If I Were Building A Wardrobe From Scratch I'd Buy THIS..

So, a couple of years ago right before Thanksgiving, a good friend of mine had his house burned down. And the story is that morning he's getting up getting ready for the day and he starts to smell smoke. He goes downstairs, his wife is up feeding the kids breakfast and he continues to investigate looking for the smell thinking it may be the train that goes around the Christmas tree that they had set up early that year. After another minute or two not able to find anything, he peeks in the garage and all of a sudden sees a raging fire. And as you can imagine, he's shocked. He shuts the door, runs in, grabs his kids, tells his wife, get out of here, there is a fire. His wife has already called the fire department, they show up in about ten minutes, but by then it's too late. The entire house is on fire and even starting to collapse. Now, right after I found out about this, I took some immediate steps to help Mike and his family. But, one thing in particular I really knew I could help Mike with was rebuilding his wardrobe from scratch. Because the reality is if you're rebuilding your wardrobe, you can waste a lot of money buying clothing you don't need or is overpriced. And so, my goal is to help you avoid those landmines, so that you can build an interchangeable classic wardrobe that is going to serve you for years. So, when you're building a wardrobe from scratch, the first thing that you do is not go out and buy clothing. Now, the first thing you need to do is ask these six questions. First, what is your lifestyle like? In the case of my friend, Mike, he's a very casual dresser. Occasionally, he's going to bring out a blazer or a sports jacket. He's the kind of guy that owns a business. He lives in a larger Midwest city, so he did want to have some collared shirts and he likes dark-colored denim. The next question, what's your professional dress code? If you work in finance in New York City or if you're a creative out in LA or perhaps you work in tech over in Seattle, each of those professions each of those cities is going to call for a different dress code. You need to make sure that when you're buying clothing, it serves your professional needs. Next up, what are your style and color preferences? For some of you guys, you're going to be a little bit more fashion forward, other people a little bit more classic. And when it comes to colors, don't be afraid to have fun. Yes, I do think your essentials in general, you want to keep them simple classic interchangeable. But, don't be afraid to throw in a few bold colors especially in shades that really work for your complexion. The next two questions I'm going to throw them together, what is your current wardrobe situation and what are the essentials that you need to own? So, very few of you are starting with absolutely nothing. Most likely in your wardrobe, you've got things that you can salvage or things that we can at least learn from. What's your best-fitted button-down shirt? Yes, it's a bit worn, but you love that size? Well, let's measure that shirt and let's make sure we replicate that fit in other clothing. Now, when it comes to your essentials, these are the items that you absolutely need. These are the ones we really do want to spend money on. Look at the clothing in your wardrobe, what are you predominantly wearing? Are there certain pieces? Are there certain outfits you're putting together again and again? These are the items we're going to identify for either an upgrade or at least getting items that are similar, but maybe a higher quality. Last, but not least, we all pretty much have a budget. Now, to be straight up here, gents, a lot of you guys have spent a lot of time and money on your education and your experience. Does your clothing reflect who you are? If the answer is no, you probably need to invest and spend a bit more. I'm not saying go into debt for clothing, but I am saying give that category of nonverbal communication its due so that it can serve you. Now, here in a minute, we're going to get into the seven steps to building your wardrobe. But, really quick, I want to wrap up the story I talked about earlier. So, what did I do for Mike and his family? Well, I thought immediately as a dad, I know what my kids would miss. They would miss just their toys, their stuffed animals. I felt him and his wife would be looking out for their kids, but they really wouldn't be looking out for themselves and they needed new clothing, they needed some Christmas ornaments, they needed some basic things for the holidays. So, that's exactly what me and my family put together, some care packages for his kids, each one in particular, and for Mike and his wife. And, gents, I'm sure as some of you can attest, getting a care package, something that is thoughtfully put together for you, I mean, it makes you feel great, right? And that's why, gents, I'm proud to bring you today's sponsor, Espy. Espy is a quarterly box subscription for men and it's completely personalized to you. I went over to their website, I filled out their quiz. And, gents, they sent me two of their boxes, their diamond and gold boxes. And as I was going through these things, I absolutely love what they sent me. As you can see right here in the gold box, they sent me this pack of Lucky Scents, three clean and light fragrances that I can sample. They also sent me this man-made wash. It's a shampoo and conditioner. It's got this amazing sweet tobacco smell. They also sent me this hardworking gentleman moisturizer for my skin. They