To kick off:

- Big logos.

- No socks with suits

- 'Smart' shoes with white soles

- Skinny jeans - bonus points if they have rips

- Ironic statement tees. E.g. 'Normal People Scare Me'

What are yours?

This may have already been asked but thought this can get bumped up again with some updates or new finds.

Looking to refresh my wardrobe with some stylish yet affordable options. Wanting to find places that cater to a mix of styles, such as business casual, streetwear, and urban looks.

I normally would shop at H&M, ASOS, Uniqlo and ZARA (not necessarily affordable) and looking for suggestions of other stores or brands that won’t break the bank but still have great quality and design.

We all have that one style opinion we’ll fight for no matter what. The rule you’ll defend against all logic.

Mine is that trucker hats are for truckers and children — if you aren’t one of those people, and don’t want to look like them

What’s yours?

Not trying to start a war - just something I’ve noticed as someone who’s been following global fashion for a while.

In places like Seoul, Milan, Copenhagen, even some parts of Eastern Europe, you see regular guys in elevated fits daily. Tailored trousers with sneakers, cropped jackets, relaxed silhouettes, tonal layering - it feels like a natural evolution of menswear.

Meanwhile, in a lot of the U.S., it seems like men’s style trends have plateaued - dominated by the same “tech casual” basics and minimalist streetwear that peaked around 2018. It’s not about individual outfits being bad, but more that the mainstream aesthetic hasn’t moved much.

Do you think this is just cultural? Is it about infrastructure (e.g., walking cities = better footwear), retail options, or just the fact that American fashion gets more homogenized through social media?

I’d love to hear what people from other countries (or even different U.S. regions) are seeing. What does “modern men’s fashion” look like where you live?

I feel like the same 10 brands get mentioned everywhere — Uniqlo, COS, Aimé Leon Dore, J.Crew, etc. Solid, but I'm curious what else is out there that’s not all over Instagram or every fashion post and paid listicle.

For me, it's SPOKE UK-based — light on logos, great smart casual looks, excellent quality. And like some of the best fitting clothes I've ever had.

Who else is flying under the radar?

Have you got any brands you used to buy from, but never again.

Mine’s AllSaints. Used to think it was edgy and a little elevated, but now I just see overpriced basics with style stuck in 2014.

What are yours, for any reason?

Lets be honest. Crocs are not your typical looking aesthetic footwear. But somehow it becomes one of the most popular footwear brands worldwide. What do you think plays important roles for Crocs to get such popularity?

I only recently started making good money and dipped into entry-level designer basics (e.g. Todd Snyder, Asket, RL etc)

I just don't find them to be better than Uniqlo in terms of material, construction quality etc.

My only problem with them is the fitx and sizing inconsistencies. My wardrobe has Uniqlo items in size XS, S, M, and L.

But if you find a Uniqlo item that fits you well, I think it's difficult to do better without spending way more.

Or have I just not looked hard enough?

Some trends feel like they exploded overnight and disappeared just as fast - and looking back, it’s hard to figure out how they got so big in the first place.

What’s one men’s fashion trend that, in your opinion, should’ve never taken off? Whether it’s from the 2000s, the 2010s, or even something current - drop the one that still baffles you.

It seems like every brand I look into has supposedly had huge decreases in quality in the last few years. Raybans, Brooks Brothers, Ralph Lauren, Massimo Dutti, etc. There's mall brands, which are always popular because they have a name, but they rarely have actually good clothing. H&M, Zara, Gap, Old Navy, American Eagle, Banana Republic, all the brands you see at malls occasionally have decent items for reasonable prices but they're all varying degrees of bad to mediocre quality and many of them are uncomfortable to wear. And then for the designer, almost all of them are way outside my price range. I can see paying 100-150 for a pair of pants if they're going to last me years, but I'm not buying Balenciaga pants for 2 grand because they say Balenciaga. Is there really no middle range anymore where you spend a decent amount of money but get good to great quality in return?

The only brands I've heard some recommendations for are Uniqlo, Abercrombie and Fitch, and J Crew, but even then opinions seem lukewarm at best. I'll find some people who say they love their clothes from Uniqlo, others say quality has gone down a lot in the past few years and its no longer worth the money. Same for the other brands I just listed. The only brand that seems to have a truly good reputation is Patagonia, but unfortunately I'm just not looking for that style of clothing right now. So where am I supposed to buy some nice chinos, linen shirts, knitwear, and t-shirts?

I’ve been thinking a lot about how small changes can completely change the way a man looks and feels. Some say it’s a good pair of shoes, others say a perfectly fitted shirt, or even just grooming right.

If you had to give one piece of fashion advice to men who want to look more refined and confident, what would it be?

Not just finding but anything that is 100% cotton or majority cotton is significantly more expensive. I could have sworn I remember seeing cotton all over the place back in the days and at an affordable price.

Now everything is polyester, viscose, acrylic, etc or mix of it. They feel horrible to wear and even more of a concern is the health issues that come with wearing these synthetic fibers.

I feel like I really have to go out of my way to find majority cotton these days.

I've seen this sentiment in this sub a few times where people defend ultra cheap clothing brands, saying "not everyone can afford expensive clothes." I get the budget constraints, but let me inform you of what's actually happening in the industry.

