How To Buy Quality Men's Clothing - 3 Tips To Identify Stylish Menswear - Men's Fashion
Style Advice
Hi!
I'm Antonio Centeno, the founder of Real Men Real Style.
Today, I'm going to be giving you three tips on how to find quality clothing.
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Okay, how to find quality clothing.
I get this question a lot and people want me to point them to brands.
They want exactly what brands are going to be -- and brands are a great way sometimes
to determine if something is quality or not because that's really what a brand is.
I'll use that as the first way to determine or to find something good, is to find a brand
that suits your lifestyle, that makes clothing at an acceptable quality for you at a price
that you're willing to pay.
There are higher end brands, there are lower end brands, and it really depends on what
you consider value, and value isn't cheap, value isn't expensive.
Value is where you willingly give your dollars for what you get and you feel that it was
an even -- in fact, you feel it was a better deal for you because you've got something
great, so that's what you need to find.
It's very difficult and the reason I can't recommend brands -- except my own, but that's
a whole another thing.
I'm going to be building out the Antonio Centeno label here soon, just watch.
But really, brands change over time, so ask anyone that's been a big fan of, let's say,
Hugo Boss.
That company is a German-based company, but they have evolved.
They started manufacturing in different places.
It used to be that they're made in Germany, then it was made in China, and many people
feel that the quality went down.
I have nothing against the Chinese.
They make some of the most amazing products in the world, but oftentimes, they're also
associated with some of the lower cost, lower production, and many people felt that that
company all of a sudden started cutting corners where it didn’t use to, and there's a reason
why Brioni and these higher end suit companies are able to charge what they do because they
pay attention to all those little details.
Now, companies like Brooks Brothers, they've done a really good job of keeping a lot of
the manufacturing under direct control, so that's a company that has maintained a very
good brand for a number of years.
But on the other hand, for every Brooks Brothers, there are 10 to 20 companies which that brand
started off, let's say, at a very good high level and then it fell; it petered off.
You can see this in automobiles as well, so brands, they go up and they also go down.
I mean, think about in the 1970s and 1980s.
Where was Toyota?
Toyota, it took them decades and a lot of PR and a lot of just actually making a superior
product and offering it a lower cost, that they were able to go from these tiny little
vehicles that American-made car manufacturers kind of laughed at, to all of a sudden the
number one car manufacturer in the world.
I'll jump in to number two.
Number two is to have a trusted advisor in the industry, so this can be a blogger.
This can be somebody that is a trusted salesman, and I'll use the trusted salesman example
in buying a car.
My family, we needed a mini van about a year and a half ago.
What I did is I've got a good friend that runs a dealership and I said, "Alex, I want
you to just be on the lookout.
This is what my needs are.
I trust you.
Look out there and find me a great value."
Every month, I'd get a call that he's got something.
I think it was back in December of last year, he gives me a call.
He's like, "Tony, you've got to get out here.
This is a perfect vehicle for you.
It's great and I can give it to you at this price."
I went out there and checked it out.
I had the money.
In fact, I had already sent him the money.
Basically, I trusted this gentleman and he took care of me.
In fact, it was such a good deal that I had the Wisconsin tax authority contact me and
say how did I get this deal because I got it way under the cost in which they probably
should've sold it to me, but that's having a trusted salesman -- that's having somebody
that's looking out for you that of course, they're going to do it.
For them, it's just knowing that they've got a client which is going to pull the trigger,
is going to make the buy, and they go the extra mile to kind of be looking out for exactly
your needs.
Last but certainly not least, you need to understand what quality is because at the
end of the day, even though I trust my buddy, Alex, I did inspect that vehicle.
I took it for a test drive, looked under the hood, kicked the tires, did everything I can
in a sense to make sure it is good because you do want to trust people, but at the end
of the day, you are responsible for whatever you get.
And so, that brand may have been delivering great quality, but look at the clothing.
Be able to look at some of the stitching, and this is stuff that you can learn.
You can learn how a jacket is put together.
You could feel the clothing, the fabric.
It's really about a little bit of self-education, something I know a lot of guys shy away from,
but I've tried to make it easier with a lot of these videos.
Who knows?
I may actually put together a video here soon in which I tear apart a jacket and show the
insides and all that stuff.
Those are my three tips.
Find a brand that you trust and works well for you.
Number two, have a trusted salesman or blogger who you can go to and pull information from.
Number three, be able to see quality by training yourself.
Okay.
That's it.
I'll see you in the next video.
Bye-bye.