sent me this really cool belt. I don't have anything like it in my collection. This one is actually made from seven plastic bottles. And, gents, they sent me this beautiful quarter zip that I'm wearing in today's video. The fit was spot on. And if you can't tell, this is one of my favorite colors, that dark green. I feel it just works really well with my complexion. Gents, all in all, these gold boxes on average have $170 of value in them for $99 a quarter. Or if you want something bigger, check out their Diamond Box. All in all, gents, on average, $270 of value for only $160 quarterly. You need to check out SB Box. And, by the way, I've got the best deal on the web. Those prices I talked about earlier are even lower. When you use this link, I've got a special code for you. Everything right down there in the description. Go over to SB Box and get the best deal on the web. This is not going to be around forever. Use it or lose it. Awesome company. They make a great gift especially for a guy that's hard to shop for. So, use that link in the description of today's video to get the best deal on the web when it comes to SB Box. So, the first step in rebuilding your wardrobe, gentlemen, is to assess and clear out. So, first up, you want to inventory existing pieces. So many times, we've got items in our closet that we forgot we bought a year ago because we're not organized because it's sitting in the back of the closet because it's not something we see, it's just therefore out of mind. So, go through take everything out and let's see what you got. Next up, gents, you have to decide what you want to keep. So, let's make this easy. You're going to have a lose it pile, you're going to have a love it pile. Right in the middle, though, you're going to have a like it pile. I mean, it gets the job done. Now, for the items you want to lose, these are stained, these are torn, these don't fit you, these are items that you want to get rid of. Put them in a box and seal it up. You're not going to donate it just yet. In fact, put a date on it, wait a year. If you don't open up this box to pull anything out of it, you can safely donate this to charity. For the love it pile, what you're probably going to find is there are very few items that you love. And what we want to work on as we're building out your wardrobe, we want that to grow over time. In fact, you want to eventually build a wardrobe in which you pretty much love everything that's in your wardrobe because then it becomes a pleasure to dress really well because everything you're putting on is something that looks good on you. And the like it category, the category of things that get the job done, this is probably going to be the majority of items. Again, you want to spot items that, you know what? I like that item that fits great, I just don't like the color because that's going to give us inspiration of what to pick up next. Now, the final part of this step is assessing the gaps. What are you missing? Remember, we talked about the items that you have to have. All of a sudden, you realize, man, I am really low on socks or I've only got, you know, I've got this pair that look like dress socks, but it's a blue sock and a black sock. That is not a pair. You want to make sure you've got socks that match. Now, step two is establishing a budget. I've worked with men that don't really have any money to spend and then I've worked with men who pretty much an unlimited budget. Seriously, they'd go out and spend $100,000. Crazy, huh? But, the reality is most of us are constrained by finances, right? So, the way to establish a budget is to establish how important is your clothing to the work you do, to you earning money. If you work in a customer-facing job or you own your business or you are your business, in the case of being an attorney, maybe a consultant, maybe you work in banking, maybe you're out in Hollywood, you're a screenwriter or an actor. In any case, what we're looking to do is to build a few outfits that can send the message you want to send. In some industries, this will be more expensive than others, but there are always ways to keep the budget in line. For guys that have almost no budget, I've always encouraged them to go into thrift stores to actually talk to people that are looking to clean out their closets and offer to stop by and help them do it. You've probably got an uncle about your size who's got a closet full of clothing he'd be happy to give you. Yes, he's three hours away, but if it's really important to you, hey, drive up that way, hang out with your uncle, help him clean out his closet, and come away with some key pieces that would have cost you hundreds if not thousands of dollars. Now, what if you're a student just starting off? You just graduated from a really nice business school, law school, you just got your undergraduate degree. Again, think about all that time and energy you put into your education. You want to have at least a few outfits that will send the message you want to send when you hit the ground running at your new company. In this case, setting aside a couple thousand dollars, maybe $3,000 or $4,000, I think is a smart bet. Now, how to distribute those funds? So, first up, remember you've got to be able to put together an outfit and you want to salvage what you already have in your wardrobe. Maybe you've got a decent pair of dress shoes. They're not amazing, but they'll get the job done. That means that you only need to have maybe a dark colored suit or maybe just a few dress shirts that fit you well and a couple pairs of