Materialism: What have you bought recently?

[Carnivore Chris]

Just now, SirBalon said:

How much does it cost @The Rebel CRSmate?

I have only one issue with it which is the writing at the bottom. I'm not too into that but it isn't all that visible so it can be bypassed.

About 100 quid, that's the problem. But it just looks brilliant I think.

Whether I will end up buying it, I don't know as I don't usually spend that much on a t-shirt, but it looks amazing either way.

[Panna King]

2 minutes ago, The Rebel CRS said:

About 100 quid, that's the problem. But it just looks brilliant I think.

Whether I will end up buying it, I don't know as I don't usually spend that much on a t-shirt, but it looks amazing either way.

Lets go 3 ways! Take turns in wearing it if Balon is up for it

[SirBalon]

2 minutes ago, VanPaddy said:

Lets go 3 ways! Take turns in wearing it if Balon is up for it

Only if the three of us smother ourselves in peanut butter first. 

[Panna King]

Just now, SirBalon said:

Only if the three of us smother ourselves in peanut butter first. 

Yes! deal, I love peanut butter also. 

[Carnivore Chris]

Just now, VanPaddy said:

Lets go 3 ways! Take turns in wearing it if Balon is up for it

 

Balon's up for literally anything from personal experience.

 

[SirBalon]

6 minutes ago, The Rebel CRS said:

About 100 quid, that's the problem. But it just looks brilliant I think.

Whether I will end up buying it, I don't know as I don't usually spend that much on a t-shirt, but it looks amazing either way.

That's very expensive for a company that doesn't specialise in t-shirts mate. For example the English brand SUNSPEL is the best you can buy anywhere in the world when it comes to t-shirts mate. Trust me!  Everything from the cotton sourced to the way it's knitted you're getting the best. All the same, it's a very nice t-shirt and because it's black you can combine it with many things on a warm night out.

[Panna King]

Just now, SirBalon said:

That's very expensive for a company that doesn't specialise in t-shirts mate. For example the English brand SUNSPEL is the best you can buy anywhere in the world when it comes to t-shirts mate. Trust me!  Everything from the cotton sourced to the way it's knitted you're getting the best. All the same, it's a very nice t-shirt and because it's black you can combine it with many things on a warm night out.

What under pants do you wear to go with it?   I was in the market for something that I think Ronaldo would wear. 

[Panna King]

 

These are £60

[Carnivore Chris]

Just now, SirBalon said:

That's very expensive for a company that doesn't specialise in t-shirts mate. For example the English brand SUNSPEL is the best you can buy anywhere in the world when it comes to t-shirts mate. Trust me!  Everything from the cotton sourced to the way it's knitted you're getting the best. All the same, it's a very nice t-shirt and because it's black you can combine it with many things on a warm night out.

They are always going to be expensive anyway due to who they are, rip off merchants . It's not really for the brand in this instance, it's just the design of the tiger mate that draws me in, it's also something very different to what I'd normally wear, which would be on the plain side with a simply logo.

We'll see though. It'll be in a few weeks when I buy new clothes I think anyway. It may even drop in price by then as items often do.

 

 

[Panna King]

Just now, The Rebel CRS said:

They are always going to be expensive anyway due to who they are, rip off merchants . It's not really for the brand in this instance, it's just the design of the tiger mate that draws me in, it's also something very different to what I'd normally wear, which would be on the plain side with a simply logo.

We'll see though. It'll be in a few weeks when I buy new clothes I think anyway. It may even drop in price by then as items often do.

 

 

I buy my clothes at C&A

[SirBalon]

7 minutes ago, VanPaddy said:

I buy my clothes at C&A

That doesn't exist here anymore although even then I don't think I ever bought an item of clothing there in my life. 

when I was a kid my parents used to buy my clothes at Marks & Spencer. 

[Panna King]

Just now, SirBalon said:

That doesn't exist here anymore although even then I don't think I ever bought an item of clothing there in my life. 

when I was a kid my parents used to buy my clothes at Marks & Spencer. 

Yea they had to cease trading in England because it didnt to that well.  The reason was because of the different style it had compared to the European branches.

 

Now its just a cheapish place to get clothes from.

 

https://www.c-and-a.com/eu/en/shop/men

 

[Carnivore Chris]

57 minutes ago, SirBalon said:

 

when I was a kid my parents used to buy my clothes at Marks & Spencer. 

 

Times were hard back then during world war 1 though mate

 

[Stan]

3 hours ago, The Rebel CRS said:

I haven't got this, but want it:-

 

It's brilliant, but expensive for what I'd usually be spending on a T-shirt, so I'm not sure I will actually buy it but it's tempting as it looks fucking brilliant

I bought similar style but much cheaper from Next!

