But seriously if I was to explore finding a personal style that I could wear as my day to day work/life “uniform”, where to look, where to source from. Are there any companies focussed around this?
These days suits appear to be worn less often, mostly in business environments, very formal life events, and by fashion enthusiasts. But ironically, maybe one of the greenest ways to dress (for men) is to get a secondhand suit or two from a thrift store, in a natural material like wool or linen, have a tailor or dry cleaner alter it into a stylish cut that fits your body, and wear it every day. They can be altered to fit literally anybody in a flattering way, different materials can be either warm or surprisingly cool to suit your climate, and there's so much more to suits than the depressing shiny blue/black polyester business suit we all picture these days.
Want to be green and look great? Drop the Patagonia fleece and cotton t-shirt swag from last week's startup, and buy a used suit in a nice natural material!
I made the mistake of getting slim cut jeans this time, when they wear out I'm going back to regular cut, maybe go 50/50 blue pairs and black pairs.
I have way too many band shirts, most of which I really wouldn't ever wear to work. I'm slowly replacing them with good quality polo shirts instead. They seem to last much longer.
That Patagonia “fleece” would feel nicer, function better, and last longer if it were actually made out of a fleece and not out of plastic. I can’t really understand how that happened.
You're not talking about the outer layer of the down jackets?
I do make a lot of winter trips like the one in the photograph (long winter backpacking trips) and am an instructor and I only use wool for my socks and other undergarments, and jackets. Down for sleeping in. Synthetic underpants though!
Other than that, a wool felt is quite nice.
But at least wool can be repaired.
Yeah and people who buy Patagonia fleece expect it to be made from recycled water bottles
Seems like a weird choice of brand to pick on.
I mentioned Patagonia simply because they were already under discussion. There are plenty of other offenders.
Regarding your serious point, I'd like to know too. I'd pay for a service that would help me find a style that looks good on me, with associated supply of quality clothes in this style. My current clothing choice pattern is "random, with a pre-filtering done by my wife".
You make the decision on what goes together and looks good at the store. You try stuff until you find what works.
When it works, you buy the whole outfit. Possibly in multiples.
No more decisions when getting dressed. You have predetermined outfits for whatever activity you’re doing that day.
Refresh every few months or years as your life and personality evolves.
That was added to hide Roxanne Dawson's pregnancy, which I guess sort-of addresses the point about the standard jumpsuit uniforms not being the most flattering.
So what’s stopping you? Copyright law?
(And, I don't feel I meet Starfleet standards of excellence, so I don't deserve to wear one.)
Some 12 years ago I got together with a group of folks, intending to shoot a fan Star Trek series. We got as far as the dialogs, some CGI work, green-screened bridge set, few props and... few uniforms. One of the folks had a friendly tailor who was willing to make them, but as a ~18 years old, I didn't have the money, and eventually drifted away from the project. I still regret that. After I left, I think they've managed to release a long trailer, and then the project died.
These days, I scratch my Trekkie itch by figuring out how to make LCARS interfaces actually ergonomic for real-world uses.
I'm still too big a whuss to actually wear anything like that though, even if it was reasonably priced.
https://www.volantedesign.us/pages/star-trek-collection
So from the pre-Abrams reboot series, they only have their interpretation of the TNG-era uniform. It actually does look pretty nice. $300 is a lot for a jacket, though. Thanks anyway!
They're probably the nicest set of clothes I ever bought.
It's machine sewn.
BTW How about animal welfare for producing Merino wool?
[0] https://open.spotify.com/episode/3X5VBJaRvo1jjVElTjxnnP?si=B...
I would love more of #3 but the rest were expensive disappointments.
These days, a man can get made-to-measure shirts for ~$50/each. Ten of those in different colors will last you 5+ years and not go out of style. Four made-to-measure suits at $300-$400 each should be good for 10 years. I think Brooks Brothers and JoS.A.Bank have decent shirts and slacks, if you really wanna stick to store-bought stuff.
For casual/outdoors wear, add some Patagonia, North Face, or basically any law enforcement supplier (5.11 Tactical, Propper, LA Police Gear). Rugged clothes that will also last a decade. A fleece pullover, a moisture-wicking Polo shirt, and a pair of khaki tactical pants is the 21st-century "Plaid shirt and bluejeans" IMO...
One token of this emphasis on repair is, oddly enough, the button fly. Buttons are much easier to repair than zippers.
Nice thing is that if you end up not liking the 100$ worth of clothing you bought (WHICH IS ALOT OF CLOTHING!), and say, return 40% of it after 3 months... would've been same as buying 1 fancy shirt at your local department store.
Isn't this just clothes? Just buy multiple of what sparks joy, right? Is there something I'm missing that makes an outfit a "uniform"?
For life outside of work, comfortable shoes and socks not necessarily black but subdued color, jeans and a button down shirt as well. Here the button down shirt may be of brighter colors or coarser materials, etc.
It depends how thoughtful you want to be about your style though ?
If you do consider that your style is your public API and a mean of personal expression, it needs a good amount of trial and error. The first english speaking place that comes to mind for this is the subreddit malefashionadvice .
There are also companies (that actually target engineers because it is a very engineery thing to do) that will sell you a "uniform" made of 3 times the same chino, 3 times the same hoodie (maybe some color variation), some simple tshirts and undergarment and done.
I never have to think about what to wear. I never have to worry if it matches, it wears slower, I can buy fewer but more quality items without having to shop a ton.
The only downside was being "the guy in black." However that hasn't affected work performance or any other aspect that I can find that is measurable. I could have as easily picked a different color combo but didn't want to have to do separate loads of laundry.
Formal or informal, cold or warm (more or fewer layers e.g. a blazer), sorted.
Flat coloured long sleeved tops are my go-to on more casual days.
Branded stuff, slogan shirts etc go out of style.