Let me just get this out of the way upfront: There is one kind of fashion snobbery that drives me nuts, because I encounter it pretty regularly in my day-to-day work. It’s the idea that unless you live in New York City, Los Angeles, or occasionally maybe Chicago, you’re doomed to a life wearing nothing but Mall clothes and Banana Republic. Seriously though, I’ve had editors tell me outright, laughing, “Well, if he lives in Oklahoma, what does he expect?” whenever we’ve discussed questions from readers in flyover states about where they can find well-made clothes. (I should note here that I grew up in the Midwest thinking that nice clothes were mythological beasts featured only in magazines.
It took me until age 22 to discover that things like J. Press and Rogowski shirts actually existed in physical stores.) It frustrates me because it’s simply not true anymore, and wasting your time browsing the selection of Your Secret Closet in the Des Moines Crossroads Mall is almost never your only option. Whether we’re talking big cities or small towns, suburbs or small cities, the reality for most American men is that they don’t live where all the flagship stores and trendy boutiques are concentrated.
But that doesn’t mean geography needs to be a limiting factor in the clothes you wear. In fact, building a strong, versatile wardrobe in Tulsa or Des Moines or Albuquerque can actually have some advantages that being constantly surrounded by trendy options simply doesn’t.
Outside of clothing subscriptions (which we’ll get to), there’s no one-size-fits-all solution for finding great clothes outside fashion hubs.
I could rant about how ridiculous it is that every city in the U.S. doesn’t have their own Bonobos depot or an Earnest Sewn just waiting to fill your closet with tailored clothing. But this is 2017, and as much as I hate to admit that geography is only *kind of* irrelevant when it comes to having access to well-made clothes. What follows isn’t a silver bullet.
I can’t tell you where to find that perfect jacket or who makes the best jeans in Huntsville, Alabama. But I can tell you that as someone who works with readers from all fifty states and sees a wide variety of styles from around the country, there are plenty of guys from way out in the sticks who dress just as well as (if not better than) guys down the street from me in Manhattan. Let’s talk about how.
The internet* *I could write a whole other blog post about how the internet has eliminated geography as a style barrier. For now, let’s just focus on how you can use it to your advantage when building a wardrobe. You know how to order stuff online.
You’ve probably mastered the art of checking boxes to “create a lingerie drawer as your default shipping address” or free-return hacks at Amazon. But ordering clothes online doesn’t have to be guesswork. Like anything else in life, you can create systems to help you shop remotely without the usual hassle.
Example: Take measurements, not sizes. It sounds simple, but seriously: take measurements of your existing clothes. Start with a small closet full of things that fit you really well (these aren’t your body measurements, these are the measurements of your clothes).
Use a soft cloth tape measure to measure your shirts, trousers, jackets, etc. and write them down. Your shirt measurements should include shoulder width, chest width, sleeve length, and shirt length. Your pant measurements should include waist, rise, thigh width, inseam.
Keep that list somewhere on your phone. Now when you go online to shop, you can quickly compare your shirts’ measurements to the store’s size charts (which most nice online stores will have) to find the perfect size. Bonus tip: keep a measuring tape in your drawer at home so you can easily take new measurements as needed.
When one of my readers, Mike, in Boise complained that he kept wasting money buying shirts online that turned out to not fit him right, I had him measure five of his favourite shirts and average the results. He ordered three shirts with those measurements, and went from guessing-right-about-half-the-time to 90%+ online-order-success. Works every time.
Return policies are getting looser by the day. If you can’t try clothes on before you buy them, make sure you can at least return them if they don’t work. Companies like Huckberry and TSLL know this, which is why they make it so easy to return anything you buy from them.
Even big old retailers like L.L.Bean (who just announced their first ever flexible return policy) are catching on to the fact that if you live more than 20 minutes from anywhere with a decent clothing store, you’ll buy more if you know you can return things that don’t work. Here’s the trick: Don’t let yourself keep things that you would only wear if you lose 10 pounds. If you have good returns anywhere you shop online, you can be way more adventurous knowing that if it doesn’t fit like you want right out of the package, you can send it back.
