u/Angrymiddleagedjew

I'm sure wearing tweed when it's hot out sounds crazy, but look at the second picture. The weave is incredibly loose and the fabric is lightweight, meaning it breathes well and feels comfortable even when it's hot out.

The work coat is a very light denim as well, maybe 8oz and it's unlined. The chambray is lightweight and loose fit, so it's not glued to my skin. So even though I'm completely covered, I don't feel overheated. I know people focus on wearing shorts and short sleeve shirts in the summer, but take a look at how other cultures handle living in hot climates. Bedouins are covered head to toe in light fabrics, the same principle applies here.

Swiss denim work coat

LL Bean miUSA chambray shirt

JPeterman tweed trousers

Grant Stone kudu boots

I don't know how old the average reader of this sub is, but I think it skews around my age so there's a decent chance some of you will know what I'm talking about:

A long time ago, there was a forum called SomethingAwful, and it too had fashion threads. After years of recommendations, a sort of default uniform coalesced called the "gooniform" (SomethingAwful users referred to themselves as goons.) I don't remember what the shirt rec was, but I remember the jeans were APC New Standard or Nudies, and the shoes were Onisaka Tiger 66.

Here on Reddit, the Malefashionadvice users created their own version, called the Basic Bastard Wardrobe, and one of the most common outfits recommended was a oxford shirt, chinos, and clarks desert boots.

And now after months of observation and seeing a bunch of similar fits today, I think this sub has developed its own variation of the Gooniform and Basic Bastard look: Denim jacket, blue shirt, fatigues, boots. That's what I'm wearing today.

Jacket: Indigofera Copeland

Shirt: O'Connells OCBD

T-shirt: Uniqlo heavyweight T-shirt

Pants: Vintage OG107 fatigues

Boots: Abilene snakeskin

Belt: Justin snakeskin

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vintage miUSA Jcrew cap

Vintage French chore coat

Todd Synder ribbed tank

Vintage OG107 fatigues

New Balance sneakers

Swiss denim chore coat

Uniqlo T-shirt

Buzz Rickson x William Gibson chinos

Doc Martens 1461

I'm assuming most people who read that title will scratch their heads and ask themselves why the hell would I talk about silk in a heritage/workwear focused sub. Hear me out, I believe that the fabric meets the qualifications to be discussed here, and it is the most misunderstood natural fabric IMHO. Frankly, I'd like to see more garments made of silk. I think in western cultures, silk has taken on an association with delicate, even feminine clothing, and that's simply not the case at all.

Tussah silk is the silk harvested in the wild, as opposed to mulberry silk which comes from facilities/farms where the caterpillars are fed a controlled diet of mulberry leaves. In the wild, the caterpillars eat a more diverse diet, and they are subjected to more environmental pressure.

As a result, tussah silk is 25-30% stronger than mulberry silk. When the structure of the two silks are compared, the tussah silk fibers are much thicker, and have more fibroid cross linking between them, making it more durable.

Silk is the strongest natural fiber, having a tensile strength comparable to steel. It's far more durable than cotton or wool, but it does lose some durability when wet. Silk is lightweight, breathable, moisture wicking and thermoregulating, meaning it excels in high temperatures but it also works well as a base layer in extreme cold. It is also naturally hypoallergenic.

Why does tussah silk count as heritage? Because the first records of it being used in garments date back to 2400BC in the Indus valley, predating the silk industry forming in China. Although most people think of silk as being soft and delicate, it has a long history of military usage as well. Mongol soldiers wore thick silk garments under their armor for additional protection, these garments were analogous to the European gambeson. Samauri wore capes called "horos" which covered their back and sides while riding on horseback, and the silk cape deflected arrows and was tough enough to decelerate any arrows that pierced it enough that they wouldn't harm the wearer. The first modern bullet proof vest was made from silk after a doctor in 1881 noted that silk handkerchiefs were strong enough to significantly decelerate a pistol round. And 20th century militaries used silk for parachutes, and for lightweight maps that were waterproof and easy to conceal.

Tussah silk is considered a sustainable fabric as well when compared to mulberry silk. The production doesn't require the death of the moth, the silk is harvested after the cocoon opens. It also doesn't require any pesticides, artificial feed or farming methods that damage the local wildlife. Since the production doesn't involve harming any wildlife in the harvesting or growth process, tussah silk is considered a cruelty free fabric as well.

The weather is a little warmer today, and I'm wearing a pair of vintage Polo tussah silk chinos. They're at least 30 years old, and still in fantastic shape. The chinos are incredibly light, they weigh less than some of my mid to heavy weight t-shirts, but they still have enough structure to drape well. They're extremely comfortable in warm weather, and I can feel every little breeze as if I was wearing shorts. They're a life saver in the summer, they provide full coverage from the sun while still being cool and comfortable to wear. If you're looking for something new to try this summer, look around on eBay and see if you can grab some silk clothes.

