Boat shoes may be the casual footwear of choice for most of the trad world, but I myself like camp mocs. I mentioned last week that I had some camp moc ideas and I do. In fact, I was this close (imagine that you can see my gesture) to pulling the trigger.
I didn’t pull the trigger on the Rancourt Gilman Camp-moc in unlined natural Horween Chromoexcel (see here). The ones with red clay soul. The ones in the image directly above. Now in my eyes that is one good looking camp moc. The problem I am having is spending $250 on a pair of shoes that I am only going to wear casually without socks. I also have hard to fit feet and these are MTO so you can only return for fit or store credit if they don”t workout. Not the easiest sell.
While the Rancourt mocs are not totally out of the picture I have another camp moc project in motion. Some of you may recall that I have a pair of LL Bean Signature camp mocs (on left foot below). They never fit quite right. I had to wear them with thick socks or they slipped. If I wore them without socks they rubbed my ankle raw. They did look good though.
I did what I always do in these situations. I tossed them in the washer on hot. I am hoping to shrink them up a bit so that they fit a little more snug and don’t rub my ankle raw. I will try to get a few wears in the coming weeks to gauge the results. If not, Rancourt here I come!
I am working on my spring and summer look for 2019. That entails looking for any gaps in my wardrobe, thinking about items that need to be replaced, and trying to recall combinations that I liked from last year. Basically you need to identify a few central items to build around and making sure that you have the supporting cast in place. I haven’t finished doing all of that but I have made a few purchases.
First up is a cotton tennis sweater from JCrew. These can come off costumey so you have to be careful and confident as well. I have had a tennis sweater before. I remember that it was easier to dress it down than to dress it up. I liked wearing it with athletic shorts when running errands. I’ll use this sweater like a sweatshirt. I like it over the grey t-shirt as pictured below. I’ll try it over a polo shirt as well. A little preppier than my usual trad self, but hey I am off duty. If you get a cricket sweater remember to wear it and not let it wear you.
Also from J.Crew are a pair of paisley shorts (here). Let me get the downside out of the way. They don’t accommodate a belt and have a draw string closure. They are expensive at $80, but we all know paying full price for J.Crew is foolish. I got these on sale. I loved the muted paisley and who doesn’t need cool slumming clothes. Again, that paisley.
Next up are a pair of rugby shirts that I scored from Columbia knit. The rugby with the flags of the world just had that vibe that I wanted. My father was not trad, but this reminds of the types of shirts that he wore in the 1980s. It fit in well with my current direction when it comes to casual looks. I was disappointed that the flags are kind of ironed on, but it makes sense for $36. It fit on the smaller side of true to size.
The other rugby that I picked up is a classic hoop stripe in royal blue and white. I have a blue and white hooded rugby from Barbarian that I have learned how to effectively use. I will use everything that I learned there to get good use out of this rugby. I have worn it a few times and the bright blue has a nice pop to it. It fit on the bigger side of true to size which I like in a rugby for layering. It is also heavier than the flag rugby but not as a heavy as my Barbarian Rugby shirts.
You can’t have warm weather and not have sneakers. I am sure lots of you may disagree, but as a guy that walks a lot and plays outdoors a lot sneakers are a necessity. Were the 1979 Nike Tailwinds a necessity? No, but they look super cool. If you are interested in a pair they run half size small.
Well there you have it. These are my latest, but not the last pick ups for spring & summer 2019. I have a couple of purchases that I still need to make. Ones that I think will be of interest here. Such as new camp mocs and chambray shirts. Stay tuned for more.
Christmas is approaching quickly. Which means it’s time to get down to business. While buying gifts for others is where all the fun is at. I still want to know. What’s the traddest gift on your Christmas list this year?
I just received my biggest gift from Santa himself (played by me). I have been wanting a new duffle coat for the last two years. A few weeks ago Brooks Brothers offered a 40% sale on outerwear and I bit.
In the end the duffle coat did not work out. It’s not because the jacket is not nice which it is. The coat ran a little small, but ultimately the kicker was the collar. It made it look like a car coat hybrid. Needless to say I was not in love with the jacket and at that price or even half of that price I should be in teenage type love.
The experience above has not temepered my excitement for the holiday. I have reached a point that I never dreamed of where giving really is more fun that receiving. This may truly be the traddest gift. Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all!
I almost didn’t include Brooks Brothers on the best trad clothing stores post last week. The reason being that they don’t offer any sack cuts with a 3/2 roll minus that one blazer. It turns out that I was wrong.
Before I excluded Brooks from last week’s post I thought that I might as well at least visit the site to confirm. There I found two 3/2 roll sack tweed sport coats. I was impressed which is a little sad to say, but it’s still encouraging. Something is almost always better than nothing.
The first thing that actually caught my eye about these jackets was the name. I noticed that Brooks is using the BrooksTweed label. BrooksTweed is described as, “a unique blend of Scotland’s soft Shetland and rugged cheviot wools.” I didn’t think that they used this term lately but on the site there are other BrooksTweeds on sale so presumably they are from the previous season. Regardless I like the term just like I like the BrooksFlannel labels (I have a few cool vintage ones to share soon). Note not all BrooksTweeds are 3/2 roll sacks.
I thought the tweeds above were great. The colors are versatile and classic. The black and white may be as close to timeless as one can get. I prefer it to the brown as the brown reads a little warm for my taste, but I may change my mind if I saw it paired with khaki chinos. The price ($498) is not bad. I wish they had patch pockets, but like I said these are encouraging to see. There is no hook vent but it is in the center and there are swelled edges. Finally, they are made up in their Regent fit which is somewhere between the classic fit of the Madison and the very slim Milano fit.
In the end it turns out that Brooks Brothers still sells 3/2 roll sack sport coats. They even look nice and are fairly priced. Overall this is a positive sign from Brooks to know that they have not completely written off the sack style. Maybe just maybe I will check their site more frequently and maybe they will have stuff like this more frequently.
One of the most frequent questions that I get is, “What are the best trad clothing brands?.” This is a difficult question to answer, but here is the answer that I usually provide.
It is easier for me to tell you clothing stores where you can find trad clothes rather than identify a few brands that are trad. Some of the stores that I have listed below are brands or have in-house brands, but others stock lots of brands.
The stores below stock almost nothing, but trad clothes. You can almost shop blindfolded and come away with nothing but the good stuff (be careful at Brooks Brothers though). Everyone on my list has an online presence which was one of my requirements. However, outside of O’Connell’s, J.Press, and Brooks Brothers you may have to place a phone call to check on sizing, availability, etc.
What do you think of the list? Is there anyone that I left off? Anyone on this list that you would remove?
