Ask the Readers: How Do You Build a Wardrobe on a Budget?

In January, Brooks Brothers has a 60-70% off sale. If you really like wool… I got some very high quality basics there a few years back. Black dress pants, grey dress pants, and a pink sweater I wear with everything. I think it’s ok to drop $100 on a pair of pants if you wear it once a week for years and it still looks great.

Of course, I really need to do laundry. I may be teaching in a t-shirt and pajama bottoms today.

* L. L. Bean (polo shirts are $12 to $14 on sale and last for at least 4 years, or about $3 / year)
* Eddie Bauer (combining a sale with a coupon can get you casual button down shirts for under $20 that should last for a few years and blue jeans for under $15 that look great)
* Macy’s (if you buy anything here at full price, you aren’t shopping the store correctly – a suit should run you around $200 here)
* Nordstrom’s half-yearly men’s sale (for quality pants like Docker’s on a good deal)

Between these places by combining sales and coupons you should be able to get T. J. Maxx/Ross/Marshall’s prices with much more selection in classic colors and styles that often don’t make it to the discounters.

A tip on dress shoes – do splurge here. The rule is that a $100 pair of shoes will last you a year, a $200 pair of shoes will last you two (so no gain over that $100 pair), but over $300 will last you several, perhaps with a re-sole-ing necessary. Make sure to take care of those dress shoes with cedar shoe trees.

Our trick is to know what we want months in advance before it is a need and keep shopping the sales until we find the price we’re willing to pay.

i’m a girl so my advice might be less helpful, but regarding quality- you get what you pay for!! i buy trendy things for under $10 at the cheapie store, by the end of the season they’re falling apart.

for proper classic clothes, you just have to pony up the cash at a nice department store or retailer. it gets to be worth it too- i bought a lovely pair of boots for $80 (marked down from 300ish, but that’s another story)- the soles were wearing out, i took them back and they put new soles on for $15. now i get another season out of them for the price of a cheapo pair of shoes that would fall apart in a week.

whatever you do, if you’re looking for quality, make sure you get it. except white things, don’t buy expensive white shirts. buy like 20 cheap ones and toss ‘em when they get stained.

Lands End clothes are nice and wear well, and the website has some helpful features. I like the customer “true to size” feedback.

I had to rebuild most of my wardrobe after a twin pregnancy (read: body stretching) and am happy with the results and overall cost. I found a store or brand with a few items that really fit me well, such as a certain pair of jeans or trousers, and I buy coordinating seasonal items. I’ve signed up for online and in-store coupons, ask for store gift cards for birthday presents, and watch the clearance sales. Online purchases can be returned to the store. I wish I had done this before, instead of endlessly shopping around only to find that things really didn’t go together as well as I had envisioned. It’s not going to win me any points for originality, but the fit is flattering and it’s a noticeable improvement. So brand loyalty can be cost- and time-effective. This can be done easily with major retailers like Lands End, where colors don’t really change much from year to year.

Calliope has the right idea.

But i also wanted to add – You should try to contact Carson Kressley of ‘Queer Eye fro the Straight Guy’ fame and see if he’d be interested in covering your story. It’s timely, as frugality is the new black, and it’s interesting, because you’ve dropped so much weight.

I’d watch it!

My best tip is to not just grab sizes off a rack, but to go check in the fitting room to make sure a piece is both flattering and comfortable. There are often sizable (no pun intended!) differences between “identical” items, due to the way the fabric is cut in mass production, and styles can be more or less flattering depending on your body type. If you aren’t sure what looks good on you, bring someone you trust, such as your wife or a good friend, and don’t take it personally if they say that something looks bad. Once you start to figure out how good fitting clothes hang on your body, it becomes easier to figure out if a piece is good or not, and more it fits and is flattering, the more likely you are to wear it.

My husband is tall and thin, and he wears size 13A shoes. He does the “permanent fashion” thing whether he wants to or not, because about the only things that fit him are expensive ones.

Most of his clothes come from the Brooks Brothers Outlet, LL Bean, and Lands End. You can sign up online to get notices and coupons for the outlets. The after-Christmas clearance sales are great. The Eddie Bauer outlet had heavy, long-sleeve t-shirts in Long sizes after Christmas last year for $6. He also has Coach belts, which I bought 5 or 6 years ago at the Coach outlet after Christmas for about $20 each, & they still look terrific. His dress shoes come from Allen Edmonds, and I haven’t found a cheap way to get those; but you can send them in to be re-conditioned, and they last for years and years.