Sport coat: Spier&Mackay Harris tweed, unlined

Shirt: Wrangler Retro snap

Trousers: Polo tussah silk

Boots: Double H

Vintage Roebuck denim jacket

Redkap denim work shirt

Indigofera Kain jeans

Justin Roper boots

If you're looking for an inexpensive but durable denim work shirt, try Redkap. I stumbled upon this shirt on Amazon and they had it in medium tall which is rare, so I decided to try it out. The denim is thiccc, it's a proper work shirt and the fit is great. Sure it's not miUSA/Japan, but it's better quality that you'll get a Gap/Uniqlo/Jcrew etc for about half the price

Vintage Roebuck denim jacket

Redkap denim work shirt

Indigofera Kain jeans

Justin Roper boots

If you're looking for an inexpensive but durable denim work shirt, try Redkap. I stumbled upon this shirt on Amazon and they had it in medium tall which is rare, so I decided to try it out. The denim is thiccc, it's a proper work shirt and the fit is great. Sure it's not miUSA/Japan, but it's better quality that you'll get a Gap/Uniqlo/Jcrew etc for about half the price.

eBay is an absolute goldmine this style. I picked up the jacket and boots on eBay, the chambray shirt was about $20 on Amazon. The jeans I ordered direct from Indigofera a couple years ago before the tariffs, saved a little under a hundred bucks that way.

Vietnam era jungle jacket

Wrangler snap button chambray shirt

Jcrew tee

Indigofera Wyatt boot cut jeans

Abilene snakeskin boots

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Vietnam era jungle jacket

Wrangler snap button chambray shirt

J crew t-shirt

Indigofera Wyatt boot cut jeans

Abilene snakeskin boots

I'll cut to the chase: I own two t-shirts. I have plenty of tank tops, but only two tees. I never liked wearing "just" a t-shirt because I wasn't a fan of how most tees fit. Too boxy in the chest, too long or two short, thin cheap fabric, etc.

I decided to try and find some tees that I liked this year, and considering how everyone and their brother has been going apeshit for this particular t-shirt for years since The Bear started, I figured I'd start with it.

The 215 is a loop wheeled cotton tee that's made in Germany. It's described as a middle weight T-shirt but if you're just used to Gap/JCrew/A&F type tees, this is probably going to feel heavyweight to you. Honestly, after wearing it, I can't imagine wanting to put on anything heavier than this in the summer.

The fabric is a clean white that has some texture to it once you get up close, but from a distance it's just going to look like a plain white tee shirt.

The neck is wider than any t-shirt I've ever worn before. It's not quite a boat neck or scoop neck, but it's definitely close. I prefer a much more form fitting neck, but it's not a big deal and I probably just have to get used to it. The weight of the fabric works in my favor, it hangs down and pulls away from the body. So if you're like me and not exactly a supermodel, this works in your favor because the fabric doesn't cling to any problem areas.

I purchased the shirt from Withered Fig, shipping was insanely fast and I received the shirt the next day. Before purchasing, I read their write up on Various Merz shirts shrinking, check it out here.

https://theshade.witheredfig.com/2018/07/worn-merz-b-schwanen-sizing-shrink-tests/

I've attached before and after wash pictures for the shirt length, chest, shoulder and arms. I washed the shirt on a normal, cold water cycle then air dried.

The shrink projections that Withered Fig put up were accurate, the only exception was the shoulder. I gained a half inch of shoulder width after the wash. How? When I hung the t-shirt to dry, I used clips to hold the shirt onto the hanger, and the clips put tension on the shoulder, making it wider.

This gives me an idea for the next time I wash the shirt. I'm going to lay it flat and try blocking/pinning like it's a sweater to shape it. I'll put even tension on the shirt to see if I can stretch the length back out to 28.5 inches. I don't see any reason why this wouldn't work, sure I'd have to do it after every wash but at least it would be an option.

Is the shirt worth $100? It's hard to say. The material and construction are clearly leagues above the mass produced stuff I see in malls. And I feel like the fit is better on me than mall brands as well, but does it fit three times better since it costs three times as much? But that's an entirely subjective thing, and I don't have any other expensive t-shirts to compare it to.

Tentatively, I'm going to say that the 215 is worth it. The fabric is truly exceptional, it fits well and mentally I feel better supporting a business like Merz. However, I'm in the process of trying other brands at different price points. I have shirts from Flathead and Uniqlo coming today, I'm going to check out Bronson, Buck Maso and Velvasheen next. My goal is to try similar weight tshirts at every price point from $20 to around $100, and see if the quality increases evenly with price or if there's a sweet spot where your returns start diminishing. If my thoughts on the 215 change after exposure to othe models, I'll update this review.

I just bought the Merz 215 t-shirt that the dude from The Bear wears, sadly it didn't transform my physique into his. I'm going to do a separate post on the t-shirt, I took some before and after photos when I washed it and I can show how much it shrank.

The grey jacket is a Swiss denim chore jacket from the 1950s that was worn by prisoners and working parties in their military. It's basically their version of a French chore coat, but the cool thing is there's an internal drawstring so if I want to, I can tighten the waist and change how it looks. Pretty neat.

