First Crush of the New Year - Outlier

This one has been lurking for a long while, but it's finally blossomed to a full-fledged menswear crush status. I don't care who knows it, either. I say it loud: I love Outlier Tailored Performance clothing. I mean, Just look at this jacket:

Supermarine Soft Core Jacket

What I love about Outlier can be distilled into just three points:

1. They make their clothes in the USA - New York City, to be specific.
2. They use innovative, performance fabrics with desirable properties such as water resistance, yet breathe well and  have good stain resistance, 
3. They use classic, well-loved templates for their clothing. Nothing looks too technical.

Focusing on lean silhouettes, they create tough clothing that moves with you, clothes that can suffer a rainstorm or steamy commute.

There's just one problem for someone like me - I'm not skinny enough to wear a lot of their styles! Most slim fit pants are too slim for me (as an example, J.Crew "classic" fit chinos fit me slim; so do Uniqlo vintage chinos, though they are listed as "regular fit"). But I think I couild swing a few of their pants, Specifically:

New OGs

-and-

Keirin Cut Dungarees

Garments like these really speak to my aesthetic - traditional, but with a functional yet edgy look to them. And built to take hell, too. Hopefully this year I'll have the chance to give them hell, myself!

Gift Wish List #2 - The Hill-Side

With the Holidays right around the corner, everyone needs to start thinking about dressing their holiday best. I'm not talking awful sweaters with dreadful patterns; though I have been to an ironic terrible sweater holiday party or two in my day. I'm talking about busting out a nice outfit for a holiday dinner. And every man looks good (at least to Mom) in a tie.

And what do I want for Christmas? A tie, but not strictly speaking, a traditional tie. I want a tie made by the Hill-Side. While they are not a traditional looking tie, they have character by the bucket load. These aren't your usual silk or wool neckties. Made from interesting unique fabrics like selvage chambray from Japan or waxed canvas or selvage chino twill, they immediately stand out, stand above the usual tie. And I can't wait to get one. Or two. Or three.