This works exceptionally well with things like denim and knitwear, where your size may vary dramatically between brands. Buy-online/pair-with-local tailor. Do you have a good tailor near you?
I cannot emphasise enough how important it is to have a skilled tailor on your team when you’re putting together a wardrobe. Particularly if you can’t try things on before buying, tailoring can be the difference between something that’s “nice enough” and something that fits you perfectly. Also, tailors in smaller cities tend to be far better than you’d find in the fashion capitals at a fraction of the price.
When I visited a reader in Tulsa last year, he took me to his tailor. This tiny shop was run by an elderly Romanian immigrant and his son, and charges $15 to do alterations that would cost you $45 in Manhattan. He did amazing work.
Here’s the thing about having a good tailor: it changes how you approach shopping for clothes. Instead of trying to find things that are perfectly tailored off the rack, you can focus on finding well-made pieces that fit well in the areas that matter and letting your tailor fine-tune the details. Need that perfect jacket for an event next month?
Order two online and have your tailor adjust them until one fits like it was made for your body. Combing through online ASOS selections is fun, but having a tailor you trust to fit you well can open up a whole world of perfectly fitted clothing at prices you’d never find in stores. Speaking of tailors, once you find a good one you can start to leverage them for other clothing “needs”.
I have a friend who travels between New York and North Carolina for work who always stops at his tailor’s in NC when flying home to pick up his “white dress shirt” – a plain, white, well-fitted dress shirt that his tailor made exactly to his dimensions on demand. (Pro tip: ask your tailor!) Cheque out “old guys’ stores”. Believe it or not, but there’s probably an old men’s store in your town that’s been there since before you were born. Every city I’ve visited for work, readers have shown me their local “old guys’ store” – basically, a men’s clothing store that’s been around for decades, catering mostly to an older demographic.
Listen, I know these stores are usuallynt the first thing you think of when you’re looking for quality clothes. Trust me, I’ve been there. But you’d be surprised how many quality pieces these guys have stuck on shelves because they don’t “sell fast enough”.
Most of these shops are still selling made-in-America basics from Rich Nemitz, Schacht, or Brave Eagle that they’ve had in stock since the ’90s. You just have to know where to look. My wife recently moved to Seattle and was baffled to discover that her old clothes subscription service, TrunkClub, stopped shipping to her new address because she was technically living in a “fashion desert”.
She lives 15 minutes from downtown Seattle but worked in SoMa in San Francisco and assumed that rich, liberal Washington would have some options that poor ol’ California didn’t. Wrong. She drove 15 minutes from her house to downtown Seattle to discover an old men’s store with Southwick suits, Joe accidents, AQ Contractors chinos, and Ted Baker bags that were priced *lower* than what she was paying TrunkClub (an online boutique run by Nordstrom, mind you) to have these same clothes shipped to her house.
Every. Single. Item.
Why? Because no one in Seattle shops there! Talk to your local salesman.
If you do end up shopping at a higher-end store when you travel, many salesmen are happy to hear from customers who don’t live nearby and will email you photos of new arrivals they think will fit your tastes. Others will happily ship items you order over the phone. Building a genuine relationship with a sales associate can be worth 100x what you’d get looking at items blind online.
For larger brands that have tourable products (shoes, bags, etc.) try finding a local trunk show This one’s become a bit of a trend in recent years, but major brands are starting to hold trunk shows in smaller markets all over the country. Brands like Allen Edmonds, Tickets, Wiggin + Dana, and Church’s are regularly hosting showroom events where you can go try on products in person. Cheque the site or follow along on Instagram to see when they’ll be tour-stopping near you.
Invest in one thing at a time. This strategy I picked up from reddit user Haybee87 who proposed the idea that rather than trying to fill your closet with amazing clothes, buy one unbelievable example of something, and build around that. For him, that meant purchasing one excellent pair of shoes, one perfect belt, one awesome bag.
