[iamacynic]

the dirty secret of jeans and t-shirts is: the good looking and good fitting jeans and t-shirts are pretty damn expensive. and those band t-shirts, if authentic, probably are too. it has become a fashion category in and of itself, complete with a high end range.

jeans are all over the spectrum, but unless they are obviously from a giant bin at a discount store, probably are at least $100, likely above $200 per pair. and there are plenty of $500 pairs of jeans out there...

my casual white dyed hemp rainbow sandals are $50, some of the special edition ones i've had over the years (braided leather, etc). are $100+. pretty expensive for basically a flat piece of rubber and a strap of material covered in cloth.

when someone shows up to work in truly cheap jeans/t-shirt/sandals, it doesn't look good, they look trashy and nothing fits properly.

it's just a signal of spending power / hipness on the more casual side of the scale. i've seen people dressed in "jeans and t-shirts" wearing vintage swiss watches. in wealthier areas where a tech company would be, a casual 'jeans and t-shirt' outfit could cost either $25 total or $1000 total.

[TremendousJudge]

>jeans are all over the spectrum, but unless they are obviously from a giant bin at a discount store, probably are at least $100, likely above $200 per pair.

what? levis are like 40 bucks on amazon

[magic_beans]

Levi's don't look great on a lot of men, and their cuts are atrocious for thinner women. $100 dollar jeans are often cut much more nicely.

[e12e]

Hm. Searching for Levi 501 (the canonical 80 heroin rock singer cut) yields prices like: offers from $21.78 - $ 131. I'm not sure what you get for ~40 bucks or how it's different from the one for 131.

[Neliquat]

Levi's is pretty much bargain bin quality. Last time I tried them on I tiried 6 same size pairs, all fit vastly different. One had a pocket sewn shut. No qc whatsoever. Its like they gave up.

[hammock]

You have to go to the standalone Levi's retail stores to get the good jeans. The stock in department stores like Macy's is lower quality

[VLM]

For an extra $9 you could have bought jeans made in the USA by Buddy Jeans corporation of Mississippi, which in my experience are extremely high quality, instead of Chinese clothes that fall apart instantly but cost 20% less.

A place in Wisconsin makes my work shoes that in the long run are cheaper than imports.

The point of these anecdotes, is I am interested to consider as labor arbitrage and cost of oil and whatever else wipes out the price advantage of foreign imported clothes that used to exist for the last generation or two, if the surviving American clothing manufacturers being somewhat fancier and higher end will result in Americans "soon" wearing generally fancier clothes.

As a concrete example of my theory, currently New Balance Chinese made sneakers are the cheapest thing to slap on your feet. They look ultra casual, usually pretty dirty, and are engineered to fall apart extremely rapidly (for example they recently took the eyelets out of the lace holes to make the laces destroy the plastic fake leather faster). However... over the long term its already cheaper to buy Thorogood dress shoes made in Wisconsin because they last roughly forever and as a side effect look quite stylish in my opinion, and as economic trends continue, its conceivable that soon the cheapest shoes available to slap on your feet will be some rather formal looking Thorogoods, then for an extra $20 you can buy some New Balance from China that fall apart in four months of use. And my theory is we are very close to that tipping point with the result that at least in the short term "average folks who don't care about fashion" will be wearing much less casual, much more formal appearance clothing.

It seems a realistic hypothesis, easily testable, fits prevailing trends...

My wife buys me casual weekend clothes from Nordstroms or Von Maur or whatever and that casual weekend stuff costs more than the cheap generic polos I wear at work. Like a hugo boss shirt that looks nice for weekend wear but costs $100 vs yesterday I wore some generic Target polo to work because we "dress up" at this conservative employer. I've also noticed I can sometimes buy cheap dockers or dockers knockoffs on sale for less than what I pay for weekend wear jeans. So with respect to my hypothesis the future is already here, just unevenly distributed.

I'm old enough that I had to wear the suit and tie to the financial employer in the olden days. Its very comfortable if you spend enough money and suits were quite expensive. The field service techs I tangentially worked with would maliciously comply by purchasing the ugliest used clothes imaginable from Goodwill and throw the suit out at the end of a shift if it got ruined. Its interesting to see the tables turn and my clothes on the weekend cost more than work cloths unlike when I was young.

[hammock]

Not sure why you're being downvoted. I'm always interested in USA made clothing sine there is so little of it anymore, you've already named two makers I'm unfamiliar with. Do you have any others?

[Nadya]

Since you asked, time to shill for my favorite socks. (Note: Not affiliated. They've just really won me over because these are the most comfortable socks I've ever owned.)

Darn Tough socks [0], which I discovered via Reddit's /r/buyitforlife, are some of the best socks I've ever owned. They come with a lifetime warranty - so if you get a hole in the sock you can send it in for a brand new pair. No questions asked. Made in Vermont, USA.

Downside: $15-22 for a single pair of socks. I used to pay that much for 20 pairs of cheap socks.

Upside: I only need to own 8 pairs of socks. One a day, one to wear on laundry day.

[0] https://darntough.com/

[VLM]

"Smartwool" (company name) merino wool hiking socks, about the same deal, about the same price, $20/pair, knitted in Colorado. I donno the warranty, they don't break or wear out. Those are the only socks I'll wear when I go hiking.

People who buy $300 hiking boots and wear 50 cent walmart socks in them resulting in blisters and fungus infections, just a big question mark.

I don't understand the economics of those businesses. The Chinese stuff wears out fast, intentionally, and has to be replaced in months so they have a twice per year (or more) revenue stream. Its nice that I can buy shoes from Wisconsin or socks from Colorado that have already lasted many years, or jeans from Mississippi that will probably last my entire lifetime, but I bought it all years ago, and what is their business plan today to stay in business? Yeah they cost a little more, but only a little. I mean, sure, if I had to replace my shoes I'd buy from the Wisconsin place again, but the whole point is I bought them because they don't wear out. And they don't. So how are they still in business for you folks to buy from them today?

[VLM]

There are very expensive US clothing makers, but to fit my hypothesis that its becoming cheaper to buy quality US made products than cheap Chinese products, those expensive textile workers would not apply.

In retrospect it would probably be a short term effect and on shore mfgrs would probably soon start to sell cheap products for a slightly cheaper price, but it might only take that year or two to kick of a change to somewhat more formal styles.

[iamacynic]

i said good looking and good fitting. of course most people don't wear clothes that fit or look good. the person i replied to mentioned he looks 'sloppy' in t-shirt and jeans.

i'm pointing out the fact that you're guaranteed to look sloppy in t-shirt/jeans/sandles unless you buy the expensive stuff or are top 10% fit and attractive, and even then, there's no saving some really cheap stuff. those good looking 'casually dressed' people are spending real money to achieve that look.

[iopuy]

I have found nirvana when it comes to buying clothes. This won't appeal to most people but if you close to a decently sized city go check out the thrift stores. Chances are you will find a wide array of suitable clothes for dirt cheap.

Yeah I know, picking through used clothes has a horrible connotation and the signal to noise ratio can be quite small, but you can absolutely find what you need.

[iamacynic]

thrifting isn't exactly fringe these days, even among yuppies and rich fashionable young people. the problem is it takes a lot of time, because finding the right fit becomes the real challenge.