incredibly handsome options that cost between $285 and $800. These are all very expensive, to be sure, but they’re the nicest I’ve seen anywhere and they come as complete kits. 

A bit more affordable, though still expensive, is Orvis’ Gentleman’s shoeshine kit. It’s made by Col. Littleton, a Tennessee manufacturer of upscale leather goods. I find the finishing details on the box to be very nice. Saphir also makes a great kit. Both of these cost about $200 and I think they would make for fine gifts this Christmas.  

There are many options below $200 as well. Famaco has some leather carriers in large and small sizes. The smaller one may be especially good if you travel often. There are also a number of traditional wooden boxes that can be had for under $50. Bexley has one in a natural color, and Shoe Shine Kit, Shoe Care Supplies, and Shoe Tree Marketplace have some with various finishes and engraving options. For even more affordable buys, do a search on eBay for shoe shine box, shoe shine kit, and shoe shine stand. You can also browse Etsy for the same terms. There are literally hundreds of options on those sites, many of which cost about $25 or so. 

Finally, though it’s nice to have a fancy box specially designed for shoe supplies, don’t forget you can use almost any container. Jesse recently won this auction for a vintage sport-and-field shell carrier. It was made by Abercrombie and Fitch back when they were a fantastic, upscale sporting goods store and not disturbingly bad, teen apparel merchandiser. The carrier was originally meant to hold shotgun shells, but I think it would be perfect for shoe care supplies. If you live near good flea markets, you can probably find something just as great for not too painful of a price. 

Q and Answer: Can I Wear a Tie and a Button-Down Collar?

Matthew asks: I’ll often wear a knit tie with a button-down collar.  I figure, a casual tie for a casual shirt.  But I can’t find much of a consensus on wearing other ties with one.  What are your thoughts on the particulars of ties with button-down shirts?

Here’s the short answer: yes, you can wear a tie with a button-down collar.

The longer answer, as it always does, has a bit more complication.

The button-down collar is a particularly American style. The oxford-cloth button-down is so beloved that in menswear circles it’s become known simply as the OCBD. The collar, originally invented for sport, has become the definitive shirt style for both casual and more formal dress in the United States. Just because it’s a genuine icon, though, doesn’t make it appropriate for every situation.

There is, of course, a heirarchy of formality in shirts. Speaking generally, double cuffs are more formal than single cuffs. Collars grow more formal as their spread widens. Fabrics with harder finishes are more formal than those with softer finishes. Button-down oxfords are the most informal of all. Still, we live in an era where half of the covers of GQ magazine feature men wearing skinny ties with plaid sport shirts, so there’s still plenty of room for the tie-and-button-down combination.

If you live outside the United States, wearing a tie with a button-down collar may be affectedly American, or even inappropriate. I certainly wouldn’t do it if I worked at a London financial services company, for example. Of course, I wouldn’t likely wear a button-down collar much if I lived outside the United States, so it simply wouldn’t come up.

Inside the United States, I think your instincts are absolutely correct. I tend to wear a button-down casually. They pair well with sportcoats, especially casual, texture-y ones, and they look great with knit ties and bows. In fact, I generally prefer button-down collars with both of those tie styles.

The more American your aesthetic, the further you can push this - if you buy all your clothes at J. Press and wear nothing but sack suits, like George H.W. Bush, you can wear a button-down in almost any situation. If you’re of the Anglophilic persuasion, or tend to wear Italian styles, they’re not particularly suitable, even with a blazer or loud checked coat.

If you want to wear a button-down collar with a suit, you’re entering dangerous territory. Above is a famous photograph of Cary Grant in a button-down and suit. It’s a picture that often comes up when people argue about the subject of whether the two are an acceptable pairing. Cary Grant looks great, so as a general rule, I’d say that if you’re Cary Grant, you can wear a button-down with a suit. I’ll also make an exception for the kind of dyed-in-the-wool trads who have sworn a blood oath against suit darts and dress every day like they were going to a meeting at the Dean’s Office at Harvard in 1964. And heck, while I’m at it, I’ll make an exception for the most casual of suits - corduroy.

For all us normals, though, it’s almost never a good move. The best case scenario is that you’ll make it to the level of the inoffensive dress of an insurance conference attendee from Dubuque. The worst case scenario is that you’ll fall short, and end up at the offensive dress of an insurance conference attendee from Dubuque. It’s really not worth the risk.