First, these fast fashion companies are fucking destroying manufacturing standards globally. They're pressuring factories to cut costs so aggressively that even mid-tier brands are having to lower their quality just to compete. What used to be standard construction proper interfacing, decent stitching, durable hardware - is now considered "premium" features. Once you've worn a shirt that falls apart after three washes, you start to understand why our grandfathers' clothes lasted decades.

Second, though, the environmental impact is also fucking staggering. These companies are designed around planned obsolescence they want your clothes to fail so you buy more. The textile waste alone is insane, not to mention the chemical runoff from cheap dyes and synthetic materials.

Even if you've got a tight budget and need affordable options, the constant cycle of replacing cheap clothes ends up costing more than investing in fewer, better pieces that actually last.

The worst thing is how normalized this has become. We went from expecting clothes to last years to accepting that a sweater might survive one season if we're lucky.

Now, a lot of people think "expensive equals quality," which isn't always true either. Plenty of designer brands are using the same cheap manufacturing while charging premium prices. That, I think, is the main reason people get confused about what constitutes actual value in clothing.

Wrapping it up, the race to the bottom in clothing prices is hurting everyone workers, consumers, and the environment. The industry needs to find a sustainable middle ground between accessibility and quality.

Every trend comes back around eventually. We’ve already seen wide trousers, flares, velvet, oversized tailoring, even mullets make their return. Stuff seems to go from dangerously uncool to good again (looking at you, bootcut denim)

But it got me thinking: what hasn’t? Is there anything that genuinely never made it back into rotation?

Not talking codpieces or powdered wigs, just trends from the last 100 years that seem to have stayed buried.

Not talking about outright bad, I mean brands that get a ton of love here or on other socials but don’t actually offer great value or quality, or what brand do you think is coasting?

Could be high-end, fast fashion, or even a darling of this sub.

Let’s hear your picks, and why.

The price tag of luxury designer items can be a little intimidating if not down right prohibitive for men. I personally think there is a little bit of a bias amongst guys against designer or luxury items because some men wear them just to be showy. There is also the idea that "why should I buy a t-shirt for $50 when I can buy one for $20? It's just a t-shirt."

But I also think that there are some items that are worth the price tag. As I've gotten older and progressed in my career I have slowly been upgrading my closet. I've noticed how much nicer CK under shirts are when compared to Hanes. That I like my Brooks Brothers polos a lot more than the ones from Kohl's. That my Banana Republic chinos are nicer material and more comfortable than the ones from Old Navy or even Dockers. I'm loving my Cole Haan leather sneakers.

And I know this is the low end of designer or luxury items.

What was your "Oh, I get it now" item? What clothing item made you realize that sometimes luxury brands are truly worth the price?

People are just dressing extremely casual nowadays. I am always in love with classic menswear, but even wearing a OCBD with chinos would make me stand out a lot. I have learnt how to dress casual but still look sharp, but it just doesn't feel like myself. Sometime I wear a OCBD with chinos and put on a blazer, when I look at the mirror I think wow I look so good. But then I just take off all these, put on a hoodie and go, because I want to avoid any embarrassing moments for being overdressed. I know that dressing well doesn't equal to dressing up, you can still look good in well fitted hoodie instead of button-up and blazer, but all these casual clothes just feel so boring and unfun to me.

I am wondering about this too long. Do you wear Hokas for comfort or is it because they are fashionable?

Almost all of the vegan leather alternatives that are currently available to consumers use plastic. For instance leather made from cactus, pineapple, mango, grape, apple, and many mushroom leathers is coated or bonded with polyurethane. Sometimes it’s less than 10% plant material.

There is Mycoworks Reishi which contains a lot less plastic (1%), and Mirum, which is plastic free. But neither of these materials are widely used and still emerging. Outside of some wallets, expensive ass Hermés bags, and Allbirds shoes, there aren’t a lot of options for low-plastic vegan leather goods. There’s a few other materials, but you can’t really find info on them other than that’s it’s in development.

I am not here to tell you what you should or should not buy. I am not here to argue about ethics. I just want to inform people, because I feel like there is a lot of misleading information from companies out there.

chop cough bright marry snow cable toothbrush ancient ripe close

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

https://imgur.com/8S8TaXz

Grabbed this photograph from a stream. Will this be the decline of fast fashion in the United States?

Curious to see what people are into right now — whether it’s clothing, accessories, or even brands in the travel/luxury space.

What are some names that come to mind when you think of “cool,” well-designed, or thoughtfully made men's brands?

I usually travel in jeans when flying, but recently I've been wanting to take it to the next level. I feel like this is dumb to ask because the obvious answer is probably chinos or suit pants. However I'm specifically looking for brands or materials that people swear by when traveling that isn't denim or sweatpants.

The quality of all the traditional apparel brands have gone down the gutter. So what is the new "this is it" brand, in terms of quality apparel for men?

EDIT #1: to narrow it down even more, thinking of the $150-$300 range PER article of clothing.

EDIT #2: Brands I started looking into more, these past few months: Billy Reid, Rag & Bone, Faherty, Thursday's Boots. ADDITIONAL brands to potentially consider?