College football starts tomorrow. C'mon!

Let's be real here, we're a Midwestern kind of startup. We'll let our friends in Silicon Valley opine on what's next for The Twitter, but we know football and we know clothes. So we're marking the occasion with a rundown of the top ten college football uniforms. We're thinking of making this recommended reading for every high school recruit in the country. 

Here's how we're breaking it down: color scheme, helmet design, and distinctiveness. A great uniform is timeless (kind of like Joe Paterno), but not bland. It shows some personality, but it's not tacky.

The list after the break...

Read the rest of this post »

It's a little bit like Christmas of late here in the office. Our beloved FedEx man has been bringing us truckloads of big brown boxes filled with clothes from our Fall vendors and we're ripping them open like they're filled with Tickle Me Elmos. That's right - the new gear is in the building (some of it, at least). 

We'll use this space in the coming weeks to give you some peeks at our Fall collection, but suffice to say we're giddy about it. Some of your favorite brands from Spring/Summer will be back in force, and we've hunted down some new brands that we're really pumped to introduce to our clients. Stay tuned for more on that front.

But until then, you've got to navigate this late Summer/early Fall weather thing for a few more weeks. It's up and down, hot and cold and really hot again. As you probably noticed when you reached into your closet this morning, it's tricky. 

You’ve probably been surviving the heat in shorts and short sleeves as much as possible. With the cool weather coming in, bring back pants and longer sleeve lengths. It’s perfectly acceptable to wear a casual blazer with a pair of shorts and some nice shoes. You can also start mixing the brighter palate of summer with the more subdued autumnal tones. For example, a bright polo under a navy cardigan would be an easy way to pair the seasons together.

Texture and layers are important components of fall. Canvas footwear and accessories are summer staples, so as the season shifts, start trading those pieces for their leather counterparts. Even paired with shorts and a t-shirt, a leather belt and shoes speaks of a new season.

Now’s the time to start incorporating light layers. Summer usually means wearing single pieces for the sake of staying cool, but putting lightweight cardigan on over your v-neck adding a ¾ sleeve Henley for some warmth under your Oxford are ways to break in the fall wardrobe and prepare for the coming cold months.

It’s a new season, but that doesn’t mean you have to start from scratch. Getting ready for autumn is as easy incorporating your summer looks with heavier pieces, darker colors and warmer materials. Get in touch with us here at TC and we'll walk you through some ideas for the transition - and we'll get you rockin' for Fall while we're at it.

Here's a shot from the Sartorialist (great photographer) demonstrating the proper amount of shirt cuff to show with a suit or a sweater/knit. Not too much. Not too little.

The original post here: http://thesartorialist.blogspot.com/2010/08/knit-proportion-florence.html

When we're making picks for our guys (and when we're deciding which pieces to carry in our inventory at all), we think about a few key criteria and then we customize to that particular guy's needs and tastes. I think there's three big ones, and they make for pretty timeless rules of thumb for anyone who's looking to invest in some gear they're going to love.

Fit. Quality. Versatility. In that order, though they're all important.

We carry a lot of high quality brands, and we encourage our clients to invest in pieces that are killer items across all three of those criteria. A big part of our credibility is also telling them when they shouldn't splurge on a piece, because they just won't get a lot of value from it. Instead of the price on the tag, I encourage guys to think about it as "cost per use". 

A classic v-neck sweater is a great example. We're carrying some phenomenal merino wool sweaters for this Fall, and some of them are priced upwards of $200. It's a good chunk of change to spend on one piece. But we've chosen to carry these sweaters because their fit, quality, and versatility are off the charts. Wear it on top of a white dress shirt and slacks to the office, or on top of a t-shirt and jeans for dinner with the wife. The high quality wools won't pill (come apart) for a decade, and it'll retain its shape perfectly after 50 wears unlike the Banana Republic version. 

A great messenger bag is another example. Why would you spend thousands of dollars on a great wardrobe for the office and wear a cheap, raggedy messenger bag? It's kind of silly. These are worth the investment - you'll use it 200 days a year, so it'll cost you less than a dollar a day for a really high quality bag. A pair of high-end brown or black dress shoes falls into this category as well. $400+ for shoes might sound a bit nuts to some guys, but if you care for them properly, the value comes pretty strongly through over time.

So what shouldn't you invest big bucks into? An amazing orange blazer might be on sale for 50% off at $300, but if you don't think you'll feel comfortable wearing it, that's $300 that'll be sitting in your closet all year. T-shirts, occasion pieces (St. Patty's Day gear, anyone?), and anything doesn't fit you really well - save your money. 