Q and Answer: How Should You Protect Your Suede Shoes?

Brett writes to ask: I have a pair of suede plain-toe bluchers coming from Alden.  What do you do, if anything, for protection or treatment?

Some people think suede shoes are too delicate and need babying, but in actuality, if you know how to take care of them, they’re easier to maintain than regular calf. You don’t have to condition, polish, or wax them every couple of weeks, after all. Here are some basic maintenance tips:

• Apply a waterproofing spray to protect them from stains and water. Brush with a suede brush before and after the spray. I use Allen Edmonds’ spray protectors and brushes.
• If you get a stain, use a suede eraser. Again, I use Allen Edmonds’.
• If you get mud on them, let the mud dry overnight and brush it off with a stiff brush (eg a nail brush). If there is some remainder dirt left, wipe it off with a clean, damp cloth or use the suede eraser.
• In most cases, if your shoes get wet, they should be fine. In some cases, however, they can be left with water stains. It may sound counter-intuitive, but in those situations, I recommend you wash your shoes, like this.
• If your stains are more serious, such as those from oil or grease, you may be in trouble. Try brushing it off with a stiff brush and applying the suede eraser. If those don’t work, hand wash them. A last ditch attempt could be to just take them to a cobbler for a professional cleaning. If all those fail, you’ll have to either tell yourself the stain is a “patina” or resign your shoes. 
• If your suede shoes are old, hold them over a pot of boiling water and let the steam hit it. After that, brush them with a suede brush. This should restore the material’s nap and luminescence.
• The above should be done in addition to all the other things you should be doing for your shoes: Insert unvarnished, cedar shoe trees whenever you’re not wearing your shoes; let them have at least a day of rest in between each wearing; and use shoe horns when you can.
• Don’t be afraid to wear them in more inclement weather, either. I personally wouldn’t recommend wearing them at the end of winter, when there is a bunch of half-melted, dirty, slushy snow outside, but almost any other time is fine. I wear mine more or less year round.

In the end, remember: shoes are meant to be worn. There’s a difference between aging well and aging poorly, but your shoes are always going to age. If you invest in quality shoes and do the above, they’ll age well and actually look better than they did when they were brand new.

Q and Answer: What’s the Difference Between Chukka Boots and Desert Boots?

Derek writes to ask: What’s the difference between Chukkas and Desert Boots?  They seem to be all the rage right now.

This is a sort of square/rectangle situation. All desert boots are chukkas, not all chukkas are desert boots.

Chukka boots get their name from polo - a chukka is a period in that sport. They’re a two- or three-eyehole ankle-high boot like the dark brown ones pictured above. They can be made in anything from canvas to shell cordovan, it’s their form that makes them chukkas.

Desert boots are a specific subset of chukka boots. Like chinos, their popularity stems from WWII soldiers (and surplus-sellers) bringing them home from the war, and the emergence of casual style in the 1950s. They’re based on the boots worn in desert campaigns by British soldiers. They always have crepe rubber soles. The classic style is the light suede seen above, though crepe-soled chukkas come in all kinds of leathers.

Q and Answer: Which Shirt Cuff Button Do I Use?

Brandon asks: I was wondering which button to use on a barrel cuff shirt.  There are two buttons to fasten my sleeves, those that would make the cuff tighter and those that would allow them to be looser.

This is an easy one!

As Carl Goldberg demonstrated in our “Body” episode, commercial cuffs are almost always too big, not too small. They should never be able to slide further than the midway point between your wrist and thumb.

That means you should always use the button that makes the cuff smaller, unless you’re wearing a very large watch or have exceptionally big wrists.

Q and Answer: What Makes a Quality Men’s Hat?

Ian writes: Your posts have repeatedly stressed the importance of quality hats, and explained that it’s very hard to find any newly made hats that aren’t prohibitively expensive that are of the necessary quality. What, other than the price, separates a $500+ hat from Optimo from, say, something in Goorin’s ~$120 American Made line?

That’s a great question, Ian. There are different kinds of hats, so I’ll address each type separately.

Flat caps and other wool and cotton caps are a lot like other types of apparel. You’ll find that finer makers use higher-quality materials and construction techniques. I have a couple of Borsalino flat caps that are about fifteen years old. They’ve got silk satin liners and beautiful tweed outers. There’s a difference in quality between them and what I might buy at Macy’s. Still, the spread on price is probably much larger than on quality in this area. If you can find good hats of this type made of quality materials for a lesser price, go for it. Watch out for the polyester that dominates the lower end of the market, though.