[Rick]

Balon, your gear is expensive for being pretty basic stuff mate. Like that white t shirt...was that like 50 quid or something? Can get a nice feeling t shirt from ASOS for 6 quid. I'd understand the prices if it was extravagant looking stuff with specific designs but for a plain tee or pair of shorts I personally, wouldn't pay out anything like that.

Then again, it's your money so who the fuck am I to say anything 😂

[Rick]

Fair enough, but it better feel like emma stone's beautiful hands all over my torso for that money.

[Carnivore Chris]

1 hour ago, Stan said:

I bought similar style but much cheaper from Next!

That looks smart as well for the price(which I'm guessing didn't cost much), but that other one just stands out mate.

 

 

[SirBalon]

3 hours ago, Mantis Toboggan M.D. said:

Balon, your gear is expensive for being pretty basic stuff mate. Like that white t shirt...was that like 50 quid or something? Can get a nice feeling t shirt from ASOS for 6 quid. I'd understand the prices if it was extravagant looking stuff with specific designs but for a plain tee or pair of shorts I personally, wouldn't pay out anything like that.

Then again, it's your money so who the fuck am I to say anything 😂

I’ll tell you later when I’ve got a bit of time mate. There’s nothing wrong with buying clothes at stores like ASOS because they exist for an important reason. Anyway later on when I’ve got a bit of time on my hands. 

[Stan]

Balon buys that stuff as its his way of giving back to the community. And that community are those starving Bangladeshi kids in huts working non stop, without food or drink, to churn it out for him

[Panna King]

Balon 

3 minutes ago, Stan said:

Balon buys that stuff as its his way of giving back to the community. And that community are those starving Bangladeshi kids in huts working non stop, without food or drink, to churn it out for him

 Balon is a material guy in a material world

[SirBalon]

7 hours ago, Mantis Toboggan M.D. said:

Balon, your gear is expensive for being pretty basic stuff mate. Like that white t shirt...was that like 50 quid or something? Can get a nice feeling t shirt from ASOS for 6 quid. I'd understand the prices if it was extravagant looking stuff with specific designs but for a plain tee or pair of shorts I personally, wouldn't pay out anything like that.

Then again, it's your money so who the fuck am I to say anything 😂

Ok then... Got a bit of time to myself now because my son's asleep 

First of all even though it hasn't been specifically stated, I agree that you can pay for branding in many cases with all sorts of products and clothing brands are some of the biggest sinners in that department  but they shouldn't have to apologise for people's stupidity in my opinion, so I'll bypass really going to town on them in this particular post although I will mention some instances where people are getting royally conned to an extent that it needs saying.  But remember this... You can also get massively conned with cheap rubbish but then again people won't care or look into this because it's cheap and they think they're not getting hurt in the pocket which they're probably not in cases such as buying in Primark for example, but as Stan mentions underneath (I'm also answering you @Stan in this post mate.

Buying away from sweatshop made products especially clothing naturally pumps up the price for a majorly obvious reason being that those working in the manufacturing industry in first world countries demand and are paid at a higher rate and these companies are businesses and they're in the obvious game of making money, it's not a nationally funded public service.

Anyway... Away from semantics.

I know a lot about clothing because the particular marketing department I work in is mainly involved in publicising the fashion world so to speak, a lot of the biggest clothing brands and even those that we don't have as clients, we know about them because to be honest you have to know more about your rivals than yourself so as to know what you're competing against.

The reason I use the Replay Jeans brand a lot (I also use Diesel and GAS from Italian casual wear manufacturers) is because their high end stuff is generally if not always manufactured in Italy where I can trust the methods used and the best sourced materials to produce the product... Hence why what I buy which you @Mantis Toboggan M.D. see it as me buying what you can probably buy elsewhere for cheaper.  Most of the stuff I've posted on here has been casual wear at the end of the day so I can understand your thinking behind your opinion.  But the ateliers that source the best cotton (or other fabrics) to then think up the process of the garment they want to produce so as to determine if it fits how it should look is a long and costly process.  Those chino shorts for example that I bought are made in Italy from the top quality linen and cotton sourced from cotton fields which work in a humane manner and that are audited consistently to see that these methods are being maintained... This costs money, it costs the cotton producer because he has to pay his workers more seeing as he has to offer them agreed working conditions by the European human rights council.

Take for example a simple Oxford shirt produced by the famous shirt US manufacturer Brooks Brothers... One of the founders of the modern design on Oxford shirts (who doesn't own an Oxford shirt?)