Below are some pointers to start dressing well but cheaply.

1) Decide what your style is going to be and stick with it. This means picking a permanent style. This may sound boring but really is just an expression of who you are. Practically, this mean having 5-10 outfits in rotation. Are you and urban hipster (bla). A trad professor type (better). Early 60s account man (cool, but a little trendy). Figuring out who you are from a sartorial perspective and what fits you is the most frugal thing to do as you only spend on what you wear. As other comments have pointed out, American accumulate lots and lots of clothes that they dont wear, but end up only wearing a small percentage of what they own.

2) Fit. Fit. Fit. Like Pissarro burning his boats you should commit to your new body and understand what looks good (and don’t go crazy and buy everything too small just to show off your shape (does not look good).

3) It’s one thing to know your size, it’s another thing to know your measurements. A 40 regular jacket in one brand could be a 38 or 42 in another brand. I am a short guy with an athletic build, and I have found that Ralph Lauren clothes do the trick (Ralph is a little guy himself).

3) Thrift stores are good. but EBay is a lot better. There is no better place in the world to find top quality clothing at cheap prices.

4) Buy quality. Buy once. Old navy is made of the worst materials by the lowest skilled workers. The end product may look nice for a little while but will eventually be put into the trash. Same goes for any store in the mall except for maybe J. Crew (not outlet), or brooks brothers (expensive new). Expensive clothes are expensive for one or more of the following reasons: The label (forget it), the cut (maybe), quality or expense of the materials (don’t necessarily go hand in had more later) and/or quality of the workmanship.

4.a. I will explain these in reverse order. Quality of the workmanship. Jackets, slacks, suits are best when they are largely made by humans. The kind of sewing that goes into a jacket is more involved than just a sewing machine, there cutting, ironing, construction, and sewing. The more time it takes to make the item, the more it should cost. For example, the best quality jackets are “fully canvassed” this means that there is a piece of canvas underneath the outer layer to give the front of the jacket its shape. This canvass is breathable and moves with the wearer, making it much more comfortable. Then there is half-canvassed, which have this more involved construction only on the chest area of the jacket. Then there is the rest. Most new cheap jackets basically glue a canvass piece to the outer shell to give it the desired shape. This leads to an ill fitting, uncomfortable (does not breath very well), and short lived jacket. What happens to these is that after some dry cleaning the glue breaks down and little ugly bubbles form on the outside of the jacket, also known as trash.

4b. Materials. Clothes companies now like to talk about Super 100s, 120s, 130s, bla bla bla up to 220 (I think some fools are buying this crap). This refers to how fine the wool is and is suppose to be an indicator of quality. While it may cost more to make super 220 wool than a super 80s, it does not mean that it is better in terms of long life. Actually anything over super 150 is not going to last very long. The best way to go, is to go with feel, you can tell quality no matter what the super is, or at least you will. Wool is probably my favorite materials because it holds a crease well, is very wrinkle resistant and is very breathable, and relatively cheap. Cotton, wrinkles, cashmere is hot and expensive, anything synthetic is garbage.

Cut. At the end of the day you can have the best workmanship and great materials, but if it is designed or cut by someone without much style you will not look good. An illistruation of this is that the bespoke (custom) suit makers of Savile Row (aka Mecca for the suit) would put not their cutters and tailors out front to discuss what thier cleints wanted, they put people that were educated and upper crusty out front because these types had great style, and knew what was stylish, and knew how to make their clients look their best.

4d. Label. Those days are over and instead we have “designers”. Not all are created equal, and not all are designed for you. The best are the ones that had a deep respect for craftsmanship and quality materials, combined with impeccable style (see Lauren, Ralph, do not see Lauren by Ralph Lauren). Also see Ford, Tom. These designers may never have sewn a button but the combination of the qualities above put them above the fray. Then we have house brands like brooks brothers up to Brioni. These are old institutions that have tradition of quality, workmanship and style. Ralph Lauren will probably end up like these, and become a cherished institution (I hope).