nice slacks. Now, if you don't have a pair of nice shoes, this is going to be one of the bigger investments. I'm going to advise you to try to stay away from glued shoes. You want to go with a pair of shoes that either has a Blake stitch or a Goodyear welt. In theory, these type of shoes can be repaired, but in general, they are manufactured better. They use better leathers in the upper of the shoe. And don't try to go fancy here. You want to go with a style that is classic, one that has been around for 20, 30, 40 years because guess what? You can spend a little bit of money and that it's still going to be in style for the next five years. Now, at this point, where do you not want to be spending a whole lot of money? Probably not on accessories, not on underwear, not on clothing that nobody's going to see. Yes, your socks, you could go a little bit cheaper on at this point. For more details on this down in the description of today's video, I'm going to link over to a resource that's going to have this all laid out in a PDF in more detail because I know so many of you guys just want a simple checklist. Don't worry, I've taken care of you. Just go down into the description of today's video and grab that handy PDF pamphlet. Now, step number three is we're going to be defining your style. And you don't have to do this in words, but you do want to have some style inspiration. Now, when looking for style inspiration, Hollywood definitely provides a lot of options. From Timothee Chalamet to Austin Butler to Ryan Gosling, Brad Pitt, Idris Elba, Michael B. Jordan, and, of course, George Clooney. But, don't sleep on guys you've never heard of. Go to Pinterest, go to Instagram. On any of those platforms, you're going to find inspiration, you're going to find direction in the style that you want to go for. Now, with that, you want to choose a color palette. Now, I've got a whole video which I will link to right here that I break out all different color palettes, different combinations, so it does go beyond what I can cover in just today's short video. However, what I will say is have the courage to be able to choose colors that work for you. Now, one of the easiest ways to choose colors is to mimic the color of your hair, the color of your eyes in the clothing that you wear. Another quick hack here which most women know, but a lot of guys seem to miss on is whenever you're in a store shopping, hold up colors to your face. You're going to be able to instantly tell if it works for you or not. And I know at this point, some guys are saying, hey, I'm colorblind, I can't choose colors. Guys, have the courage to make a choice for yourself. The majority of you actually can choose colors that work for you. You just have to trust your gut, maybe even think back to certain colors. I know for me, again, dark green. This is something every time I wore a color like this, I would get compliments as a kid. And so, I kind of just built on that and I'm sure that there are colors out there. Maybe it's maroon, maybe it's gold. There are colors that you have worn in the past that people when they see them on you, they just give you a compliment and that you just need to bring back into your wardrobe. Now, step number four is you want to list out the essential items. Now, the reason you're putting together a checklist is not necessarily to remind you of what you need to get, but it's reminding you of if it's not on the checklist, do not buy it. You see, one of the dangers of going out there and shopping is that you're going to find some great deals. You're going to find something that is 90% off. But, guess what? If you are never going to wear this item, it's a waste of money no matter how cheap it is. Now, when it comes to these lists, when it comes to your essentials, you're going to have the basics, items like this. Next up, you're going to have business attire, which for some of you guys that wear a uniform daily or have a very casual environment, you know, not much is going to be here. Next up, you've got your casual wear. For a lot of you guys, this is going to be the majority of the clothing. But, I would advise even for those of you that work at home to have business clothing because when you wear clothing, it's called enclosed cognition. And I do recommend people that work from home, they've got actual work clothing and you can decide what that uniform is, but they do wear this and it puts them in the right state of mind. Casual wear, as you can see here though, this is going to be, yeah, for most people, the biggest category. Next up, outerwear. Going to be very different for somebody in San Diego than somebody over in Seattle than somebody up in the New York State area. And, of course, let's not forget accessories. As I talked about with pricing, accessories are I think something initially you want to be careful of spending too much money on, but don't buy so cheap that it brings down the entire outfit. That being said, you don't need to start off with a multi-thousand dollar watch. Although, if you get one as a graduation gift, congratulations. But, yeah, be careful about spending that money until you've actually got that disposable income. Step number five. You're going to research brands, you're going to research stores. Now, over the last decade, I've talked about tons of different brands, different stores that you can purchase clothing from. And I'm here to tell you that there is not a perfect one for everybody. That being said, based off your body type, based off your needs, based off of your favorite colors and