Men's Fashion

  • Guest, it's time once again for the massively important and exciting FoH Asshat Tournament!



    Go here and give us your nominations!
    Who's been the biggest Asshat in the last year? Give us your worst ones!

Tenks

Bronze Knight of the Realm
14,163
607
OK sorry for the delay. Searched the shirt, found material tag and it is not cotton like I thought it is-i assume this is polyester-97%poliammide 3% elastomero. Pictures attached:

rrr_img_128140.jpg
rrr_img_128141.jpg
Are you looking for the shirt to be ribbed like that still? It is a pretty out-of-fashion style so you may have a hard time finding something like it. At least I couldn't recommend anything.

If not possibly look at one of American Apparel's poly-cotton blend shirts. They're pretty slim throughout the body and the material is quite nice. I use them almost exclusively for my undershirts. I use the tri-blend (50/25/25) shirt but they also make a 50/50 poly cotton.
 

Cad

scientia potentia est
<Bronze Donator>
25,755
50,411
What do you guys recommend/like for dress shoes between $30 kohls garbage and $150 Johnston and Murphy?
I wear Allen Edmonds and Cole Haans.. ironically I think the Allen Edmonds are actually a better deal even though they are more expensive because they are rebuildable, when the Cole Haans soles are ruined they will be trashed. I have like 8 pairs of shoes though (fucking woman I am) so it'll probably be a while I don't wear each pair more than once every couple weeks. Haha.
 

Tenks

Bronze Knight of the Realm
14,163
607
You really need to evaluate if you actually need to pay for the goodyear welting to rebuild the sole. If you wear the shoes almost daily? Certainly. All of my boots I wear basically everyday are all goodyear welted and quite a few have already been resoled. But my dress shoes are just some probably-garbage (but decent leather) Made in Italy things. I haven't even taken a look to see if they're rebuildable or not but probably not. But I wear them like 5 times a year so I won't ever need to resole them.
 

splorge

Silver Knight of the Realm
235
172
You really need to evaluate if you actually need to pay for the goodyear welting to rebuild the sole. If you wear the shoes almost daily? Certainly. All of my boots I wear basically everyday are all goodyear welted and quite a few have already been resoled. But my dress shoes are just some probably-garbage (but decent leather) Made in Italy things. I haven't even taken a look to see if they're rebuildable or not but probably not. But I wear them like 5 times a year so I won't ever need to resole them.
If you have decent shoes, I would recommend adding sole protection as well. They last many years and prevent the front sole from degrading. You will still need to reheel the shoe after a few years, and its important to buy a shoe that actually allows it to be reheeled. You can tell if it can be reheeled if there is a line where the sole stops and heel begins.

More than anything, using shoe trees, not wearing the same shoe two days in a row, and polishing the shoe once/month or every 8 times worn (whichever first) will allow the shoe leather to last and look good.
 

Tenks

Bronze Knight of the Realm
14,163
607
More than anything, using shoe trees, not wearing the same shoe two days in a row, and polishing the shoe once/month or every 8 times worn (whichever first) will allow the shoe leather to last and look good.
That is way high maintenance. I have a pair of 2 year old standard issue CXL Wolverines that I only but Obenauf LP on every 6 months or so, never put them in trees and I didn't even put sole protectors on them (despite being a naked leather sole.) I did have to pretty much completely rebuild the sole but it only cost me $65. Worn basically every single day for 2 years straight.

I'm now wearing a pair of shell cordovan Wolverines. I did immediately throw some sole protectors on them (did it when I brought my CXL's to the cobbler for rebuild .. think it was $13) and I sometimes put them in shoe trees. But outside of just brushing off dirt with a horsehair brush and sometimes wiping them off with a damp cloth (I use a baby diaper cloth since it is lint-free) I don't do shit to them. I've worn them every day (literally every day) for probably 10 months now. Rain or shine, sleet or snow. People just baby their shit way too much. Buy quality stuff and wear it hard. Its made to last.
 

Khane

Got something right about marriage
20,521
14,254
That is way high maintenance. I have a pair of 2 year old standard issue CXL Wolverines that I only but Obenauf LP on every 6 months or so, never put them in trees and I didn't even put sole protectors on them (despite being a naked leather sole.) I did have to pretty much completely rebuild the sole but it only cost me $65. Worn basically every single day for 2 years straight.

I'm now wearing a pair of shell cordovan Wolverines. I did immediately throw some sole protectors on them (did it when I brought my CXL's to the cobbler for rebuild .. think it was $13) and I sometimes put them in shoe trees. But outside of just brushing off dirt with a horsehair brush and sometimes wiping them off with a damp cloth (I use a baby diaper cloth since it is lint-free) I don't do shit to them. I've worn them every day (literally every day) for probably 10 months now. Rain or shine, sleet or snow. People just baby their shit way too much. Buy quality stuff and wear it hard. Its made to last.
This isn't true at all when it comes to dress shoes. A good shoe is made well and will last but the leather is soft and needs to be taken care of otherwise it creases and stains. Splorge's advice is spot on.

It's not about the shoe falling apart. It's about the shoe looking the way it did when you bought it after a year or two of wear.
 

