Hi! I'm Kyle Ingham and founder of The Distilled Man.
You know, a lot of guys hate shopping for clothes and I would actually consider myself among them.
You know, as much as I like to dress up on occasion and look dapper or even be
mindful of my you know the way that I dress on a regular basis.
The idea of shopping for clothes is never that exciting.
But today I want to give you five tips that will help make shopping way less traumatic and way easier for you.
So why does shopping for clothes always suck for guys?
Well, first of all the real truth is that the whole shopping experience in general
is really designed for women.
And I'm going some generalizations here.
So, in general women enjoy the experience of shopping.
They enjoy savoring it and kind of drawing it out, really see everything that's there.
You know, seeing all the variety that's in the store, trying different things on, to them it's
actually sort of a pastime.
So the problem is women have been doing it all wrong.
Well, actually maybe a better way to say it is that we've been following the
wrong lead is guys because you know think about it when we learn how to shop
we learned from our mothers, most likely.
They took us to the store they said,
"Let's go look around let's go shop for clothes."
And how did we like it?
How did that work out for us?
Not that great we didn't really enjoy the experience that
much and we sort of taken that that baggage or that trauma with us
throughout our lives and assume that that's what clothes shopping really was.
But the great news is where the ironic thing really, is that the best way to
shop for clothes or the right way to shop for clothes, according to most style experts,
actually aligns way better with the way that guys like to shop for clothes.
You know, the last thing they would do is recommend that you sort of
just go and browse aimlessly.
Most style experts actually recommend that
you have a really calculated, a disciplined approach, figure out what you need,
go in and get it and get out.
So now I'm actually gonna give you five tips that
will make shopping way more efficient way easier and way less traumatic.
In fact you might even like shopping after this and don't forget if you like
this video please hit like below.
Leave a comment I always like hearing comments and please subscribe to my
youtube channel if you want to see more videos like this.
Alright, so let's get on with the tips.
So number one,
is have an idea of what you want in your overall wardrobe.
And I know this sounds scary at first but on a
basic level I mean you want to think about your lifestyle, your environment,
your job and what you do on a regular basis and what clothes you want to be
wearing so that you look your best and you feel your best.
On another level you want to think about interchangeability and versatility and that's going to give
you the most bang for your buck and one of the best ways to do that is to get
neutral colors for your base wardrobe.
So things like black, grey, navy, tan, you know,
if you have your wardrobe in these colors most of that stuff is going to go
together pretty seamlessly.
And if you want more specific inspiration on
building an overall wardrobe there's a lot of great resources out there.
Real Men Real Style is a great place to look.
Dappered is another great place to look,
Effortless Gent, Style Girlfriend and finally you can check out my style
course over at gentlemenlookgoodlivewell.com and I'll put it in the links below.
But that will give you kind of a basic foundation of how to build a wardrobe.
So number two is when you go shopping
make a list of exactly what you're going to get.
And guys, I know it sounds simple but
this is the area where we most often fall down.
And if you think about it it's just like when you go to the grocery store.
You don't go to the grocery store and just sort of shop aimlessly. I need food!
You know, because otherwise we'll come home with half the store.
So you as Meghan Collins told me from Style Girlfriend when I have interviewed her a
couple months ago when you go shopping for clothes you don't wanna go,
"Well I need new clothes for fall."
You want to go in there thinking okay I need,
you know, two pairs of khakis. I need, you know, a couple pairs of dress shirts.
I need a sweater in a neutral color, have a specific list of things that you're looking for.
And that's going to save you so much heartache and ultimately make it way faster and easier.
So number three is AGBTYL.
I know that acronym is so catchy that it's gonna catch on like wildfire.
Always go back to your list.
So you've gone through the trouble of making a list of
exactly what you're going to get because you don't want to waste time, right?
Well, you have to be disciplined and stick to that list because it's really
really easy to get distracted when you're out in the wilds shopping.
You don't know what's going to happen things can spring up at you like spontaneous
sales, you might you might be tired or have low blood sugar and sort of your
judgment is compromised because you've been walking around and suddenly things
that you wouldn't think are good idea can seem like a good idea.
You might decide that you need a colored turtleneck, that novelty pattern shirt actually is
like kind of a great idea right about now.
