I was reasonably happy with the pants and suits I bought from CT. Not going to last forever but fit well.

should i just expect to pay 100+ for a pair of "dress" pants

What would you pay for a suit? Expect to pay one third to one half that much for true dress pants.

Max Stonetrail said:

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I will chime in... much of what has said has been good.

You really didn't say if you would be wearing a jacket or just needed slacks and shirts.

Basics:
- Don't get all you stuff at one place or the same brand.

Pants:
- Get lined pants - in Texas, you will thank me. Also, these will be better pants and will last longer.
- The colors $30K recommended for pants are spot on.
- You need variety, not quantity. You do not need to dry clean good pants every time you wear them if you just go to the office and back.

Shoes:
- Get a basic pair of black and brown leather shoes (British Tan look the best in my opinion). Don't get anything with the stupid white soles people are sporting these days. Cole Haan (the sale section or 6PM are great places to get a good deal. Allen Edmonds is great also. Or any of the above off rack stores.
- Get a nice black and brown belt to go with above shoes.

Shirts:
- For shirts, if you are wearing a tie, do not get a button down collar. It's not the 90's and you aren't 23 years old. Sorry, that is reality. Get nice point or spread collars and get metal collar stays on Amazon. Throw the cheap plastic stays away.
- Look through the racks at the various OFF 5th, Nordstrom Rack, etc and find some with good patterns. Maybe have a basic blue and gray. Lean toward the more subtle patterns.
- Walk out of the store if nothing jumps out at you. You will have plenty of time and there all these off price stores have a different selection.
- Don't go whole hog buying a bunch of shirts from one custom outlet like CT. Nothing wrong with having a few though.
- Get shirts that will go with more than one pair of your pants so you can mix it up. You don't want people saying "Look Pete is wearing his Thursday outfit.

Jacket:
- If you only need one occasionally, get a black blazer. It will go with everything. You can add another color/patter later.
- If you need suits, start with charcoal gray. Either plain or subtle pattern. Then blue, then a brown shade. If you need multiple, don't go with something flashy or trendy until about your 5th suit.

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CT sends nice collar stays with each shirt I order from them.

JRizzle said:

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Sounds weird but lululemon makes some dressier slack type pants that are stupid comfortable for business casual. Id try them out. They are soft and stretchy and look good. For regular office wear it'd by my go to. Obviously a suit if in front of clients...

JR

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Def business casual, but I was surprised at how nice they are.

OasisMan said:

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what is the pants version of CT-shirts ?

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Bonobos?

Warning, it's all I used to buy as far as slacks, chinos, and even shorts. However, they have started to suck at shipping and been slow. Which is unfortunate as it's their entire business model

Buford T. Justice said:

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I agree 100%.
There is another thread where I asked a question about Jos A Bank. The reason being, in my profession, my wardrobe needs to look put together, but not in a peacock manner. A smidge of Dr. Cheap suit with an underlying understanding as to how to put together a look.

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My dad purchased my first sport coat at Harold's in the Heights 30 years ago and I remember seeing all the autographed pictures of athletes and politicians (including presidents) on the walls. That was where all of Houston's royalty apparently shopped from the 60s through the 90s.

Luckily as an engineer, I don't wear a suit for work but there are the occasional charity galas, etc... I'm far from being a high net worth individual, as so many of the people at these events are, but it still makes sense to fit in. You can't wear anything flashy or trendy like a personal trial attorney or new money might wear, just classics that can't really go out of style.

Basically, it's much harder for the people asking for money at these events if it's obvious who the whales are. And who knows, one day you may find yourself with an invite to Tillman Fertitta's place. :-)

It can make me sick spending more on a suit than my current daily driver is worth (18 year old used car), but I don't wear them every day so they can last quite a while, so long as I keep an eye on my weight. My oldest suit is now 20+ years old and it still looked amazing when I last wore it pre-covid. My newest suit is about 3 years old and will hopefully be the second to last suit I ever buy.

Diggity said:

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Love watching a bunch of guys that went to a land grant college wax philosophical about the propriety of a button down collar.

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On the land grant note: gents… v neck undershirts if you choose to wear one!

Been working on this by the way.

wrong thread