Tenks

Bronze Knight of the Realm
14,163
607
The leather on my boots isn't different than the leather used for dress shoes. Its just your normal Horween stuff. Sure the leather is somewhat beat up on the chromexcel is somewhat beat up now but I could wipe them off and reno them and they'd look basically the same. I also used them far more than you'd ever put a pair of dress shoes through. The shells look far better but that leather is special made to be very wipe-and-wear and it isn't creased but again that is the nature of shell.

-edit-

Here are my old Wolverine 1k's right after I got them back from the cobbler on the left (and my shells which were brand new on the right.) As you can see the leather is a bit creased but the leather is still in good shape.

cynBF5m.jpg
 

Frenzied Wombat

Potato del Grande
14,730
31,803
To Boot New York is a great brand of which I picked up a few pairs at Nordstroms a month back. Very nice quality and super comfy. Pricier than Cole Haans which are my usual brand, but the style and build quality with To Boot has been better. Highly recommend if you're a quality over quantity type of guy.
 

Khane

Got something right about marriage
20,521
14,254
The leather on my boots isn't different than the leather used for dress shoes. Its just your normal Horween stuff. Sure the leather is somewhat beat up on the chromexcel is somewhat beat up now but I could wipe them off and reno them and they'd look basically the same. I also used them far more than you'd ever put a pair of dress shoes through. The shells look far better but that leather is special made to be very wipe-and-wear and it isn't creased but again that is the nature of shell.

-edit-

Here are my old Wolverine 1k's right after I got them back from the cobbler on the left (and my shells which were brand new on the right.) As you can see the leather is a bit creased but the leather is still in good shape.

cynBF5m.jpg
You just proved the point, and even talked about having to send them in for repair because of the creasing/staining. Like I said, the leather won't be falling apart it'll just be worn, creased and stained. With a boot that's not a bad look, with a dress shoe? Can't have that. Need to do what splorge talked about if you don't want to send them in for repair on an annual basis.
 

splorge

Silver Knight of the Realm
235
172
You just proved the point, and even talked about having to send them in for repair because of the creasing/staining. Like I said, the leather won't be falling apart it'll just be worn, creased and stained. With a boot that's not a bad look, with a dress shoe? Can't have that. Need to do what splorge talked about if you don't want to send them in for repair on an annual basis.
I have dress shoes I have worn 3 times a week for over 13 years that look as good as the day I bought them. I easily expect to get 20 years out of each pair. I am purchasing relatively expensive pairs (between 300-500 USD retail, usually purchased at 50% off sales). I have found if I don't do proper care, they slowly degrade over 2-3 years and by year 5 look horrible.
 

McQueen

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
3,222
5,804
Boots or shoes made with CXL are much harder to keep looking immaculate than some other smooth leathers commonly used. I have Allen Edmond's Strands and Rush Streets. They're basically identical to one another, except the leather. I've never worn either one on back-to-back days and always keep them clean, on shoe trees, and in shoe bags when stored. The Rush Streets definitely show more creasing around the ball of the foot than the Strands.

It really just depends what you want out of the shoe or boot. Personally, I like my boots to look well worn. Dress shoes not so much.
 

Lenardo

Vyemm Raider
3,644
2,566
Give me a nice pair of sneakers - new balance 623's and i'm set for 95% of my daily shoe use. the other 5%- 4% is boots for winter- 1% dress shoes...

i am so not a clothes horse.

though i have spent 700 dollars on a suit, 2 pairs of shorts, 6 shirts of various styles and 2 ties...in the past month.


update on my tshirt search- gave up- nothing i have found comes close to the look, so i went with a 100% cotton higher end tshirt (50bucks) for the look
 

Tenks

Bronze Knight of the Realm
14,163
607
I love when people put the price just to indicate how high end it is. Why is the t-shirt $50? Because it is $50! And most importantly it is ahigh endt-shirt. Why is it high end? Because it cost $50!

But if you like the look then all power to you it just rustles me when people feel the need to indicate the price on something to try to indicate the items' quality.
 

Tenks

Bronze Knight of the Realm
14,163
607
Also a not-so-interesting read is why I also avoid these "designer" garments made in Italy

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-it...9BS04D20131229

As many as 50,000 Chinese live and work in the area, making clothes bearing the prized "Made in Italy" label which sets them apart from garments produced in China itself, even at the lower end of the fashion business.
Up to two thirds of the Chinese in Prato are illegal immigrants, according to local authorities. About 90 percent of the Chinese factories - virtually all of which are rented out to Chinese entrepreneurs by Italians who own the buildings -break the law in various ways, says Aldo Milone, the city councilor in charge of security.
This includes using fabric smuggled from China, evading taxes and grossly violating health and labor regulations. This month a fire, which prosecutors suspect was set off by an electric stove, killed seven workers as they slept in cardboard cubicles at a workshop.
 

Noodleface

A Mod Real Quick
38,319
16,206
My t-shirts range from $5 to $20 - depends if it's a legend of zelda t-shirt or if it's a Fleshgod Apocalypse t-shirt purchased at the show.

Also surprised no one ragged on you for buying such a cheap suit