Swiss denim chore coat

Merz 215 t-shirt

Maru Sankaku Peke Tsugihagi Baker pants

Abilene snakeskin boots

Admittedly, it's only 86 degrees right now, but I was completely comfortable walking around outside. Light weight, loose and breathable layers really work.

The Blue Blue Japan sashiko jeans are the stars of the show, I grabbed them last year from Blue Owl and I'm glad that I did. They're pretty lightweight, I think they're only 11oz but they still drape well, the color is a vibrant deep blue and the texture is phenomenal.

And if you don't know about jungle jackets by now, go grab on on eBay while they're still available. Very lightweight but durable cotton ripstop that keeps the sun off your skin but is still loose and flowy.

Vietnam era jungle jacket

Express shirt

Todd Snyder ribbed tank

Blue Blue Japan sashiko jeans

Nike sneakers

Another installment in my ongoing adventure to try and maintain this style when the temps go up.

As always, loose, breathable layers are key. I picked up this cotton knit Todd Synder sport coat last year during an end of season sale, and it's fantastic for higher temps. Unlined, unpadded, and it has a very loose, open weave so it's breathable. The vintage Polo trousers are doing some heavy lifting too, they're a cotton linen blend and cut loose, so there's plenty of space between my skin and the fabric to ensure good air flow.

Todd Synder sport coat

Spier&Mackay oxford shirt

Vintage Armani tie

Vintage Polo linen blend trousers

Vintage Double H boots

All items are vintage and purchased second hand:

miUSA Jcrew cap

French chore coat

miUSA Woolrich denim shirt

Polo fatigues

miUSA Justin roper boots

All items are vintage and purchased second hand:

miUSA Jcrew cap

French chore coat

miUSA Woolrich denim shirt

Polo fatigues

miUSA Justin roper boots

Layering and wearing darker colors definitely gets challenging when the temps rise, but there are a few ways to handle it.

Wear looser fits made from loosely woven natural fabrics that breathe well.

All are vintage:

Polo linen sport coat

Polo Seersucker shirt

Polo wool knit tie

Polo Andrew cotton chinos (These are exceptionally lightweight, basically tee shirt thickness)

Allen Edmonds split toe derbies

I've got the hem of the chinos folded up for some extra ventilation when I'm walking around, easy enough to flip back down to get them back to the "proper" length.

Indigofera Copeland jacket

Goodthreads Hawaiian shirt

American tall tank

Studio D'Artisan sulfur dyed chinos

Sebago miUSA loafers

I grabbed these chinos from Okayama after seeing them highlighted the new release thread a few weeks ago. The fit is a little surprising, they're slimmer than I expected in thighs but the rise is still pretty good. I think I've just gotten too used to wearing WW2 style chinos from Buzz Rickson, Orslow, etc. The color is beautiful and shifts in different light. It's indigo overdyed with green, and it comes out as a really unique deep shade of green with blue tones that looks more like a "true" green in direct sunlight.

Do you have any items in your wardrobe that you've never seen anyone else wearing? I've fallen down a milsurp rabbit hole this past year, and I've started collecting whatever I can in my size from various countries, and I've never seen anyone here or on Instagram wear these. They're a heavy wool double knee fatigue from West Germany. They were made in 1963, and they're not a solid green color. It's more of a melange, check the close up to see the mix of brown and greens. I've seen plenty of OG107 and M51/M65 pants, and I've slowly seen an uptick in European/NATO fatigues now that the style is becoming more popular, but I've never seen anyone with this exact pair.

So what unique items do you own?

Coat: vintage Dash Tweed coat

Shirt: custom OCBD from Proper Cloth

Trousers: vintage West German fatigues

Boots: vintage Justin miUSA roper boots.

I see alot of comments lamenting about the difficulty of finding fatigues in their size, and I get it. The vintage milsurp market isn't what it used to be, most of the common sizes are gone or being sold for obscenely high prices. And some people don't want to spend $300 on repros from Orslow, Engineered Garments, etc. Nor do they want to buy shoddily made fast fashion slop that will fall apart as soon as it leaves your direct line of sight, like whoever made the damn things forgot to turn object permanence on.

Allow me to offer an alternative: Polo and Abercrombie and Fitch. Both brands cranked out a ton of repro models from the 80s to late 90s. And I'm not just talking about OG107s, I've seen M51/M65, WW2 HBT pants, French fatigues, British fatigues, etc. As a bonus, both brands were often a little more experimental with fabric choices as well. I'm kicking myself that I didn't buy the pair of chocolate corduroy OG107s from A&F that I saw months ago. I've seen wool, linen, duck canvas, varying weights of cotton, etc.

The prices are normally pretty reasonable as well. I paid $35 for these vintage A&F fatigues.

Full disclosure: You're going to have to dig. Most sellers don't tag their shit properly, so you may not get a hit on "Polo fatigues 34", you may have to scroll through all the listings to find what you want. But, it's worth it. These fatigues are about thirty years old, and I don't baby them like I do my actual milsurp or expensive repros. So if you're bored on night, get on eBay and look around, you might get a pleasant surprise.

All items are vintage:

Tommy Bahama silk shirt

A&F fatigues

Sebago miUSA loafers.