So there I am Tuesday morning reaching up to grab my coffee mug off the top shelf before work, half asleep, when suddenly SNAP (yes I swear while writing these). I look down just in time to see my t-shirt rip down the right seam completely off my body Hulk style. My ribs are gently caressing one another as I behold the gaping hole where my shirt used to be. The crisp Portland winter air brushes up against my bare skin and I think to myself ‘Seriously? !’
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Some trendy shirt popped up on my Instagram feed that I “needed” from one of those cheap website stores. Cost me about $15 bucks, seemed quality enough when it arrived. True story – I had worn it seven times. Washed it three times. Seven times. That’s $2 per wear! Completely unjustifiable when you sit down and do the math, but when you’re making an impulse buy at Target that feels like such a deal.
As I stood there naked in my kitchen I had a slight “oopsie” moment. Turns out I should probably know what I’m talking about when it comes to clothing. I write about menswear for a living after all. Tell people what they should and shouldn’t spend their money on. And here I am tricked by the same fast fashion bullshit I’ve caught my readers in time after time. My wife walks into the kitchen and sees me standing there naked. Rolls her eyes. “Another victim?” Indeed.
Let’s talk cheap shirts real quick. When I say cheap I mean *really* cheap. We all know Target shirts aren’t going to last through more than a couple washes. But what about those trendy “Website Store You’ve Heard Of” shirts? They’re really not that great either. The whole point of fast fashion is to look quality long enough that you don’t return the item. When you first try that shirt on and put it with your favorite jeans and a clean white tee, you feel like you’re living your best life. That’s what they want you to think. Quality is the last thing on their minds.
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Once you get past that “new shirt feeling,” they fall apart. The weaving is terrible. The fabric is atrocious. They shirt I ripped wasn’t even that cheap at $15. That’s the thing though, it never occurred to me because for $15 I can buy three of these shitty shirts. And if one falls apart early, well shucks looks like I got a deal.
I used to be sooooo bad about this. Back when I worked at the design agency full time (remember before I was freelance?) and was living paycheck to paycheck just scraping by covering rent and student loans I was in H&M and Zara like all the time. I felt like I was being smart. “I could buy these jeans for $25 and they look nearly identical to these expensive ones for $80!”
Obviously I was wrong. First of all, $25 jeans from anywhere aren’t great but are deceptive. You think they look like $80 jeans? Wait until they fade an unnatural shade of blue after two washes. Stretch out at the knees. Grow holes in the crotch from nonexistent fabric after two months of wears. But they’re only $25 so I’ll buy three pairs…..
Remember how I said at the beginning how my undergrad shirt from high school was still in perfect condition? Well I was cleaning out my old room from college a few years back with my parents when I found my favorite Oxford shirt. My dad had gotten it for me maybe junior year of high school. It was from J.Crew. Maybe from around 2008? Anyway you could clearly tell by looking at it that it hadn’t been worn that much. In fact it was better than when I bought it.
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The fabric had that wonderful broken-in texture shirts feel after years of ownership. Collar sat crisp and perfect. Buttons were unscarred from repeated ripping. Meanwhile I’m wearing this “Premium Shirt That Costs More Than Most Of Your Clothes” from – you guessed it- an Instagram brand, with that new shirt collar roll they seem to purposely engineer into the garment after about three months.
And that’s when it hit me. I wasn’t saving money by buying cheap shirts. I was losing it.
But what I didn’t realize at the time is that you don’t have to spend $200 on a t-shirt or $500 on a pair of jeans to get that kind of quality. Sure there’s that high end luxury stuff that lasts forever and obviously costs more than your monthly rent. But there’s a middle ground of brands that price their products maybe 50-100% more than fast fashion that make products that will literally last you years. Spend $80 on jeans that will actually look better with time, not fall apart.
My guy Jake over Textured Patterns closet introduced me to this world. We were hanging out back when we worked at Nike together and he was wearing this basic white tee that looked absolutely phenomenal. Texture was perfect, fit was great, and you could tell he spent money on the actual fabric. I remember asking him where he got it thinking some boutique small brand would pop out of nowhere. He told me it’s from “some small company out of LA” and costs around $30.
Now I didn’t quite understand that back then. Thirty bucks for a shirt seemed crazy to me. But I’ll never forget – my guy Jake still has those same shirts today. Like, wears them all the time, three years later. Good as new.
Fast forward to me doing the research. Quick Math 101: I was buying these package deals of 3-4 tank tops from Target or Walmart for $12-15 each. Gone after 2 months because the shirt shrunk in the wash or turned into a weird texture that didn’t feel good against my skin. 3 cheap shirts at $15 a piece x 2 times a year = $90 on shirts I wear once every week. Now spend $30 on 3 quality shirts that last you TWO YEARS minimum. $90 a year versus $30. The “expensive” route is THREE times cheaper than throwing your money away.