Well Brooks Brothers go through this procedure to produce their shirts which is made from American Pima Cotton which is one of the finest cottons in the world (although there are finer which I'll mention later)... They have only the best quality of cotton collected for their shirts and then they send the raw cotton to Japan because only in Japan do they still knit the material on single left handed loom machines which produce the best knitted material in the world... Then the rolls of materials are sent back to the US where they are then hand cut and sewn into the finished article by the best shirt seamstresses in the country.  So forget that overused American mediocre stuff with the small man on a horse playing polo, there you're paying for bah shirts while at Brooks Brothers you're buying a magnificent Oxford shirt that's had extreme care and attention to every detail in its production from the cotton that was picked, to the manner in which the material was produced to finally creating and putting together the finished article. An Oxford shirt is an item of casual dress and not a dress shirt!  Asos won't provide you with that, but then again an Asos Oxford shirt won't cost you anywhere from £100 to £250.

Now I'll go to the simplest of garments all of us own which is the t-shirt.  Everyone owns a t-shirt or t-shirts...  Why did I mention Sunspel?  Well like Brooks Brothers, Sunspel only produce their clothing within the country the company is based which in this case with Sunspel we're talking about England and not the US.  Again we go back to the not so small detail that workers in England are paid more than workers in Bangladesh as Stan pointed out... Not only that!  Like Brooks Brothers, at Sunspel they don't have automated sewing machinery producing clothing with a pull of a hand from the material and everything comes out mathematically.  They have professional people sewing and they don't come cheap!  Sunspel use only two types of cotton on their garments (in this case we're talking about the humble t-shirt)... American Pima Cotton (just like Brooks Brothers) and the king of all cottons which is Sea Island Cotton.  Sea Island Cotton is the wirld's softest cotton (America's Pima Cotton is the second softest). It's only grown and handpicked in the Caribbean.  Making up only 0.0004% Of the world's cotton supplies (imagine how much cotton is used in the world as the primary natural resource for making clothing), it has a perfect uniform texture, silky lustre and amazing tensile strength.  These qualities mean it can be spun to an extraordinarily high yarn count for sheer softness and durability.  You ain't getting that with an Asos t-shirt no matter how soft and decent you think it is mate.  All that costs money to produce from step one to the finished article as in the example of Brooks Brothers. Oh... And many will not know, but this small English clothing manufacturer is one of the founders of the traditional t-shirt (weird isn't it when the t-shirt is such a simple and generalised piece of clothing) and has been making the casual stuff for movies all over the world for 100 years with the 007 movies being the ones they're most proud of being associated with because of their Englishness. That last bit for a bit of trivia .

For example the Lacoste stuff I bought... I only buy the stuff made in France.  I also like buying sports stuff from Le Coq Sportif where I only buy the ones they make either in France or Portugal... Etc...  The Onitsuka Tiger trainers I bought were made in Japan and so on... But I do buy stuff that is many times made in places like China etc... because at times you can't get away from things like this for example if you buy Nike, Adidas and the like.

I know it's one of my long winded posts and probably most won't give it a second glance but I wanted to show you that even the simplest things can sometimes be more complicated than what we think.  Let me say this in reference to @The Rebel CRS's t-shirt which he's in love with.  I don't know enough about it but I will say that companies like Versace, Dolce & Gabbana etc... aren't all what they seem just like any company especially clothing companies.  These ones really do hit you hard with the brand name and I'm sure that many wouldn't look more than twice at that t-shirt if it were made by Primark because that design on the front can be appliqued onto it by the simplest of brand names... Like I said I don't know enough about that particular t-shirt but I'd like to know the makeup of how it's been produced and what materials were sourced to make it because if it's not in the same care and attention details as the ones I've described to you further up, then you tell me what you're paying for there! 

 

2 hours ago, Stan said:

Balon buys that stuff as its his way of giving back to the community. And that community are those starving Bangladeshi kids in huts working non stop, without food or drink, to churn it out for him

 

[Rick]

Gawd...wish I'd never asked 😉 nah fair enough, if that puts your mind at rest then I cant argue with it.

[SirBalon]

2 hours ago, Mantis Toboggan M.D. said:

Gawd...wish I'd never asked 😉 nah fair enough, if that puts your mind at rest then I cant argue with it.

 

21 minutes ago, Cannabis said:

That amount of text has genuinely hurt my eyes.

I actually stopped short guys because when I saw the size and that I still wanted to say so much more, then I gawped and said that'll do. 

Let me just say this... If men want extremely good quality quality mens wear for a low price, then go to the Japanese store UNIQLO... You're getting very good quality products for a very low price.  Then there's GAP which have very good quality at affordable prices.  Anyway... I leave it at that. 

[nudge+]

Jesus, you do take your clothing seriously, don't you?  

Anyway, just wanted to mention that Diesel manufacture a lot of their stuff in SE Asia, and I buy their lovely, freshly made tshirts for 3-4$ at local factory outlets here... Same applies to about 200 other brands, but I noticed that you mentioned Diesel in your post, so... 

[nudge+]

Oh and you just mentioned GAP in your latest post... They also manufacture stuff here.