Listen. I know what you’re thinking. Subscribe boxes ? Really Him ? You, who prides yourself on helping people develop thoughtful personal style ? The same Him who dropped $2k on Japanese raw denim purchases THE DROP … curated by an algorithm ? Yeah, I know. Let’s just get right into it.
I’ll be honest with you, part of me signed up for all these boxes out of sheer curiosity. And laziness. Girlfriend had been ribbing me about spending weeks researching my approach to buying a hoodie before deciding to buy three different colorways anyways. “Why don’t you ever let anyone else pick your clothes for once?” She was joking, of course. But man, did it stick with me. Not to mention I actually needed some basics. As much as I love building out wardrobes with all the crazy stuff I find online, my closet was dominated by forty variations of hoodie. I literally had no shirts appropriate enough to take her parents out for dinner in, or that didn’t have a giant logo God forbid I had to wear to meet with a client and actually look like a contributing member of society.
But it wasn’t all shameless bragging. OK, fine. Majority shameless bragging. There’s also the very real issue of decision fatigue. When you care about what you wear as much as I do, sometimes you just want someone else to make these tough clothing decisions for you. Imagine a personal stylist… but without the awkward conversation at Nordstrom.
With that in mind, I held true to a few rules when testing out every major clothing subscription service out there. I answered every style quiz to the best of my ability (some took way longer than you’d think), wore every stupid thing they sent me (photoshoots for this were…embarrassing. Trust me. Let’s just say Imgur wasn’t kind to some of these outfits), and gave each item at least a month to prove its value to my wardrobe. So without further ado, here’s my definitive ranking of men’s clothing subscription boxes from shitty to actually great:
Number. FUCKING. ONE. ThreadLab.
ThreadLab brands itself as “thoughtfully selected style for the busy guy.” Translation: handed me a brick underwear. Seriously though, everything they sent seemed to come from the same TARGET clearance bin. Worst part? It was all objectively bad quality. Denim that wasn’t even selvedge started fading after one wash. Tees that looked like they belonged in my seven year old’s wardrobe literally fell apart after two wears. Not one item was in my size. Between the waistline of a professional sumo wrestler, and sleeve length of a newborn baby, it’s like their sizing algorithm had literally no frame of reference for my body.
Runner up for worst clothing box goes to Gentlemen’s Quaterly Box. No relation to Gentlemen’s Quarterly Magazine, rest assured. In fact, your suspicions that they probably are wholesale purchasing the same products as GQ Magazine are probably correct. They advertise everything as “designer brands at a fraction of retail price” but every time I opened this cursed box I found stuff that looked like it was directly from the discount rack at Macy’s. Belt I got claimed to be “Italian Leather” but upon further research was literally the cheapest pleather they could print “made in Italy” on. Took me twenty minutes of spreadsheet homework to uncover their ‘retail values’ were marked up 40% just to make their boxes seem like a bigger discount. Stay classy GQBox.
ThreadCrate wasn’t much better. Props to them for the most comprehensive questionnaire I’ve ever received from a clothing service. Asked about my drink order at Starbucks, what kind of watch I wear, where I shop, you name it. All that painstaking research led them to sending me .…. Mittelcline clothes. Not terrible per say? Definitely not. But absolutely nothing to write home about either. Kind of clothes that don’t bend or snap at WeWork. Plain. But hey, their sizes were right on so bonus points there.
Coming in at a distant fifth place is Five Four Club. Warning, they’ve since rebranded at least five times since I did this so currently goes by CacheBox but who knows what they’ll change it to next. Everything is private label, so you won’t find these clothes anywhere else. Some I liked? Others I loved, but wished I could reorder since they were quickly marked “discontinued” and replaced with things I didn’t want. Tastes like that of a button-up/startup bro who needs to appear business casual for investor meetings but doesn’t want to spend more than thirty bucks on a shirt. Which…is literally just every bro I know in Portland.
Okay we can start giving awards now.
Fourth place goes to old reliable Trunk Club. I say old reliable because they’re owned by Nordstrom so everything was high quality (even if it was from their in-house brand). Styled by an actual woman named Sarah who did a video consultation with me and asked me good questions. When I mentioned I was traveling to NYC that winter she made sure to include this wool coat that became a staple in my rotation. Downside? Expense. You’re basically paying full Nordstrom price+stylist fee. Nothing cheap about this service but returning stuff was easy and I ended up keeping way more than I did from other boxes.
