It’s impossible to buy gifts for a guy who’s into menswear, isn’t it? If he’s like me, he has such specific taste in pattern, color, fit, and even brands that it’s usually easier just to avoid that category of gifts all together and go with a tech or grill-related item. But, it’s not entirely hopeless! While I don’t speak for every menswear dude, I do have a pulse on what’s cool as well as what kinds of things make sense for a dad.
Here are three sound gift-giving principles to go by, plus a few specific gift ideas if the dad in your life is into classic menswear like me (i.e. tailored suits and jackets, fine leather shoes, that sort of thing).
Read on for the Menswear Musings Father’s Day Gift Guide 2020.
Principle 1: Give them something you know they want but wouldn’t buy for themselves
I call this The Rule of Giving Gifts. This is my universal gift-giving principle because we all have stuff we want and buy for ourselves—and then there are the luxuries, the things we would totally buy if money were no object, and opportunity cost wasn’t a thing. Receiving one of those things is always the best.
Principle 2: Don’t be afraid to get a gift card to a specific shop you know they like with a suggestion for a product you had in mind.
If the guy has really specific taste that you feel makes it impossible to shop for him, don’t be afraid to do this. This is exactly how I am, and my wife says it makes shopping for me fraught. Thankfully in her case, my brother and I are both on similar wavelengths, so she’s able to talk to him for gift ideas when she buys me stuff, otherwise she’d have no idea! It’d be like me trying to buy her something for our home decor, like a rug or throw—I think I could choose something good, but the risk is high I’d screw it up.
Principle 3: Get something you know the father in question loves, but make it one step up in quality
It’s said that all you need to really enjoy a bottle of wine is to buy something in the next price tier above what you normally drink (so get a $20 bottle if you normally buy $10 bottles). In the same vein, if you know he gets a lot of enjoyment out of a fine dress shirt, get him a shirt that’s a step up in quality, make and fabric.
If he likes… —> consider as an upgrade…
Dress shirts
Banana Republic —> Hugo Boss or Canali
If he has trouble finding shirts that fit well —> a custom shirt from Proper Cloth or Spier & Mackay
Pocket squares and ties:
The Tie Bar —> Brooks Brothers squares and ties
Brooks Brothers —> Polo Ralph Lauren
Jeans he can wear with a tailored jacket
American Eagle, Abercrombie or Uniqlo —> Polo Ralph Lauren
Levi’s, Gap or J.Crew —> Sid Mashburn
Leather dress shoes:
Johnston & Murphy —> Allen Edmonds
Allen Edmonds —> Alden, Brooks Brothers’ Peal & Co., or a sleek European maker like Crockett & Jones.
Combining this advice with the principle that it’s okay to say “Here, I got you a $150 gift card to Drake’s so you can buy a sweet tie” means that you can put great thought into your purchase, even if he’s got very specific taste.
Some specific gift ideas
01/ Drake’s pocket square (any will do but this Tiger print square is amazing, and my wife bought me one for Father’s Day, actually)
02/ Drake’s tie (if he likes and wears ties, Drake’s is the best; they make slightly more fun, quirky designs, not just the staples like the one pictured; see here for a summer sale selection I recently published with more product recommendations)
03/ Sid Mashburn Masai belt (great with faded Levi’s, these are made by artisans in Kenya)
04/ La Matera woven Argentinian belt (my own dad showed me these recently; a cool-looking, fun belt that would wear well with faded denim)
05/ Corridor heavy linen overshirt (pockets are a great help for a dad, and a flowy but heavy linen overshirt would be a great layer he could add over another shirt)
06/ Dapper Woodworks custom wooden tie rack (read my review of this, with a 10% discount code here)
07/ This Guy: Portraits of Modern Men’s Style (interviews and photographs by venerable photographer Jamie Ferguson of influential menswear personalities, such as Antonio Ciongoli of Eidos and 18 East, Simon Crompton of Permanent Style, Jeremy Kirkland of Blamo! and more)
08/ Subscription to WM Brown (men’s magazine with equal parts menswear, watches, fraternal shenanigans and miscellaneous photo essays by the eminently likable Matt Hranek)
09/ Astorflex Greenflex (lined, with a bit more structure) or Driftflex desert boots (unlined and soft like traditional desert boots). Some of the most comfortable boots there are; I bought some recently and literally got half a dozen comments from strangers on Instagram saying how much they love theirs and were glad I’d gotten some.
10/ The Italian Gentleman (a compendium with beautiful photographs and histories of Italian fabric mills, tailors, shirtmakers, and others in Italy’s storied history of menswear by Hugo Jacomet of Parisian Gentleman)
11/ Subscription to The Rake (international men’s style magazine, with more attention to fine menswear and what makes it special than the GQs and Esquires of the world, plus lifestyle content often told first person, gonzo-style)
12/ Randolph Engineering sunglasses (the original aviator maker for the U.S. Air Force, a still independently owned business making high quality eyewear in the USA).
13/ Patreon subscription to Blamo! (a great podcast with men and women in the fashion world hosted by Jeremy Kirkland; a Patreon subscription gets you access to special guest interviews and first access to local events).
14/ T25 or another of Shaun T’s fitness videos (Big dork announcement: I do silly exercise moves that a ripped, shirtless dude on my iPad tells me to do in our spare room in order to stave off Dadbod for 25 minutes a day. But, you know what? It’s a one-time expense, no gym fees, no commute to the gym, and I save tons of time).
Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there, and I hope this guide is helpful for those looking to get the fathers in their own lives something that communicates how special he is to you! If you need help choosing between two options or want advice for the father you’re buying for, feel free to comment below and I’ll get in touch!
(Help support this site! If you buy stuff through my links, your clicks and purchases earn me a commission from many of the retailers I feature, and it helps me sustain this site—as well as my menswear habit ;-) Thanks!)