5. So how to buy clothes on ebay. This is more art than science, and I have made my share of mistakes. But eBay mistakes are relatively easy to correct, just put it back up on eBay, if it’s not right for you there was another guy who wanted it just a bit less than you. So again know your measurements, know the quality of the brands. Then create custom searches. You can try to find things that fit your exact measurements (can be very hard for me) or you can buy things that can be tailored. Best quality clothes are tailored anyways and simple adjustments are pretty easy especially on pants. Pants can be taken in 2 inches at least and pants can be hemmed and the legs can be slimmed down, it costs some money, but the end result is something that fits, and is comfortable and you will wear a lot. Jackets are another story. Sleeves can be taken up, and almost always have to be, its 20 bucks very well spent. Jacket lengths can be taken up but is very tricky because it can throw everything off, and the waist of the jacket can be taken in (aka waist suppression). What cannot be altered or really should never be tried is the shoulders. I dont mean the little pinching at the middle just under the collar (that can be fixed easily), no the jacket must fit on the shoulds and this is the key measurement (generally between 17.5 to 22+ inches) not the chest, which can also be taken in.

6. Find a tailor. Preferably male, very old and not born in the US. My guy is about 75, from Rome, and has been a tailor since before he could remember (apparently child labor laws were very lax).

7. Build slowly. Start with the basics. EBay is great, but it is terrible for the basics of building a great wardrobe. The basics are: navy blue suit, charcoal suit, navy blazer. These are hard to find unless you are a common size, even then they can command a bit of a premium. But their versatility is unmatched. for example with just these three items you can make several different outfits as you can wear the dark grey slacks with the blazer, and even the blue pants and the grey jacket (maybe).

8. Shirts. If there is one place you can skip a bit it is here, as long as the shirt fits you can buy cheaper ones.

9. Ties. if you need them buy a couple simple ones, on eBay or thrift stores. But do not buy at department stores or kohl’s or any place of the sort! They charge you 25 bucks for a tie that you could buy for 10 or less at thetiebar.com or on eBay. Keep is simple. Nothing is worse than a garish tie, just kills the outfit.

10. Shoes. Forget about saving money upfront on shoes. You save money on shoes by keeping them for a long time and maintaining them. Do not buy from thrift stores unless they are new. Obvious, but it makes the thrifting experience more streamlined. In my 5 years of thrifting I have found 1 pair of dress shoes. Buy quality shoes not fashion shoes, ever. There is only one company that fits this criteria and that is Allen Edmonds. They cost 200+ but will last years and years. And when the sole wears out, you can send them back to the company for $100 they basically rebuild the shoe for you. So buy a simple pair of black and one of brown. ROTATE them, use shoe trees after every wear, polish every now and again, and watch how your shoes get BETTER with age! I prefer leather soled shoes (as their soles last much longer, are replaceable and look better), but they are not so good in the rain, so have a third pair for the soggy days. Lastly go to a cobbler and get the heal bumper thingy installed on the heal. This will make those nice shoes last even longer.

Post Script:

a. Women do not dress men. Men dress men. And that man is you. Women know about women’s clothes. Women’s clothes are about fashion not style. Most sales people are not well informed about what they sell unfortunately. Do not trust them.
b. Stores to get inspiration and buy eBay: Ralph Lauren and Brooks Brothers. maybe J. Crew.
c. Stores to avoid: Men’s Warehouse. Any place that puts everything on sale the second it gets to the floor should be questioned. The quality is terrible, the cut is deplorable (lots and lots of pleated trousers, which make you look fatter BTW). Although if you come across a gift card from this den of sartorial sin, go straight to the shoes, they have Allen Edmonds.
d. Take your time, and build a rotation of clothes. Clothes that you don’t wear are not worth anything, put them on ebay or give them to someone. You will need a lot less than you think.
e. I find that d. is true except for sox and other underwear. You cannot have too many sox I have found, and to keep it simple I buy in bulk and in black, preferable gold tow. Buy 20 pairs, start with 5 and rotate new ones in as needed. Same with underwear and undershirts. And remember these are the barrier between you and your clothes. Wearing them will keep the expensive parts of your wardrobe longer lasting. And throw them out at signs of age. Nothing is less attractive than droopy sox and old tank tops. Use the old ones to polish those Allen Edmonds shoes in 10 years.
f. Wear a suit. This may seem like more work than casual clothes, but it is less work. You don’t have to worry about matching as the jacket and pants match, throw on a white shirt, black belt, maybe a tie and your ready to go. I get up at 430-5 every day and suits allow me to look put together even if I get dressed in the dark, and need coffee.
g. The ideal wardrobe for a professional man who wears a suit regularly (and you should):
a. 1 plain navy suit (works for every kind of event, wedding, funeral, cruise, work). You can dress it up or down with accessories like ties etc. and yes you wear black shoes and a black belt. Also make sure that navy is actually navy, and not blue. Navy should be really really dark almost but not black.
b. 1 charcoal suit. Just as if not more versatile as the navy, as you can wear the pants with many a blazer.
c. 1 blue blazer. Blazers have the gold or silver buttons but horn buttons also work. Great way to be a bit more casual and can be work with the grey slack from the suit in b.
d. I tweed suit (if you can find it) or tweed jacket. Very versatile has it can dress up jeans.
e. 2 v-neck swears. 1 grey one something else. They are to be worn with collared shirts. I like grey as it can be worn under either the blue suit or the grey (as long as there are different grays)
f. 3 white, 2 blue shirts. White is easy and impossible to mess up. Blue is a little trickier if it is too dark.
g. 2-3 pairs of good shoes.
h. 5 ties. I like knit ties, their simple and last a long time and don’t need ironing. Make sure they are not too skinny and definitely not too wide.
i. 2 belts, 1 brown, 1 black. Make sure that the brown is close in color to your brown shoes (does not have to be perfect). Of course brown shoes brown belt, black shoes black belt. Also no belts and suspenders at the same time, pick one.
j. 5 white linen hand-rolled pocket squares from thetiebar.com. Keep in breast pocket simply folded when wearing a white shirt. Stylish and useful in times of allergies or ladies in distress.
k. 1-2 pairs of dress slacks, wool, flat front.
l. 1-2 pairs of chinos, very versatile wear with a t-shirt on weekends or iron them and wear with a button down shirt and the blazer.
m. 1-2 pairs of jeans. You don’t need more than this, 1 dark blue one dark grey if you like. Know what jeans will fit your body type; you may consult with women on this as long as the jeans are simple.

Post Post script:
Start with 2 or 3 button jackets and always flat front slacks. Button the top button on the 2 button and the middle button on the 3 only. The resources bellow will help you figure out what is best for you. And that is what is great about men’s style, when it is done well it is about the person wearing it not the designer who created it. The best suit could flatter one man and be completely wrong for another.

This should get you started. Resources bellow:

http://www.askandyaboutclothes.com/forums

books: The Suit: Machiavellian Approach Men’s Style by Nicholas Antongiavanni – very good short book on dressing well. Also he sites all the great books that came before.

We buy Mr. Sam’s work clothes during the Father’s Day sales in June (Brooks Brothers, Jos. A. Banks and Nordstrom’s all run a great sale) and the after holiday sales. We stick with good quality, classic styles for the bulk of his work wardrobe.

When my sons prepared to leave home after graduation from college, we were all so debt poor that it was hard to imagine buying clothes for interviews and jobs. So, I took them to Men’s Warehouse and the salesfolk there were so very knowledgeable as far as how to fit pants and shirts, what color shoes and belts to wear, just a lot of things that, as a woman, I never knew about. Especially, the basic foundations of a good wardrobe. What we learned was well worth the investment of one set of clothes for their job interviews. After that, we were able to apply what we learned in less expensive stores, like Kohl’s and Target. Best of luck to you!

I think this is another case where quality and fit trump quantity and price. I think the best thing your can do is figure out before you go shopping what you want and what brands, and what lines within the brand, have the best quality. Also plan to spend more on staples like jeans, chinos, and collared shirts, stuff you plan on wearing for years. This is especially true when shopping at thrift stores where there can be a lot of junk.

A couple more blogs to look at are:
http://putthison.com/
and
http://anaffordablewardrobe.blogspot.com/

I also want to put in another plug for Icebreaker. I’ve been wearing their stuff for years and have been able to find it on sale at places like Sierra Trading Post and TJ Maxx. They have a big sale near the end of the year and if you are on their email list they will send you deals for things like free socks and $50 off anything in stock. If you want great merino wool stick to brands like Icebreaker, Smartwool and Ibex and skip the other stuff.

Identify the essentials and buy quality; see if you can hold out until the post-holiday sales, but don’t buy cheap – quality and fit are worth paying for in the long run.

The easiest way to keep costs down is to pick a small number of high-quality items that go well together; wear them out and replace as needed.

I have the opposite problem: I’ve gained 30+ pounds in the past 8 months (it’s all baby) and have exactly three outfits to choose from, all of which I am completely sick of. I went through my pre-maternity wardrobe and got rid of everything that didn’t fit well, had stains or flaws, didn’t match or that I didn’t wear. My post-pregnancy wardrobe is going to be half the size it was previously, and I don’t plan on buying new clothes until the baby is in elementary school. Needless to say, losing the baby weight quickly will be a priority.

Thrift stores and consignment shops. I lost 70 lbs, and had to buy a lot of clothes on my way down to my current weight. I thrifted because I knew I wouldn’t need them long, but I needed SOMETHING to wear.

If you’re a careful shopper, the fact is you can get great quality clothes for a fraction of the price. I would say 90% of my current wardrobe is second hand, and I’ve never dressed better.

My best tip is that it’s usually worth it to drive a little. I go to thrift/consignment shops in the more affluent areas because they tend to have newer, higher-quality items. The fact is, it’s totally worth it to drive 45 minutes to end up with half your winter wardrobe for $75.

Here are a few suggestions I’ve learned in helpng my husband with his wardrobe and in trying to maintain my own:

1. Only buy items you really like. If you don’t like it, or it isn’t completely comfortable or necessary, you won’t wear it and it is a waste of money.

2. Try stores like Ross, Marshalls, and TJ Maxx, especially for shirts. They can sometimes have great deals and since you are used to buying from thrift stores, you shouldn’t encounter too many problems sifting through the racks.

3. Do spend money on a few nice items, but try to do it at a reasonable cost. Yesterday there was a post about store credit cards. I keep a Kohl’s and Macy’s charge card around for the discounts so I can buy my husband’s nicer work clothes. The discounts are worth it if it is combined with other sales and you pay the balance off immediately.

4. Keep in mind that you don’t need as much as you think. As a society, we tend to have lots of clothes but wear relatively few of them on a regular basis.

5. Buy just what you need to get by for now and then set a budget to buy one or two new items each month until you have what you think you will need.

I hope this helps! My husband has a job that requires both casual and dress wear so we are all over the spectrum. Thankfully it is easier to find classic men’s fashion that is good quality and reasonably priced then it is for women.

Definitely go with Marshalls/TJMaxx. They have awesome clothes, especially dress shirts and stuff for 30-40 bucks per. I’ve found that you generally get what you pay for in terms of material, but I haven’t found anywhere that you can get shirts for cheaper!

1) Buy the best you can afford.
2) More fewer rather than more
3) Find a color palette and stick to it. That way, you’ll be able to mix and match.
4) Go to high quality thrift stores and consignment shops. If that doesn’t work, look for labels. I’ve found great clothing at Goodwill because I’m looking for labels. Try the Jr. League thrift stores, or stores for the American Cancer Society and/or Hospice.

I’d like to put my vote in for putthison.com, as has already been mentioned. The guy that runs it does a (very) occasional videocast on a specific area of fashion. He’s very into what you’ve called “permanent fashion”, and has a great tag on his site called “Q&A” where he discusses a lot of detail on assembling a wardrobe that will stand the test of time and doing so responsibly. He’s a very thrifty guy, as well.

I shop at target every Tuesday. That’s when they mark the womens’ clothes down. I only shop the 75% off rack and I’m very patient. My wardrobe has expanded dramatically.

I agree with the go slow approach. It’s too expensive to over hall in a short time but it also short changes you. You’re looking to change your style and you’ve only just started trying to decide what that looks like. Classic basics are a great foundation. As long as you’ve done a good job here, it will be easier to forgive yourself for that trendy thing you had to have but just is not working out.
Comfortable shoes don’t have to be ugly shoes. If your favorite brand of comfy shoes doesn’t have a dress equivalent, look online. Sites like Zappos & Shoebuy have built in searches for this – and free shipping both ways if you don’t like it. There are also websites that offer deep discounts for a short periods of time. Beyond The Rack & Shoebuy are two of several of these types of websites. Once you know your size and your brand favorites, this is a great way to get those items cheaper.
Custom tailoring doesn’t only have to be an overseas option. It’s often (not always) the same price to purchase a good quality classic button down or to have a custom shirt of equal quality tailored. The differences being that a custom one fits perfectly but there isn’t the instant gratification of having it immediately in hand. My husband would only wear Polo dress shirts until he received a custom tailored shirt as a gift. Over the past several years, the two types have maintained the same.
It can also be an inexpensive way to adjust pants bought off the rack and extends the wearability if you lose additional weight. A bargain isn’t a bargain if it doesn’t fit right. Once you have a trusted tailor, when you need a piece that you cannot find, they can be called upon to make it. Because they already know your stature and measurements, they are able to produce a nearly finished product that can often be ready within a short time of the one and only final fitting.
Some benefits of this approach:
1) Mall Avoidance (the #1 reason my husband likes this).
2) When you feel good in your clothes, you look good. Having lost so much weight (good job!), you want to look good (and have others see you looking good) so having clothes that are fit to you is just a little extra polish that does get noticed.
3) Discounts & Negotiations – tailors have slow seasons, too. Whereas classic Polo *never* goes on sale, tailors will sometimes offer a discount on multiples. Once they get to the end of certain bolts of fabric, they are often willing to discount just to get rid of last year’s grey wool so they can get this year’s grey wool.
The last suggestion is to keep your eyes open when you travel. Sometimes the local styles may fit better or you might find a really great piece. If you see a thrift store or antique store there, see what they have. Look for items of good quality that you’re comfortable wearing and that you just don’t see in your hometown. These types of finds add your own personal touch to an overall classic style. It moves you from a well dressed man to a Man of Style.

Good Luck!

Give this a try:

For polo style shirts — Target.
For basic dress shirts — Marshalls, LLBean.
For fancy dress shirts — outlet stores.
For nice suits and slacks — Brooks Brothers (it’s worth it). Don’t go overboard. Start out with one suit and two nice pairs of slacks (one black and one khaki). Hang them up nicely and switch to jeans or casual wear when you get home at night.
For jeans — get two pairs of dark colored well-made jeans and have them professionally tailored (my dry-cleaner does it for cheap).

I have a rule that I generally will not pay more than $20 for a shirt, but I am willing to spend more on pants because I can usually get more use out of them and there’s a much wider difference in quality with pants.

If you are going to upgrade the wardrobe, note that you will also be spending more money on dry-cleaning or more time on laundry/ironing.

I used to do all of my own laundry/ironing, but then I decided it wasn’t worth my Sunday afternoon. That is an interesting financial topic probably worthy of its own column. I think the answer comes down to whether time or money is a scarcer commodity. Currently, for me, free time is hard to come by and $40 a month for dry-cleaning fits in the budget.

If you like quality and timeless style, find a Ralph Lauren Factory Store near you. The normal prices are steep, but they almost always have weekly deals and an enormous clearance section. The clothes last forever and have been in style for decades. Stick with solid colors as patterns can really date an article of clothing.
Find a local mens store for your dress clothes. Dealing with someone local will be invaluable on that Saturday night when you need to get dressed up but found that you can’t find a tie to go with your dress shirt. My local guy has all of my purchases on file and has even offered to drop something off at my house afterhours. He knows what I have, what fits, and what I like. Everything matches and looks great.
If you like the stuff from REI, watch their online outlet store. There are often great deals!

I have built the bulk of my wardrobe through things such as Freecycle.org and Good Will.

Freecycle is a community-based, location-specific entity where folks in your community give away things for free.

I have literally received garbage bags full of clothes – great quality clothes from high end stores – that someone simply didn’t want anymore. So many of the clothes I get are not only high end, but many of them are almost new. People just decide to change their decor, their wardrobe, or whatever, and give the “old” stuff away.

I hardly ever shop for clothes anymore but on the rare occasions that I do go to a store for clothes, it’s usually Good Will. And it isn’t really anything I need, it’s usually just casual shopping.

Still – there’s nothing better than getting great clothes for FREE!

Heh I know you’re not going to like this, but while picking on typos you’ve had this week…

“There selection is…random.”

Should be “their”

So I don’t ONLY post on typos, I will talk about my wardrobe a bit. I, too, have been losing weight over the past year and a half, and have found fewer and fewer clothes that fit well. I probably spend a little more than you want, but I find lots of deals from “fashionable” brands on shirts that should be around for a while. Polos, long sleeve shirts. I like some t-shirts, too, as long as they aren’t more than $8 or $10. I feel like I can easily get a few years from them, and feel good in the meantime.

If you want to build a wardrobe from scratch, you must first invent the universe.

RIP Carl. I was in your position 4 years ago. I’m, 6’3″ and I went from 237lbs to 178lbs in about 6 months (size 42 jeans to size 32). I have since built what I consider a pretty snazzy wardrobe (my boss told me the other day that I make him look like a slob, a mixed-blessing of a comment, for sure). I think I might have some ideas to help you out.

I don’t have time to read the 50+ previous posts, so I apologize if this is redundant, but I would suggest three modes of shopping and one general philosophy:

1. Coupon, coupon, coupon. I regularly scout dealnews.com, slickdeals.com, and fatwallet.com and with a decent amount of persistence I often find deals for my favorite retailers (i.e., macy’s, land’s end, banana republic, and gap).

2. Sign up for emails from sites like shop it to me. You give them your sizes and the places you like to shop and they email you once a week or so with good deals. If you are looking for deals on high-end clothes I would suggest signing up for gilt.com. Though based on your posting, I think their prices might give you a heart attack.

3. Do a lot of consignment (and sometimes thrift)shopping: Consignment shops are like high-end thrift stores. The prices aren’t that much higher and the quality (at least in my area) far exceeds the price increase. Plus, most of them have deals on different clothes at different times, so if you find something you like you can sometimes wait it out and get it for dirt cheap (I recently got a high-end dress shirt in the perfect size for $1.75). I think the key to thrift and consignment shopping is to know what the marks of quality are. Sometimes it’s a brand name, sometimes it is just knowing what kinds of fabrics and stitching make one piece of clothing more worthwhile than another. At thrift stores, they usually don’t know the difference (so you can get great deals) at consignment stores they are more likely in-the-know and thus you are less likely to find outrageous bargains. In general, I really like the blog putthison.com. I think it should be required reading for all men. They have some helpful primers on this kind of stuff. Like shopping for good stuff on eBay http://putthison.com/post/318472789/clothesshoppingonebay they also had a really good post on what kinds of brands to look for, but try as I might, I cannot find it.

The main reason I mention putthison.com is because I agree with their philosophy on building a wardrobe (which is what you are trying to do). Basically, they suggest building a solid foundation of basic, nice clothing that you can accent later. This is the kind of permanent style to which you refer. The philosophy is summarized here: http://putthison.com/post/811624289/start-by-simplifying and they provide a nice list of essentials here: http://putthison.com/post/712103418/the-essential-mans-wardrobe-perhaps-the-most

One of the nice things about losing weight is that you start to look good in just about everything. This was certainly the case with me and I am guessing it will be the case with you as well. You might find that you actually like looking at and shopping for clothes and that (even given your frugal nature) you might be more willing to invest in your look.

One trick I’ve learned is to shop the thrift stores in affluent areas of town, even if it’s a ways away. You’d be surprised how many near-new or brand new things I’ve found. You also have to be patient–building a wardrobe takes time. I also love to buy off season. I get a kick out of purchasing something for so little, and then another thrill when I’m finally able to wear it. Also, one thing that I consider is cost per wear. I’m more willing to spend a lot of money (like, $50 for me) on a pair of pants that I know I will get $300 wears out of. If something truly is worth it, I get my money out of it. This doesn’t mean I spend a ton, it just means that I’m willing to spend more than the absolute minimum. Another option, if you’re feeling very motivated, is to organize a clothing swap. I did this a few years ago with friends (everyone invited 3 people, who brought people, and we all brought several bags of clothing) and it was a huge success. I got a ton of stuff, for free, that was in perfectly good condition but no longer wanted by the present owner.