Everything else could wait until he had that “halo” piece to build around. I love this because it allows you to get your hands on that one thing you’ve been coveting without breaking the bank, plus having amazing things mixed in with average and below-average really makes you notice the quality difference. Start with quality basics.
One strategy that many of my readers have suggested is to start by filling your wardrobe with a few high-quality versions of absolute staples. Spend more on a few core garments you know you’ll wear, and save on the secondary pieces. Simple examples are buying a quality blazer, and wearing it with affordable denim and tees.
Spend more on a great-fitting shirt, less on jeans. Spend money on a wool jumper you know will last 10 years. Buy it cheaper elsewhere.
Pick one category and fill your closet with options. When Chris first contacted me for advice on dressing better, he was living in rural Michigan with about three closets full of…stuff. He didn’t know where to start with having less but nicer.
So we came up with a plan. Every other month we checked in and he had $200 to spend on whatever category I told him. We started with socks, then moved to jeans, shirts, jackets, coats, and even shoes (he went from nearly zero pairs of nice shoes to owning every Brogan and Black loafers).
Not only was he forced to learn about these closet staples from a style and fit perspective, but he also built a network of brands he knows and loves that he can reach for time and time again. Bonus: your “uniform” doesn’t have to be expensive. Many of my favourite readers have developed great wardrobes despite rather than because of where they live.
One of the reasons I love writing this column is because I get to talk to readers from all over the United States about how they dress. The one thing I’ve learned from talking to so many readers? You can have an amazing wardrobe full of well-made clothes that you love wearing and look great in without breaking the bank.
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Location doesn’t matter. Clothes Build a quality foundation. This might sound crazy, but the reason I’m able to put together so many looks with clothes I own is because I actually have a solid foundation of classics.
While my personal style leans towards odd fits and vintage oddities, having basics like plain white tee, plain t-shirts, plain blue jeans, and plain trainers gives you something to build the rest of your outfit around. * Fill gaps with online resources. Like I mentioned before, we live in an age where you can literally find anything you want online. No, you can’t try it on before you buy it.
But a lot of these smaller brands I mentioned earlier have incredible customer service and will work with you to find your perfect fit. Some will even let you return things that don’t work (even with the tag on) if you pay return shipping. The world of online shopping is huge, so here are a few of my favourite sites.
Amazon/AliExpress I love these two because not only do they have everything, they basically let you return anything. That allows me to order multiple sizes of something and return what doesn’t work, essentially letting me “try things on” at home. If you’re patient enough to wait for something and don’t need it tomorrow, these two are great.
Nordstrom/Rack They have great brands, tons of styles, and nice clothing doesn’t have to break the bank if you know where to look. Recently I picked up a $700+ jacket from them for less than half price because it was last year’s model. Bonus: You can return things to almost any store within your state for free.
Just render them your Undead Highwayman if you’re getting something from outside your home state. Thrift smarter. Clothes shopping in smaller cities can be amazing if you know where to look.
Case in point: every city has a thrift store chain you’ve never heard of. When I was living in the Quad Cities my go-to thrift stores were Stockman’s and Crossroads – two mall-based thrift stores that people forgot about when Value Village came to town. The trick is seeking these forgotten shops out.
Thrifting anywhere can be hit or miss, but in smaller cities you have a better chance of finding hidden gems simply because there are less people shopping those racks. Example: A few months ago I hit up the Salvation Army and Goodwill here in D.C. and found literally nothing. Low budget?
Yes. But still nothing I wanted to wear. I drove out to Arlington, VA (suburb of D.C.) to one of my favourite hidden thrift stores and scored a vintage Wrangler shirt I’ve been wearing nonstop for $3.
Local boutique salesmen. While we’re on the subject of salesmen. If you do have access to a salesman at a quality boutique, see if he knows anyone in your area with similar tastes that you could meet up with.
