15 Piece STARTER Wardrobe (How To Budget Professional Clothing Piece By Piece)
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As human beings, we're always looking for shortcuts and one of our favorites, to judge
people based on their appearance. Now, here's the thing about success, here's
the thing about professionalism. People have an idea of what that looks like. That vision
of a successful man in their mind is a well-dressed man, so use that to your advantage.
In today's video, gents, I'm going to lay out how to build a 15-piece professional wardrobe,
how much money to spend on each item, and why.
So, let's talk about the three different budgets we're going to be working with on this video.
First up, coming in at under $750, we've got the starter budget.
First up, we've got one suit for $150 taking up 20.13% of our budget. We've also got one
sport jacket and odd trouser combination, again, $150 taking up 20.13% of our budget.
Next up, we've got dress shoes and a belt costing a $100 taking up 13.42% of our budget.
We then have 5 dress shirts at $25 costing us $125 and taking up 16.78% of our budget.
We then have 3 casual shirts costing $15 each for a total of $45 and 6.0% of our budget.
Next up, we've got casual shoes and a belt costing $75 and taking up 10.07% of our budget.
Next up, we've got two pairs of casual trousers costing $25 each for a $50 total that takes
up 6.71% of our budget. And, finally, we've got a set of accessories.
This could be ties, watches, sunglasses, pocket squares for a total cost of $50 taking up
6.71% of our budget. Next up, let's look at the mid-range 15-piece
professional wardrobe. This one coming in at just over $2,600. In this range, we see
one suit costing $500 taking up 19.05% of our budget. After that, we've got one sport
jacket and odd trouser combination again costing $500 taking up 19.05% of our budget.
We've got a pair of dress shoes and a belt costing $300 taking up 11.43% of our budget.
And then, five dress shirts costing on average $75 dollars each for a total of $375, taking
up 14.29% of our budget. We then have three casual shirts costing on average $50 each
for a total of $150 taking up 5.71% of our budget.
Next up, we've got casual shoes and a belt costing $150 taking up 5.71% of our budget.
And then, we've got two pairs of casual trousers costing on average $75 each for $150 total
consisting of 5.71% of our budget. And rounding things off, we've got our accessories;
ties, watches, sunglasses, pocket squares watches really being the majority of this
cost costing $500 and coming in at 19.05% of our budget.
And now, let's talk about the luxury budget. This one is coming in at just over $1,100.
Let me show you the breakdown. So, in the luxury budget, the suit is going
to come in at $1,500 and be 13.57% of the budget. Next up is sports jacket and odd trouser
coming in at $1,500 taking up 13.57% of the budget. Next up, you've got the dress shoes
and belt coming in at $800 taking up 7.24% of the budget.
Next up, we've got five dress shirts on average $200 each, so $1,000 on dress shirts taking
up 9.05% of the budget. We’ve also got three casual shirts on average $150 each for a $450
total coming in at 4.07% of the budget. Casual shoes and a belt coming in at $500 and taking
up 4.52% of the budget. We've got two pairs of casual trousers on average $150 each taking
up 2.71% of the budget. And rounding it off, we've got our accessories;
tie, watches, sunglasses, pocket squares, watch taking up the majority of this $5,000
and that's 45.25% of the budget. Now, obviously, quite a disparity in price,
I'll explain why throughout the video, so pay attention take notes a lot of info in
today's video. Now, guys, before we go into the details of
building your wardrobe, let's talk about the details of saving money as you're building
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So, let's start things off by talking about the suit and the sports jacket with odd trousers.
I'm going to throw these together because when we're talking about this price $150,
$500, $1500 for the three different ranges, that's a pretty wide range. And you're wondering,
okay, am I getting a ten times better suit at $1,500? What do I expect to compromise
on? What should I be looking for? That's what we're going to be talking about here.
So, starting off at the $150 range, what you can expect to compromise on here is fabric,
a 100% wool is what you want to go for. But, at the $150 range, you're going to see a lot
of synthetics, you're going to see a lot of 50/50 blends. However, you can get a good
fit. How do you do this? You want to take -- even if it's a $125 suit,
you want to take this to a tailor to get it adjusted. Now, at this price range you can't
expect a company to actually provide tons of service, so you're going to have to pay
extra for the fit. And you want to make sure when you try that suit on, it fits you as
close to perfect as possible. You can get some adjustments made, but understand
that if it is too far away in the fit department, then the tailor can only do so much. You want
to look for the best material you can find. Occasionally, you'll find a 50/50 blend, something
50% wool and 50% let's say polyester. That would be okay.