With Panama and other straw hats, it’s the weave that makes the difference. Quality Pananamas are flexible, not stiff, and they’re made of soft, fine fibers. There are advantages to a less dense weave - it will wear cooler - but the mark of quality is weave density. A denser, finer weave is more labor-intensive to produce, and thus more expensive to buy. What you’ll find, though, is that it gives the hat a more finished appearance, and much more life. There are still makers who make high-quality Panamas, but they’re tough to find. Optimo, who you mentioned, are one.

As with Panamas, there’s a huge range in quality with fur felt hats. Lower-quality hats, like the ones you asked about, are made with wool felt. Better hats are often made with coney or rabbit fur felt. The best are made with beaver felt. Of course, the beaver-trapping industry isn’t what it once was, so it can be tough to find beaver hats these days outside of specialty custom makers (like Optimo).

A high-quality felt hat has a dense finish. This is a result of the felting process - the fur is crushed and shrunk repeatedly as it is transformed from fur to felt. It can be a variety of different weights, but it will always be strong and resilient. Note that I wrote resilient, and not hard - like good wool, one of the defining characteristics of a good felt hat is that it retains its shape when distorted. It will have a strong shape, but it will not be stiff.

The reality is that as the hat industry has shrunk over the past fifty years, the quality of hats has plummeted. It’s easy to see when you handle a model that’s been made continuously since the heyday of hats, like the Stetson Open Road, which was LBJ’s signature western hat. The example from the 1950s or before and the current model are the same shape, but the quality is like night and day. The current model is stiff, rough and lifeless. When you have a feeling for this difference, you can spot the crap on sight, and you’ll know the Dad Who Thinks He Looks Like Indiana Jones Hats from the Good Stuff.

There are custom makers, who source high-quality beaver from European plants and still make hats as good as the mass-market hats of the 50s and before. There are also a few boutique operations like Optimo (or the English Lock & Company) who maintain the same high standards. The sad fact, though, is that if you walk into a hat store in the United States, even a specialty hat store, you’re likely to find a bunch of junk. Even storied brands like Borsalino sell C+ hats at extraordinary prices.

The best way to experience the difference is to feel it for yourself. If you’re lucky enough to live in Chicago or London, you can just head into Optimo or Lock. If you’re not, first head to your local hat store and feel a hundred-dollar Stetson. Then head to a good vintage store and feel a 1940s Dobbs or Cavanaugh. You’ll understand the difference quickly.

Luckily, there’s a good solution. There are still plenty of hats in the world from the golden age of hats, but there are now many less hat wearers. That means that you can find the good stuff - like top of the line Borsalinos, Dunlaps, Dobbs and Stetsons - for as little as $50, and rarely more than $200.

Q and Answer: How Should I Hang Up My Pants?

Josh from Austin asks: How the heck should I hang up my pants? There’s tons of different options (folded over a regular hanger, those hangers that clamp on to the bottom, the ones with two clips, etc.). Do you find any one way particularly superior?

There are a variety of ways to hang pants, and the difference between them, functionally, is modest.

Given unlimited space, my preference is the clamp style hanger. This wooden hanger clamps onto your cuff (the clamp is lined in felt), and the pants hang waist-down from the rack. The great advantage of this option is that creases will fall out of your pants. For this reason, I usually hang my pants from the cuff in hotel rooms for overnight stays, to help ensure sharp pants in the morning.

You can also hang pants from the cuff using a clip hanger, which is generally used for skirts. It will have the same benefit, but you may get some clip marks or unequal pulling, since all the weight of the pants is hanging from just two spots. Still, if you have the vertical space, it’ll be fine.

A traditional bar hanger is perfectly fine as well. You’re best off using something with a felted bar (the one pictured above is covered in rubber, which helps, though not quite as much as felt). This will help keep your trousers from slipping off the hanger. You can also try this very cool hanging technique, which will keep those trousers secure even in the jostliest of closets.

Here’s where I admit how I hang my trousers: on those space-saver multi-hangers. It works fine, I almost never lose them, and it does indeed save space in my closet. I’ve got cubbies below my closet bar, so there’s no room for a full-length hanging trouser, and horizontal space is at a premium, so the modest amount of saved left-to-right area is appreciated. I’ve got multi-hangers by color - gray, blue, khaki and brown.