How to Find Your Brand - Clothing Brands for Men - How To Choose Which Clothes Brand To
Wear
Hi!
I'm Antonio Centeno, the founder of Real Men Real Style.
Today I'm going to be answering the question, "How do I know what designer clothing is right
for me?"
The question came in to my inbox and I'm going to do my best to answer today.
But before I jump into that, I want to let you know about Adam over at Blue Claw Co.
They've been my premium sponsor for quite a while, but what you may not know is that
I personally use as luggage.
And in fact I'm about to take off on a trip and I'm taking his luggage because it's durable
and it protects my clothing.
That's really important.
We're going to be travelling all around the US and I need to take a suit with me.
But I've got three kids; a lot of things are going to get spilled.
But I needed a garment bag which is going to be able to -- well, let's just say, I've
got a two-year old and she likes to mark on anything.
She's an artist.
And I've got to have my couple of thousand dollars worth of clothing in this one bag
protected.
I'm going to trust Blue Claw to do that.
In addition, his bags are made right here in the United States, very high quality, ballistic
nylon, go check them out.
I love his luggage.
I mean, I use it and it's a big supporter of my company.
Go check and say hi to Adam for me, Blue Claw Co.
Okay.
Let's go ahead and get in this.
This is the question that came to me.
"Antonio, the most confusing thing about men's or women's or any style for that matter is
oversaturation.
There are many different brands, styles, fashions, designers, et cetera.
How do I know, Antonio, what designer or brand is the best as far as apparel is concerned?
I want consistency and longevity."
Okay, he wants it to last a long time.
He lives in Fort Worth and he equates it to going to a gas station.
If he goes to a quick trip, he goes to a racetrack, 7/11, Valero.
He doesn't like to bounce around.
He wants a go-to clothing company.
Who are you going to choose?
I mean, you've got Ralph Lauren, you've got Xegna, you've got -- a little bit far -- a
little bit lower you've got different brands.
But how do you choose?
What's in a name?
Why should you go for it?
1.
Brands Change Sizing
I understand his problem.
There are three big problems with the brands.
The number one is they change their sizing.
From year to year, if you go buy something that was made by Ralph Lauren in 1998 and
then you go to 2003, you're in a vintage thrift store and you're looking at different pieces,
you're going to find the fit is very different.
They seem to be speeding that up.
They're not sticking with the same mouse.
So unfortunately, fit does change every couple of years, it seems like.
2.
Styles are Changing
Number two is the styles are changing.
I don't know if you guys have seen what's going on at Brooks Brothers.
I'm not really happy.
It seems like they are -- I don't know.
They're going with like a really trendy look and it's to me it's like losing the brand.
Now they were bought out a few years ago and I understand they're trying to increase sales
and that's what drives a lot of these.
So realize, many of these companies, unfortunately, they're not looking out for you.
They're looking out, well, it's probably a good thing; they're looking out for themselves.
But I think in doing so, they're damaging their relationship with the customer.
So that's number two.
They're changing up the styles on you.
3.
Companies Cut Back on the Quality
Number three is the quality is changing.
What do I mean by that?
I mean the quality of the fabric, the stitching, everything that goes inside the clothing.
A lot of times, when a company looks to save money or to make more money, they cut back
on the quality.
Knowing this, what can you do?
I'm going to give you three tips, three things that you can start to do today if you're out
there looking for the right brand.
1.
Educate Yourself
Number one, can you guess?
Educate yourself.
Okay, guys, I've put out tons of information.
Go check out my article over the Art of Manliness, the style pyramid.
One of my bests, it really focuses on the foundations of style that is fit, fabric and
style.
Let me get into this a little bit more.
So fit, if it doesn't fit you, don't wear it.
Fabric, what I mean is the quality of the built.
So learn -- the best advice I can give you is go into a higher end menswear store.
Try on a $1,500 to $2,000 suit.
Then, whenever you go see -- you'll be able to -- once you've tried that on, once you
looked at it, once you touched it, you're going to be able to see the difference.
You're going to understand the quality of the fabric, the quality built.
That stuff is -- you're going to be able to take that going forward so that whenever you
see that $2,000 suit on sale for $700, you're going to understand, that's a great deal.
So we talked about fit, fabric and style.
What do I mean by style?
I mean going with the style that suits you.
So you want the brand not that is looked at as a top brand in your society or in your
area.
You want what suits your body type, what proportions work for you.
I mean, so if there's a company out there and there's quite a few, let's say J. Crew,
that has a lot of thin lapels, it's really made for a thinner, more urban gentleman,
and if that's the look you want, that's the brand you want to go to.
Go to their flagship store.
Go in there and walk around but make sure that that style suits you.
Okay.
So that's the number one thing, educate yourself.
Understand the style pyramid.
2.
Visit Menswear Stores with Measurements
Number two is to go and to batch going in the stores.
You want to spend an entire day going to Nordstrom's, Barneys, Macy's, Neiman Marcus and finer menswear
stores.
But before you go, know your measurements.
You can go to my company at Tailored Suit, grab our measurement guide, measure yourself.
Take my guide in there.
I don't care.
Print it off, whatever.
It's something that you want to know all of your measurements.
So when you look at that clothing, you can actually measure with a tape measure and you
can see how much room you're going to have there in the chest.
In fact, I recommend, this is something I have the guys in my style system do, I have
them measure their best fitting clothing so that when they see clothing out there, they
have a good idea of what the measurement should be.
So they don't have to try it on.
They already know what their shirt's shoulder measurements, their shirt's sleeve measurements
are.
They've got it written down.
Do the preparation.
Go out there and go from store to store.
Do it in batches and try the clothing on.
Take notes.
Find some brands that suit you.
3.
Work with Amazing Companies Online
A lot of you guys may be saying, "Okay, Antonio, I don't have access to good stores in my area."
Well, lucky for you, the internet -- and this is number three -- is making this easy.
Identify companies with amazing return policies, great customer service and work with them
to get the clothing you need.
A lot of smaller retailers, they actually have great customer service because they have
to in order to compete.
Other companies like Amazon, even Zappos is now getting into the clothing game, they have
amazing return policies.
I just ordered some shoes from Zappos.
I'm leaving in two days on a trip.
You know what, I'm not worried because Zappos is going to get me those shoes to me overnight
and I can just drop them off as we're leaving, and I can send them back to anywhere and it
doesn't cost me to send that clothing back.
So make sure to try it on.
Yes, you are going to have to do a little bit of work but find the brand that suits
you by going out there.
I talked about educating yourself, knowing your measurements, going out there and trying
it on in local stores, then going online.
Bonus: Find Your Style Community
The last thing I would say -- it's kind of an extra bonus here -- is find where people
like you are hanging out, who have your body shape, who have your needs.
If you go to Styleforum, there's a whole forum that's for denim heads.
Now, if you're into denim, that's the perfect forum for you.
You should be in there.
If you are a large man and you are into denim, I think they've got a subsection for that.
Reddit also has some great information.
Reddit is pretty awesome.
Ask Andy, a great forum.
Find one that suits your personality and also suits your built.
Okay, guys.
If you like this video, you know I appreciate it if you click on the like button.
If you have something to add, I would love to see it in the comments.
And I ask that you to subscribe to my channel, that way these videos come right to you.
All right, take care.
I will see you in the next video.
Bye-bye.