You're going to probably be buying this at a box store, you're going to be buying it
online, you're going to be buying it in a place where someone isn't going to give you
much advice. So, there's also a lot of room in this area to fail.
And then, let's step up to the $500 range. And for the record, I think $500 is a sweet
spot, a value spot for suits, if you know what you're looking for. You get that fabric
maybe you get an $800 suit that's on sale, you get it adjusted to fit your body. You
look at all the different style features, so it's functionally it's going to be classic
and it's never going to go out of style. This is a suit that can serve you well for decades.
And now, let's talk about the high-end luxury suits, $1,500 plus and believe me they can
get a lot more expensive. But, these suits in particular what are you paying for? You're
paying for oftentimes a name. So, if it's a designer house, you should be getting better
fabric. You definitely should be getting better service.
So, this is going to be something that all the tailoring all of the adjustments should
be done in- house. It should be something when I talked about the fabric that you're
getting a luxury wool, a 100% wool for sure. But, or maybe they're going to bring in something
different than wool. They can bring a little bit of cashmere. They're going to bring in
something has a little bit of silk interwoven with wool.
You're going to see unique colors, unique patterns. You're also going to see styles,
you're going to – basically, the men that are working with you or women, they're going
to help you design out the suit and they should know what they're talking about. But, at that
really high-end price point, you're going to be going for those luxury materials that
luxury service and sometimes styles that you really can't find anywhere else.
Now, let's talk dress shoes, casual shoes, and belts. And I'm putting these together
because whenever I buy shoes, I like to buy the belt in combination. But, we're talking
about 25% of your wardrobe budget. In my opinion, if you are going to spend more
on any of the items I'm talking about, I would go up and spend a little bit more on your
shoes to be able to get quality. At the $100 price point, I would be very careful when
you're spending less than $100 on a pair of dress shoes, less than $75 on a pair of casual
shoes. Why? Because those are oftentimes going to
be constructed by being glued together. What you're giving up at the low price point is
construction. Over time, these are going to look worse versus a well-made pair of shoes
are going to get better with time. These shoes right here are using a Blake stitch
and a Blake stitch is where they have a machine go in on the inside and it stitches the upper
down to the sole. What I like about this it's a very elegant look and it's just a more timeless
design, a few hundred dollars for the shoe. Yes, it's expensive, but this is going to
be something that's going to last you 15, 20 years.
When it comes to luxury shoes, you know somewhere around $800. Should you spend $800 on shoes?
Not necessarily. I mean I've got some Guccis and they're really beautiful amazing shoes
incredibly comfortable, but were they worth you know $600 for a pair of loafers that I
could get a very well-constructed pair for maybe $200 to $300? I don't really think so.
But, I know some people are going to disagree. They love particular brands, particular styles,
they swear by them, so that's where people are spending a lot more money.
Now, when it comes to casual shoes, in general the price is going to be below dress shoes,
but there are going to be exceptions. I still think though that you should spend a little
bit more go for the mid-range about $100, $150 and the reason being is you want to go
for better upper construction. So, that's where they're going to be spending
the money and really you want to look at the build quality. Most shoes like sneakers, they
are going to use a cement construction. Basically, the glue and that's perfectly fine because
you don't need to have these stitched together. But, it is going to be something I would pay
attention to the upper to the laces, all the material that are used here, you don't want
anything falling apart. You want to look at the stitching make sure that they actually
did a really tight stitch here. And let's not forget about boots. I'm going
to throw these in with the casual shoes. So, when you see boots out there for $75, $85,
$50, understand that the construction the material is probably going to be very cheap.
I do think if you spend a bit more, you have a lot more options, a $150, $200. Really,
you can look around you can find some great boots on sale or you can find some brands
that sell directly to the consumer. [0:10:10]
Once you go higher than that, we're all of a sudden talking $300, $400 for a pair of
boots, what you're looking at is a much better construction between the upper and the sole,
so that they're going to be stitched together, then you're looking for a Goodyear welt.
You also want to be looking at the detail like right here, we've got this beautiful
broguing we've got the construction. So, dress boots and other boots of this type are going
to start costing that price point and I think they’re well worth it especially if you
get years and years of wear. All right, gents. So now, let's talk about
shirts. We're talking about dress shirts, casual shirts, and what are you paying for
at each of the categories? Because with dress shirts $25, $75, $200, that's a pretty big
price range. Casual shirts, $15, $50, $150 for casual shirt plus. What in the world are
you getting why is there a ten times difference? So, we go down and we look at the lower quality
entry level price point shirts. We see a lot of times 100% cotton and we also see polyesters,
we see blends. But, when we are looking at cottons, we see sometimes a recycled cotton.