styles, there probably are a few brands and a few stores that are perfect for you. And that is what we're trying to find here. So, if you're a discount shopper on a tight budget, but you want to look classic, you still want to look good, your options are few, but there are ones out there. If you've got a little bit more disposable income, but you want higher end unique casual clothing that still looks really good and shows you a little bit more fashion forward, you've got options as well. So, now, we're at step number six. You are now starting to make purchases and you are buying in phases. That last part, very important. Now, at this point, gents, remember when you're buying things, always think fit, function, and fabric, the style pyramid. Now, if I were to put those in order of importance, so least important, it's still really important, but it's going to be the quality of the build. It's important, but of all three of those, it is the one area that I will compromise. The function, that's buying the right clothing for the right situation, so you don't want to go off and, again, build a wardrobe that you're not going to use. And the fit, anything you buy should fit you really well, even off-the-rack clothing because there's only so much you can do even with a skilled tailor when it comes to adjusting. Now, if you're buying clothing that fits those categories, you're thinking, isn't that going to be more expensive? Probably. And remember that you want quality over quantity. So many people think that they need like ten to twenty outfits to start their career. No, you don't need that many. It's okay to have less outfits, but to have higher quality items and to add to them over time. And speaking of outfits, remember the power of the interchangeable wardrobe. So, if you have four pairs of shoes, if you have four shirts, if you have four pairs of trousers, and you have four jackets, sixteen pieces of clothing, but if they're 100% interchangeable, you have a total of 256 outfits. Now, I talked about buying in phases, so you don't want to go in unless you are working with a trusted clothier that's actually building an entire wardrobe for you. And I've done this in the past, but even then, I don't think it's the smartest thing to do. You don't want to buy an entire wardrobe at the same time. The reason being is you want to get a chance to be able to wear things to get a feel for them because let's say you're going with a particular brand, you may find that they've got a couple of hot spots in the back, a little bit tight, a little bit loose. You've got excess material here or you thought you're really going to like this style, you don't like that style that much. But, if you've already bought five shirts, seven shirts from that particular brand in that style, you know, and you've worn them all multiple times, you can't return them. So, that's why you want to buy in phases. And when you start off, go with the most versatile items first, the ones that you're going to get the most wear out of. And that way, you get to test it out, you get to see if this is a good fit for you. And then, you can add more shirts, you can add more trousers, you can add more shoes to your wardrobe with confidence knowing that you're actually going to be able to wear that and get your money's worth. Next up, you want to maintain and assess. So, by maintain, I mean just simply clean and take care of. It's a fancy word for don't mess up your clothes. The first time I bought a wool sweater, I didn't know this, but you can't wash it in hot water and you definitely can't throw it in the dryer. Now, that was an expensive lesson that I learned. And I would encourage you to be smarter than me and to learn from my experience and read the labels. When the label reads delicate, that means to treat it delicate. Almost all clothing comes with care instructions. It's probably over the top, a little bit too careful, which is good. You would rather be too careful with something than to be too rough once and damage or destroy it. Now, what did I mean by assessing clothing? That's keeping your wardrobe fresh. I'm not saying you got to go out there and buy the latest fashion, but I am saying, you know, those essentials, your white t-shirts, are they still white or are they starting to yellow and they need to be updated? Have you lost weight? Have you gained weight? Do you need to get your jackets? Do you need to get your shirts slightly adjusted to fit you better? And, gents, I alluded to it earlier, but you want to have a wardrobe of clothing that you love because then dressing in the morning all of a sudden becomes a pleasure because you know that you're wearing clothing that suits your build, suits your colors, and you know that you are going to be the best-dressed man in the room. And, gents, that's my goal here at Real Men Real Style, for you to have confidence, for you to be able to meet the world head on knowing that you've got great things to offer and that you are putting your best foot forward. Now, gents, don't forget down in the description of today's video, I got some goodies for you so that you can download, you can get all this information in a handy PDF. And what video to watch next? Boom! I got you covered with this video right here. Yes, you're going to love it. It's going to keep going right off of this one. We're going to go into more detail, start talking about accessories, and a few other things you need to build out your wardrobe. So, if you enjoyed today's video, guys, you are going to love this one. Boom! Check it out right here.