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Same story for jeans, button ups, shoes, jackets. There’s almost always that sweet middle ground of buying something that costs maybe 50-100% more than a comparable fast fashion item but will last you 300-400% longer. The hard part is knowing what brands fall into that category versus what brands are just Burning A Hole In Your Wallet.
Luckily for basics I’ve found that Uniqlo’s higher end line, Asket, and Buck Mason sit squarely in that range. Not cheap by any means, but way better than the stuff you find at H&M or Target. But also not $400 shirt cheap. A Uniqlo Supima cotton t-shirt will run you around $20. I complained about Walmart shirts costing $8 above, but do you know how cheap an $8 Walmart shirt feels compared to a $20 Uniqlo one? No? Trust me.
This is where it’s most noticeable with denim though. Sure I could get cheap jeans at Ross, Forever21, or wherever else for $20-$40 and toss them as they inevitably blow their knees out or fade ridiculous colors. Or I could invest the little extra in jeans from Naked & Famous, Nudie, or hell even Levi’s Made & Crafted when they’re on sale and know that I’ll be able to wear them for years. These can range from $80-120 based on the brand and style you go with, but will last you upwards of half a decade.
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Button ups have the same effect. Spend $25-35 on one from Target? They start giving you that nasty bacon collar after a few months of washes and you toss it. Or drop $60-$90 on one from Spier & Mackay, Taylor Stitch, or J.Crew if you can score a super deep discount (never pay full price for J.Crew folks that’s like rich folk things) and it’ll stay crisp and professional for years to come. Better yet when the kids come along you can easily alter it to fit them.
Ok shoes is where this kicks into HIGH gear. The difference between a $60 shoe and a $200 shoe isn’t just built to last longer. It’s built in such a way that YOU can extend the life forever. Want that $60 shoe to last 5 years? Good luck my friend. You’re probably washing them incorrectly. Buy a $200 shoe from a brand that cares about construction (welted soles folks!) and you can send them to the cobbler to be resoled whenever they start to fall apart. Brands that exist in this middle zone? Thursday Boot, Meermin, Grant Stone to name a few.
TLDR: Know what you’re buying. Feel fabric weight. Heavy doesn’t always mean better but if it feels thin and flimsy in the store it will look thin and flimsy on you. Take a good look at stitching. Reinforced stitches at areas of stress? That’s what busted on my kitchen mystery shirt. Learn some basic construction. Can your shoes be resoled? Made of quality material? Does your shirt have symmetrically matched patterns on the sides?
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Here’s a handy dandy tip I adopted years ago. Shop the middle brands. Brands that sit squarely in that Goldilocks zone I mentioned above. Some of my favorites: Taylor Stitch makes some of the best shirts and pants I’ve ever owned. Maybe 30% more than something comparable at J.Crew but last 300% longer. Reigning Champ makes incredible sweats/hoodies that actually get softer with age. Universal Works for awesome workwear inspired jackets with immaculate fabrics. Porter Fabric or Portuguese Flannel for button ups that rival shirts triple the price.
They’re not cheap by any stretch but definitely worth the savings if you’re willing to forego 2-3 fast fashion buys to save up.
Wait for sales too. That $120 Taylor Stitch shirt might be on sale for $60 halfway through the season. Suddenly you’re paying the same price for a shirt that will last you 10x longer than whatever you would’ve bought at the mall. Build 75% of your wardrobe this way. Good, quality brands on sale versus buying cheap brands at full price.
I’m not suggesting you become a fabric encyclopedia or spend weeks meticulously researching each clothing item you buy. But once you start understanding these concepts you’ll never go back. Hell most of my friends send me closet giveaways from Instagram asking me if their cheap shirts are actually worth the price. It’s kinda dope being that guy.
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One last thing. Take care of your clothes. Don’t dry them if they don’t need to be. Hang them properly on wooden hangs. Utilize your wardrobe. Yeah yeah I know this turned into a damn manifesto but hear me out on this last point. You can throw all the money in the world at your wardrobe but if you’re washing your nice shirt in hot water and drying it immediately it’s never going to look as good as that shirt you spent hours researching online. clothes last.
TLDR of THAT: Stop buying cheap shit!
The shirt is gone. Hopefully my lesson is learned and will never need to be replaced. $15 shirt gone. $65 that went along with it gone as well. The shirt I bought to replace it? Will most likely be with me longer than I’ll be at this apartment renting. Seems like a win to me.
The moral of the story is my closet isn’t nearly as big as it used to be two years ago. But I spend less money yearly on clothing because I don’t have to replace my clothes as often. Feel like that expensive shirt I had from J.Crew all those years ago? Go buy yourself something that doesn’t fall apart the first time you wash it.
