My first real menswear purchase—that is, the first one I remember consciously participating in it and actually being excited about—was a Brooks Brothers shirt. It was a non-iron white broadcloth in their spread collar with French cuffs. I absolutely loved that shirt and wore it for years until I thinned out in my early 20s and it stopped fitting. Then I gave it to my dad (who just may wear it to this day; I’ll have to ask). I still love that shirt and honestly have never found a white dress shirt I adore as much as I did that one.
How many men made their first step into a grown up, respectable wardrobe with a purchase a Brooks Brothers as I did? Is millions too high a guess? After all, this Saturday marks the store’s 200th anniversary, and their presence in the menswear scene has remained influential the entire time. Actually it’s pretty amazing that today—despite what many who remember the days before the Marks & Spencer buy-out of the 90s may feel—Brooks Brothers remains relevant. And while the majority of the dollars I spend on clothes have long since moved into other brands, I still regularly shop at Brooks Brothers, both online and in physical retail.
So in honor of their momentous anniversary, I wanted to do a little tribute post with my 5 favorite pieces from Brooks Brothers.
Madras shirt
I’m super picky with my madras patterns because guys in plaid shorts and flip flops in high school ruined them for me. This exploded plaid appealed to me right away, though, and I wear it to this day. The darker bases seem to attract me, such as this navy-based one.
Red Fleece chinos
The lower-priced Red Fleece line is meant to compete with J.Crew, and has actually been the source of almost all of the Brooks Brothers purchases I’ve made in the last 3-4 years (and 100% of the purchases my wife has made from the store). These chinos are still my favorite. I sized up one in the waist and the slim silhouette is absolutely perfect. Similar ones here, here and I’m intrigued by these cotton-linen ones.
Neutral color lightweight sweater
Layering in the spring or summer is kind of a myth for most people. For instance, here in Tennessee, it was nearly 80°F and sunny yesterday. Too warm to wear a layer (and to be honest I wanted to soak up that sunshine). Today, it was 40°F—cold enough to wear all but the heaviest of my fall/winter gear. But for those times when you’re out and about as the late afternoon fades into twilight and the chill comes back, a lightweight, cotton or linen-blend sweater makes sense. And that’s exactly what this was. Pictured here on our trip to Italy two years ago, I found it to be useful during the early Autumn weather we experienced while there. Here is a similar one in a light tan that looks great.
Oxford Cloth Button Down Shirt
About 145 brands are now making an OCBD with a collar roll worthy of Andy Warhol himself. And I definitely advocate for many of those brands (Kamakura is the best quality to price ratio, by far, if you fit their bizarre sizing; Proper Cloth’s soft Ivy is almost as good and lets you dial in exact fit; and I hear Spier & Mackay’s OCBD is based on the Kamakura, for about half price). But especially now that Brooks Brothers is making its collars unlined, their collar shape and roll is still one of the best. And as much as the old timers bemoan the decline of Brooks from its glory days of yesteryear, I think we can all agree “slim fit” busts that romanticized past alone. I must say I don’t care for the traditional blue color, so thankfully they offer various shades at different times. Here are the classic whites and blues. Here is a lighter blue, as well as other colors.
Navy-white “BB #3” repp bar stripe tie
If you’re into repp stripe ties, the designs and quality of Brooks’ ties are great for the price, particularly on sale. They tend to stick with a conservative 8.25-inch (9cm) width. Mine, however, is from a brief period when they were 3 inches exactly, and I love it. That may seem narrow for many people (and indeed I wouldn’t want all my ties to be that narrow), but for this tie in particular, it’s fantastic and I wouldn’t change it. Here’s the current, classic 3.25-inch one.
Here’s to 200 years of an American icon.