Really digging this Esquire post on shoe care. 

I like the point that "cheap shoes are a false bargain." Investing in some quality kicks and taking good care of them is the real value play.

We try to make it a point here at Trunk Club to call up any guys who reach out to us through our website and just chat within a day or two. It's not so much a call to sell something, which is what a lot of guys seem to expect when a company calls them. It's a call to just chat for a couple minutes and learn more about why they're not pumped about their clothes right now -- or the shopping experience they go through to get them. Sometimes we'll just end up talking about Brett Favre (what's his deal anyways?). Ultimately, we're about high quality concierge service for our clients, so we just want to get to know them and their needs.

One of the most common things I hear from these guys is that they're looking for more dynamic options when it comes to casual pants. For a long time, it's been a little bit of a hole in the market, so guys have pretty much stuck to denim when they're out of the office. You've been there -- "It's Saturday night...grab the jeans". And with good reason; Banana Republic and some of the other most popular men's retailers have been pumping out boxy, un-cool khakis for too long.

Throughout summer and as we're heading into Fall, we've been throwing our clients into lots of great fitting, comfortable casual trousers from brands like AG, Bonobos, and Life After Denim (how appropriate), among others. They're usually made of cotton twill or something similar, and it can kind of be a revelation for guys who've never tried on great casual trousers. 

   

The key behind this look is the fitted cut through the seat and knee, which is complementary on any guy's frame and has a lot more in common with a great pair of denim than with the frumpy khakis you're used to. And the lightweight materials are really comfortable and a great change of pace in texture and color from everything else you wear out. We usually recommend combo'ing these types of pants with pretty much the same things you'd wear with jeans: sport shirts with the sleeves rolled up, polos, t-shirts, whatever. They're versatile as heck.

One of the coolest things about running a young, rapidly growing startup is that the best ideas often come through natural selection, rather than precise planning. The smartest thing you can do is just give yourself the flexibility to rock n' roll when your customers lead you to that 'aha' moment.

Perfect example: our office space for Trunk Club headquarters in Chicago. Late last year, we moved into a new 7,500 square foot office space in the River North neighborhood - it's a massive loft space with 30 foot ceilings, exposed brick walls, and ridiculous proximity to pretty much everything (bars, restaurants, offices, public transport). We didn't really know what we'd need all that space in such a great location for, but we knew it might come in handy.

Before long, we started hearing from tons of Trunk Club clients in Chicago and from all over the country who were planning to be in the neighborhood and wanted to stop in to meet their Style Expert and try on some of our newest gear in person. We set up a private area, some couches and mirrors, and cracked open some beers on the house - and our members started telling us they'd never step foot in a store to shop again.

Why deal with Michigan Avenue shopping stress when you've got a rockstar personal stylist, awesome clothes, and a chill hangout spot to try stuff on? So if you're in Chicago or might be passing through for work or leisure sometime soon, give us a shout and set up a time to come by! We'll keep the beers cold.

It's Fashion Fail Friday at TCHQ and this week we've got some clothes, that we personally feel, do NOT make the man....

1) Ok, we're all about innovation and plucky entrepreneurs thinking up the next best thing, but come on guys...

2) Just when we thought the ugly shoe trend was going bye-bye (think CROCS), these guys come along. I totally get that they are comfortable, and are great for running, but yours truly actually saw a guy on the bus yesterday wearing these with a suit. Yes, a suit. I'm sure that he was going to change once he arrived at the office; however, please don't subject the general public to your frog feet.

3) Enough with the skinny jeans. already. We can tell from your ironic haircut that you're a hipster and we'd rather not know what you're packing....Might we suggest a great pair of straight fit denim in a great dark wash? Roll them up with your canvas sneakers and you're still set apart from the crowd.

Today's post is a simple, but important one:

Which blazer/suit jacket buttons are meant to be buttoned and when?

Generally, there are three button options for jackets: one button, two button or three button.

Here are the guidlines:

1) One button: You don't have any other option, so ALWAYS button it.

2) Two buttons: ALWAYS the top button, NEVER the bottom.

3) Three buttons: SOMETIMES the top (but only with the middle button) , ALWAYS the middle and NEVER the bottom.

Some guys would argue that you should never button the top on a three button, but yours truly doesn't mind it. 

The exception to the rule is with double breasted jackets. ALWAYS button all buttons.

Buttons usually will only be fastened when standing, so be sure to ALWAYS unbutton when you're sitting down.