And basically, this is a cotton that's been used many times. So, in general, the fabric
of the shirts at this price range is not as good.
That being said, you can get some good deals because if you know where to look you find
something that fits your torso, fits your body well, you can get adjusted in the sleeves
maybe make a few minor adjustments here or there, you can get some amazing deals for
dress shirts, I think at the $25 range. And same thing with casual shirts, you find
t-shirts that actually are well made because as you step up with those casual shirts and
you start going from the $15 to $50. On the dress shirts, you go from $25 to $75, that's
when you go into some more specialty fits. That's when definitely you should be looking
at better quality cottons. So, they're going to use longer strand cottons.
We're talking Egyptian cotton and so we're going to see better quality t-shirts, better
quality henleys, better quality button downs. And once you wash them a few times, they're
not going to fade as much. So, that's why I really like that mid-range especially if
you find a brand that works for your build and looks really good on you.
Then, once we go up on shirts. We start going to the $200. Yes, $200 dress shirts and they
go well beyond that as well, $150 you know designer casual shirts and that's really what
you start paying at this price point. You are either getting something custom made for
you, you're oftentimes going with very high-end cotton materials, fabrics that just are a
little bit harder to find that are going to have a very tight weave have a unique weave.
And, yes, there are t-shirts that cost $75, $85, $150, what are you paying for? Well,
you better be paying for a great fit, you better be paying for great material. And what
you want to get at this price point is the best.
And let's not forget your casual trousers. We're talking about chinos, khakis, jeans,
even shorts we can put in here, gray flannels. Anything that you would wear with those casual
shirts and you can even possibly pull off with a dress shirt.
But, let's look at those price points, $25, $75 and $150 plus. I'm not going to recommend
that you spend a whole lot here. I do think if you look around you can find some amazing
deals especially if you're big into jeans, you’re like shorts guys, easily $25, $30,
$ 40. Now, at the $75 range you definitely should
be able to get 100% cotton, you can even find some designer options at this price point.
Once you get up to $150, you definitely want to be getting what you're looking for.
In fact, thinking about it, the only guys I think that need to spend a bit more money
here are the hard to fit guys. You know what I'm talking about. You spend a lot of time
in that weight room, you got those big super thighs. This type of guy, he may actually
have to go for a designer brand or a specific brand that's more of a niche brand that works
for his particular build. Now, if you paid attention to the chart, you
may have noticed that the percentage of your accessories went up a lot as you started spending
more money on your wardrobe, $50, $500, $5,000, what is up with this 100 times increase? Are
you getting a 100 times better accessory? No. What I'm talking about with accessories
is this is a place as you have more disposable income and you start to spend more money on
your wardrobe that you may want to make an investment piece or you may want to upgrade
pieces that you use again and again. A good example, sunglasses. So, when you first
start off, you got a cheap pair of $10 shades, $5 shades, but as you start to build up your
wardrobe you want to maybe opt for a $250, $400 pair of shades. Yes, sounds really expensive
to a lot of people, but maybe to a pilot or to someone that spends a lot of time driving
and wants to have very clear vision, they understand it's important to have the right
tools. Or let's talk about watches. So, at the entry
level price point there are a ton of options out there. And, yes, you can find watches
I think for $25 that are actually cool or you can go with Timex you can go with Casio.
Both of these are classic brands at the entry level price point.
Now, once you go up to $500 and I’m not saying you got to spend all that, but you
start finding brands like you know Orient or maybe Seiko. And, again, a good Orient,
a few hundred dollars; a Seiko, you can find them for a hundred dollars or maybe a few
hundred dollars. Point being is these are quality watches that
could last you the rest of your life and you don't even have to upgrade here. But if you
want to, you want to start spending a few thousand dollars on a watch, then maybe you
want to look at a Tudor, maybe you want to go for a Tag, or maybe it's going to be something
that you want to bring in a Rolex. Again, a little bit more than $5,000 on this
one, but I will say that an investment in an accessory is something that you're probably
going to have and you'll be able to pass on. This could be you know an heirloom piece that
you pick up. So, what video to watch next? How about 13
fashion hacks that will transform your life? Okay. They may not transform your life, but
they will make you a better dressed man. Check them out guys by clicking right here.
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