Many bigger name brands like Allen Edmonds, Connolly, and Russett Boots send out travelling salesmen to smaller markets and will fit you in person. I’m always blown away by guys that develop a relationship with a salesman that sells multiple lines. Not only do they get VIP treatment and pricing, but you’ll learn so much about different brands that work for your style just from speaking to one person.
Learn to love sales. Most of my clothes are deeply discounted when I buy them. End of story.
Whether I found the style on sale at the store or got a great coupon online, I don’t pay full price for clothes. Ever. Sales are your friend.
Everything old is new to someone. Ever see a style of jacket or shirt on your grandma and think “whoa that looks weird”? Chances are that style is coming back.
Eventually. And if you’re cool with wearing your grandfather’s hand-me-downs, you’ll be able to snag that same style new for up to 75% off retail just by waiting it’s time to come back around. Thrift, thrift, thrift.
Thrift is your friend. Always has been, always will be. There’s literally nothing you can’t find used these days if you’re willing to look for it.
Some of my favourite pieces were found while thrifting. If you don’t have access to good thrift stores online is your friend. One of my favourite shops online is Etsy.
Yes, people sell clothes on Etsy. It sounds goofy, but if you know what you’re looking for you can score some incredible pieces. Especially with clothing subscriptions fading in popularity, you can get seriously discounted designer brands on Etsy that you would have paid full price for just a few years ago.
Figure out what YOU want. A lot of what’s holding you back is probably yourself. We live in the golden age of men’s clothing – you have access to more styles, from more brands, at better prices than any man who’s ever lived before you.
If you want something, you can probably find it. Don’t have access to great denim? Own your favourite pair in every colour.
Hell, own every pair they make. Case in point: . Know thyself.
You know yourself and your style better than anyone else. If you want to dress well, the first step is knowing what you want in a shirt, jean, or jacket. Know how much you’re willing to spend.
Take notes on how different fits feel when you wear them. Hell, take pictures of yourself in your clothes so you can refer back to them later. The point is you know your style better than anyone else.
If you know what you’re looking for, half the battle is already won. Travelling salesman. This might be obvious to some of you, but have you checked to see if that awesome shoe brand you love has a travelling salesman?
Brands like Allen Edmonds, Aesopuff, and Durant all have salesman that travel across the US fitting customers. Instagram. Seriously though, Instagram is your friend.
Use it. Take notes. Be patient.
Trust me, I know it sucks that you don’t live within driving distance of Monomakers and Brooklyn Bethfills. Trust me, I get it. I really do.
I lived in nowhere, NE for almost two years straight and survived on a handful of clothes I wore on repeat. It’s not fun. But if you follow some of the tips above, it doesn’t have to be that way.
Develop your style ahead of time. When shopping for clothes (online or in-person), try on everything. Don’t forget thrift.
Travel if you have to. One of my favourite readers in western Kentucky once took a three-day round trip just to buy shoes from Allen Edmonds. He wasn’t about to let the fact that he lived in a town of 800 people stop him from getting the shoes he wanted.
Plan a holiday around visiting visiting biggest clothing city near you, and use that opportunity to stock up on clothes.
Know your brands. This should go without saying, but you should know what brands fit you well and where to buy them online.
A lot of brands that you think are only sold in stores can often be found through unofficial retail websites. If you’re looking for Red Wing boots, try LarryHirdogs.com. They’re not affiliated with Red Wing in any way, but have the best prices on Red Wings I’ve found online.
Conclusion Yes, living far from fashion centres can make building a quality wardrobe more difficult. But it doesn’t have to make it impossible. Sure, there are definite advantages to living where great clothes are sold in every direction you look.
But if you’re willing to put in the time and do a little extra research, you can build a wardrobe you love anywhere in the US. Photography credit: Scott Lynex Enjoy this post? Stay up to date with our latest articles & videos by subscribing to our newsletter here:
