Shill - Lands' End sale

It's not very often that I post links on this blog to new stuff, because frankly I rarely buy new clothing anyway. Even sales sites like Gilt and others are usually ridiculously overpriced (at least, coming from the mind of a habitual thrifter), but in case you hadn't yet seen, Lands' End is having a fairly massive sale going on through tomorrow night.

I've long been a fan of Lands' End, largely because their clothes are well-made and almost completely free of adornment (yes, I love my Polo horsies, but for the most part I prefer garments sans-logos). At any rate, there's definitely some great deals to be found, which includes a lot of stuff in their Canvas line.


For instance, I got one of these really neat twill flannel overlay belts for a whopping $6.98. There's also a load of great shirts, and I picked up a pair of tailored-fit nantucket red pants for just over 20 bucks (something that had been on my internal wish-list for awhile).

My total damage was just over $55 for 5 items (using the code JAN20 and the Pin 6111 for free shipping on $50 or more), which really isn't a whole lot more than buying stuff at a thrift store. With that purchase, it was the first time I'd bought a new (non-thrifted, anyway) clothing item since our trip to San Francisco. Unless I stumble upon some more great online deals, I'm guessing it will be that long (<> 6 months) it until it happens again.

I left my heart (and part of my wallet) in San Francisco

While long stints with no updates are certainly nothing new to this blog, the reason I've been silent this past week is because my wife and I went on a much-needed vacation. Our destination choice was San Franciso, a city I hadn't been to since I was a teenager (and then for only a short time). We had our minds set on relaxation, food, and seeing some sights, with a bit of shopping thrown in for good measure.

There have been numerous other people write about the city more eloquently than I'll be able to in this entry, but I will say that this trip bumped it to the top of my list of most-loved cities in the United States. The international flavor, west-coast vibe, and sheer number of places, people, and things to see in the city were overwhelming for our short visit, yet I felt like we took a lot in during six days and over 30 miles walked (plus many more covered by mass transit).



We saw the coast (and three dolphins swimming together!), walked through a bunch of different neighborhoods, visited 3 museums, ate a ton of great food, went to the farmers market, saw some city landmarks (City Lights Bookstore, Haight & Ashbury, etc, etc), and generally tried to take it all in.

Wearing my favorite vintage chambray with sleeves rolled up, getting ready to dig into a plate full of Ethiopian food.

If you've been there, you know that San Francisco is something of a shopping mecca. Within 4 blocks of Union Square alone, there are flagship stores for just about every high-end outfit that you could possibly think of. Saks Fifth Avenue, Burberry's, Harry's Of London, John Fluevog, Alden, Allen Admonds, Brooks Brothers, Hickey Freeman, Hermes, and probably 100 more. The Levi's store even had a custom, made-to-order shop.

Needless to say, most of these places were completely out of my league in terms of prices. I do like to look at clothing and fabrics and cuts of things (and sometimes snark at prices), so I went into some of the aforementioned stores (and several others) while there. In the midst of all the madness, I even managed to find a couple deals.

First off was a pair of gun metal gray Alfani desert boots. I'd been looking for a pair and even held off an a sale pair of Clarks the day before leaving town, so when I ran across these for $26.00 (plus tax), I made them mine.

Yes, the soles are man-made, but for less than 30 dollars including tax, I could live with it.

Speaking of Clarks, a few days later I ran across a pair of desert bucks in the clearance section of a store that shall not be named. They were the only pair of shoes in my size in the entire section and looked like they had been drop-kicked around the store a few times, but after breaking them in the past couple days, they already have a killer patina. Crepe soles and totally excellent, especially for $27 (plus tax).



It wouldn't be a true vacation without hitting a few of the thrift stores that San Francisco had to offer, and since my wife had already mapped out locations, we managed to make our way through about 8 or so during our visit. Again, I managed some pretty good finds.

First off is a Kenneth Cole three-button 100% wool jacket with a Nehru collar. Many will scoff at Kenneth Cole (and I know I certainly have), but this one fit me perfectly and has a lovely cut. For $7 I couldn't resist it.



Next up is another jacket, this one from the St. Michaels (so, pre 2000) Marks & Spencer line. Like the Kenneth Cole, it's not exactly a high end jacket, but it's made from a nice, light super 100s wool, and I have a feeling I'll get some use out of it during these hot months.

Look at those arms, this thing needs a good steam after being rolled-up in the carry-on.

Lastly (and possibly my favorite) is a vintage Pendleton tweed jacket that fits like it was tailored for me. Super nubby 100% wool made in the U.S.A. with some super-bright pinpoint flecks of color woven in. Oh, and leather elbow patches and braided leather buttons.

My gosh, it's full of colors.

Even though the last day was completely socked in with fog, blocking our view of the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco is a city I would recommend anyone visit.

I can't wait to go back.

Gilt without the guilt

I'm not quite sure on the time frame, but I think it was about six months or so ago that I saw mention of Gilt Groupe, an invite-only, "flash sale" (usually only a couple days or so, with lots of stuff selling out within hours or even minutes) site that mainly caters to higher-end brands and designers (there was some questions raised by Put This On about their pricing/advertising about a month ago). Being the thrifty fellow that I am, I didn't think it would be a site that I'd need to join, but eventually signed up just to see what was being peddled.

As it turned out, just about everything on the site is waaaay out of my price point, and much of it laughably so. Once in a great while, though, I noticed an item that was close to something that I'd purchase, and I decided to hang out and see if anything caught my eye.

And it did!

There are a couple more juicy pictures in this older post.

While certainly not high-end, there was a batch of different Simple Shoes, including this gray tweed pair that caught my eye. The purchase price was $26 + $7 for shipping, which is certainly more than I'd pay for shoes at a thrift store, but I'd been on a bit of a shoe drought and got weak in the knees for the tweed. What can I say?

Unless they start stocking their site with more items under 30 dollars, I doubt I'll be a regular buyer, but heck, it was fun to do it once.

(Oh, and if you're not a member of Gilt but would like to experience the still mostly insanely priced sale items for yourself, leave me a comment and I'll shoot you an invite. Whee!)