Third place was a total surprise to me too. Stitch Fix Men. Went into this thinking “nah bro these guys advertise on billboards at rest stops. Targeting dads who shop exclusively at Costco and think this is formal attire.” Holy. Fucking. Molluck. Their suggestions actually got WAY better each box as the algorithm figured out what I liked and didn’t like. First box was meh (apparently telling them I was a “freelance designer” translates to “we’ll send you the stupid trendy shit we think you’ll wear”) but by shirt three they were picking winners. Scored this merino quarter zip that I probably wear weekly now, they somehow narrowed down my love/hate relationship with graphic tees but will wear minimalist well cut ones. Price point was right where I like to operate between cheap and actually high quality.
Which brings me too ….Lyon + Post for SECOND PLACE. Their format is slightly different than most boxes. They send you clothing, you try it on, only send back what you want to keep (and pay for). No monthly fees or styling costs. What I loved about their selections was their curation and brand choices. Really solid workwear inspired jackets that didn’t look like costumes, durable denim, knitwear that didn’t pill after two wears. Also introduced me to smaller brands I now shop directly from. The only thing that stopped them from taking the top spot is price point. We’re talking Investment wardrobe here, not casual Friday purchases. And their collections are SUPER niche. If you don’t like their style you’re SOL since they don’t have many options outside their comfort zone.
And the winner is…Bespoke Post. Yes Bespoke Post offers more than just clothing, they do lifestyle products as well. But their clothing knows what the fuck it’s doing. The biggest reason I loved them was their model. They present you with everything that’s available for the month, you choose if you want to receive it that month or skip. No unwanted boxes of items you’ll literally wear twice. Everything they pick is well curated, and it shows. Full selection comes from people who genuinely care about the fit and craftsmanship of clothing, not what the fuck trending on Tik Tok this week. Learned about this Japanese denim company through them, and now own three pairs. They also do a great job with non clothing items. Picked up some cool bartending gadgets and grooming tools I still use today. Best quality to price ratio by far.
Moral of the story? A few things I learned…
Style quizzes are super important. Dropped the ball on one early on and basically received a wardrobe suitable for a middle aged man-child ripping Lynyrd Skynyrd at Madison Square Garden. These algorithms are only as good as you allow them to be, so answer those questions!
You really do get what you pay for. Boxes under $100 all had glaring quality issues that became apparent after one wash or wore. Sweet spot seemed to be $150-250 range. You start to receive nicer materials and construction without breaking the bank for just the brand name.
Human stylists ftw. Any box where I was able to message or talk to an actual human sent me WAY more hits than fully automated services.
And frequency is KEY. Monthly boxes will overwhelm your closet and cause decision fatigue. Quarterly boxes are where its at. Leave enough time in between to wear what you got and know what you need.
Lesson I liked best ? And this coming from a man who obviously has an issue with buying clothes. Subscription boxes are here to supplement your wardrobe. Not be the primary way you shop. Use them to experiment with styles you normally wouldn’t buy yourself or restock on basics you actually need without having to browse twenty different sites. But don’t rely on them to give you an entire wardrobe.
Would I continue any of these services now that my year long project is over ? Of course! Bespoke Post still sends me boxes when their monthly selections look good. Skip months when they don’t. And I still “temp pop” into Stitch Fix like twice a year. Usually when the seasons change and I need new basics without having to deal with the hassle of shopping.
Truthfully depends on your personal needs when answering that. If you HATE shopping, and just want something accessible to help you look fly af with minimal effort. Stitch Fix and their automation is your best bet. If you have strong opinions about what you like and don’t like but just don’t have the time to browse all the niche sites yourself. Try Trunk Club and their higher touch service (albeit expensive). But prefer shopping around yourself and want some good curated picks? Bespoke Post’s model is perfect for you.
Just remember no algorithm or stylists are going to know you better than YOU know yourself. The best dressed guys in the world use these services as a tool, not a crutch. And please for the love of God let them photoshop you out of their shitty marketing campaigns. Every time I get tagged in “ Hipstographic Photoshoot With Brendon from Bespoke Post ” I see it and the comments bring me absolute agony.
TLDR: Most box services Suck. But the ones that don’t are actually worth it if you know how to use them. Don’t think they’ll magically give you style though. You have to put in some work yourself for that.