But you've got to stay strong sir!
Remember why you came here.
Stick to your list and then even better stick to your list and set a time limit
And almost treat it like a game, how quickly can I go in and get all the stuff that I need.
Can I do it in under 45 minutes because ultimately that's
going to keep your eyes on the prize and ultimately it's gonna make your shopping
experience way more efficient and way less painful.
So tip number four is only pull the trigger when it's absolutely right.
You got your list of stuff you found those khakis that you were looking for and you
come across them in the store and you found them right, or did you?
Are they the right khakis for you?
So a couple of things, first of all, fit is super important consideration.
Fit is king when it comes to looking good, so you got to make sure that they fit.
So knowing your measurements is going to go a long way in terms of helping that.
And actually getting measured by a professional is gonna
be super helpful here.
Now the other thing though is that probably since
manufacturer sizes is actually very fair amount between brands,
that your understanding of fit and kind of you being the judge of what fits and not,
is actually probably even more important than the absolute measurements.
So most guys are content to kind of go through life wearing stuff that's just way too baggy.
If you're trying on your shirt and you can comfortably hide up, you know,
pineapple and a six-pack of Rolling Rock inside your shirt then it's probably too
big for you, I'm just saying, okay.
So the final part of knowing when to pull the
trigger is love it in the store.
So if you come across those khakis that you've
been looking for and you don't love them in the store.
It's very unlikely that you're going to like them more
when you get them home.
So more and more with clothes and actually a lot of
other things in life I've really grown fond of the, "Hell Yes!" test.
So basically, if you are not sure if you like something, if you can't tell
yourself but resounding, "Hell yes!"
Then you should just drop it and walk away.
It really, really simplifies your descision making, I promise.
And the final point, number five is embrace the ease and convenience of online shopping.
Online shopping is like the easy button for men's clothes shopping.
I'm not gonna say it was designed for men but I mean it basically eliminates
all the bad parts of shopping that guys don't like.
You know, you're often able to table sort by size, sometimes by color.
It eliminates having to kind of get pestered by salespeople.
People aren't bumping into you, you're not dealing with
crowds and then you know best of all you can do this in the comfort of your own home.
You you can curl up on your favorite chair, on the couch, with a
cocktail if you want, and you know, calmly survey your choices and go after exactly what you need.
Now the thing is, you do need to be still be disciplined like we
talked about earlier, going after exactly what you want go back to your list.
AGBTYL, told you that was catching, right.
But the key to making online shopping really work for you,
is getting comfortable with the logistics of online ordering and returning items.
Let's be honest one of the big downsides of online shopping is that you can't try
the item on in the store.
I mean, you don't even know really what the material
feels like or or even with the real color is, until you get it out of the box, at home, right.
So not everything is going to be a winner, so that means you are gonna have to return some stuff.
But the great thing is, most online retailers
have really great return policy, so you can pretty much return anything within reason.
So, the key is really getting used to that used to being able to return stuff.
So my advice is to buy some stuff online and then just plan to return one of those items.
The great thing about this, is that it sort of makes you confront the unknown.
You know, while back when I would order stuff online, maybe a couple years ago.
Sometimes when I had to return stuff stuff would sit in my office for about
two months because I just had a mental block against
returning it, because I hadn't really done it before.
I thought well I don't know what I need to do, I need to get the box but the UPS label, I don't even know where to take it.
But if you kind of force yourself to confront, that you'll realize just how easy it is.
You know, as Brock McGough at the modest man says.
you kind of just get into the rhythm of you know ordering and returning things online.
You know, for him it's become kind of part of his routine.
You know, you get your packages and then you you go and you return them,
you know, maybe once a week or something.
You know where your local UPS is or your FedEx is or whatever carrier they use.
And it really is no big deal and ultimately that allows you to
get the most out of online shopping.
See? Clothes shopping isn't so bad after alright.
You just have to unlearn what you thought you knew about it.
Anyway hope those tips helped, once again please hit like if you liked the video subscribe to
The Distilled Man YouTube Channel, if you want to see more videos like this.
And also you can get a free copy of my ebook if you click right here.
Alright, well that's it guys, I'll see you soon.