Archive for October, 2024

Missing the Thrift

by oxford cloth button down on October 25, 2024 in Lifestyle, Thrift Stores with 2 Comments
The Spot Restaurant

Lately I have been missing thrifting. I used to thrift a lot, but that’s back when I had way more time than money. Back then I thrifted out of necessity rather than sheer pleasure. I couldn’t afford what I wanted. As my career progressed at an advertising agency I started to have more money than time so thrifting was out of the picture. Currently I have a job with a much better work/life balance, but with a young family I am in uncharted territory which is not that much spare time or spare money lol.

Why am I missing the thrift? It might be because I’ve been seeing some online friends scoring a lot of gems. I’ve also been doom scrolling eBay before bed after a few lucky wins. Whatever the case I can feel my desire growing but it’s not quite as easy to get out there with a young family. I was looking through old posts about thrifting this week and I forgot about my Main Street USA and Small Town USA thrifting posts. These posts really took me on a trip down memory lane. I remember these days spending a whole Saturday cruising the country side to visit smaller towns for the thrifts, food, and a good strong dose of Americana. It also reminded me that you come up empty handed a lot which I don’t miss. You can follow the links above or scroll down below to see these nostalgic posts. I hope you too enjoy the trip down memory lane. Good luck to all my thrifters out there thrifting!

Below are some additional posts about thrifting.

My Ralph Lauren Story

by oxford cloth button down on October 18, 2024 in Lifestyle with 4 Comments

The actual title of this blog post was going to be, “Will This Be My Ralph Lauren Story?”. However that title was way too long and not nearly as catchy. This Ralph Lauren story is actually a story within a story about a flannel shirt.

It all started with an errand. My wife needed me to pick up some contacts for her at the eye doctor. I’m always up for an errand that gets me out of the house. As I was walking up to the doctor’s office I noticed that it was right next door to a Plato’s closet. Now I haven’t been in a Plato’s closet in years, but I thought I might as well stroll through. I even had something in mind that I was looking for, a country flannel.

What is a country flannel you ask? I am not quite sure how to describe what I mean, but I will give it a shot. I wanted a plaid flannel shirt that wasn’t a tartan. Something that didn’t read preppy with colors a bit more rustic. Perhaps in an ombre or shadow plaid with 2 chest pockets of some configuration and I wanted the material to be nice and thick. The type of flannel that you might see a man on a tractor wearing or an employee at RRL or Wythe. Hopefully I can score one under RRL and Wythe prices.

To my surprise I found exactly what I wanted. I tried it on and it fit. It was $10. I was sold. I headed to the counter and then noticed that it was missing 1 button, nope 2 buttons, and after a final closer examination it was missing 3 buttons in total. I was still going to buy it, but as I go to checkout there is no one to check me out. After standing around for a few minutes I left as my time was running out thinking it must not be in the cards for me.

Now here is where I think that my OCD having menswear friends will all be able to really relate. When I got home all I could think about was that shirt. I kicked myself for not sticking around and buying the shirt. I found myself looking at the pictures that I took of the flannel multiple times over the weekend. On Sunday I decided that I would trek back over there at some point next week on my lunch. That’s exactly what I did and luckily for me it was still there.

Now we’ve got to the end of the story and I bet you are wondering how this is a Ralph Lauren story. Well here’s how it ties in with Uncle Ralph. This American Eagle flannel shirt had reminded me of his infamous Kmart flannel shirt that he wore on the CBS Sunday Morning show (here). I hope that it turns out exactly the same. I hope that it becomes full of memories, that I treasure it, and that like Ralph I look good in it. This might just be my Ralph Lauren story. Happy belated birthday Uncle Ralph!

.

Late 70s/Early 80s Preppy Sneakers

by oxford cloth button down on October 4, 2024 in Footwear with 7 Comments

The Late 70s Prep Checklist post generated a lot of question about one of my favorite topics which is sneakers. I’ve been into sneakers since as long as I can remember. Actually I can remember. It was 1989, I was in the 5th grade, and the Jordan IV came out. It has been a wrap since then, but back to the topic of at hand. Here are my top 5 picks for late 70s/early 80s vibed sneakers that are currently available.


1. Nike LD-1000 – $100

Nike LD-1000

2. Adidas Country – $120

Adidas Cross Country

3. Nike Cortez – $90

Nike Cortez

4. Onitsuka Mexico 66 – $185


5. Adidas Samba Long Tongue – $90



I tried to keep the list short, but solid and most importantly available. However if you don’t love the above there are lots of other sneakers out there that can match the vibe. Adidas’s line up in particular has a ton of options that would work such as the Gazelle Indoor, SL72, and Handball Spezial to name a few. The same is true with Nike. They currently have the Blazer, Field General 82, and the Mac Attack plus a plethora of others. Whatever your favorite brand I am sure you can find a sneaker to fit the mold.

For those that find this topic interesting I suggest picking up the Lightning Nike Chronicle (1971-1980) book. It has a ton of great images of 70s-80s Nikes as well as running shirts. I dropped some images below. I’ve seen it available a few places in the past, but there are a few currently up on Ebay and Amazon Japan. Another cool resource for sneakers and how to rock sneakers that I recommend is the Trainer Spotting Instagram page.

I am going to leave you with one piece of advice before I head out. It’s actually the same advice I find myself giving about clothes. That advice is to wear your sneakers. As with clothes well worn sneakers almost always look better than clean sneakers. I am off to break in my new Nike LD-1000s!


Images from the Nike Chronicle 1971-1980