🟧 Summer survival shopping recs
Long sleeves for the heat!?
Fashion recommendations for the incipient season, from “travel pants” to “summer hoodies” and walking bags, by Nate Gallant (NG) and Kyle Chayka (KC)
Summer pants, for it is about to be very, very hot
A trip to the mall to lightly touch some clothing has yielded some early winners of the potential summer survival kit, for those who dare not bare their skin to the summer sun. My take this year: the linen feels really cheap. Go synthetic.
Partially, this is also because I think we are at peak Gorpcore, meaning that the style-to-functionality ratio of outdoorsy gear has achieved a good middle ground of trend and performance. (Ssense carries North Face! So maybe Gorpcore has collided with aughts nostalgia, too?) Thus, there are, at least temporarily, a good set of options up and down the price scale for those who want long-lasting clothing with relatively evergreen styles.
Muji is a good entrypoint for this approach. Their new summer-weight stretch-waist, water-repellent pants ($50) are very light (you’re always going to be sweating a bit) and come with a nice taper. I’m sure I’ve said this before, but I think their basics are about as basic as you can get without being, you know, basic. We can recommend Muji’s “breathable seersucker” pants ($50), too, if you don’t mind a slightly artificial, athleisure feel.
Two competing versions of basic pants have emerged in menswear: the “travel pant” and the athleisure-ish “performance pant,” though it’s hard to know if there’s any technical or stylistic difference other than what kind of LinkedIn user they’re being marketed to. At a higher price point, most menswear/technical-wear enthusiasts will say Outlier has the best every-day performance pant ($225), and I would not be alone in saying LuluLemon’s Warpstream ($128) is the best for “travel.” For the summer, and at a more mid-range price point, I think Banana Republic (usually very discounted/outlet friendly shopping) also has a good version in their longstanding, nicely fitting for most, “travel pant” ($110).
I’ve never worn these, but I do think maximum-Gorp-speed has been reached in the upper echelons of streetwear via the casual pant ($180) by the Japanese outdoors brand “andwander.” Let me know if you’ve tried them out and have opinions. This is, admittedly, a vibes-only recommendation, based on my entirely hypothetical love of fire-truck red-orange clothing. (NG)
Summer hoodies, because long sleeves are actually good
I am very much in favor of long-sleeves in the summer: as long as they’re light enough, they block the sun and, some of the sturdier synthetic blends will prevent mosquito bites without bogging you down. This isn’t just any hoodie; your favorite cozy zip up is unlikely to be repurposable for even the driest of heat. I’ve found the light base-layer hoodie to be a great replacement, often worn on its own. There are, of course, many entry points into this one.
Uniqlo I think has potentially the best version of this in the AIRism UV Protection hoodie ($40). Packable, without visible branding, extremely light, and with the added bonus of a thumb-hole for summer coziness.
The Kühl “engineered hoody” ($85) is very functional. The two-toned, front and back split feels a little too gorpy for my tastes, however it works, I think the Cloud Grey looks pretty nice and I like the other things I’ve bought second-hand from the sturdy gear brand, so I imagine the products hold up. The LL Bean version is cheaper ($70), and probably of the same quality and definitely of the same standard outdoorsy dad look. I think at the sub-$100 price point, I like the Vuori one the best. The logo is the most unobtrusive, and I have found their synthetic blends to be the most comfortable.
At your wealthier, boomer-dad-gorp-core level is always Arc-teryx, which seems to have this particular genre down pat with a merino hoody ($140), so long as you don’t mind advertising their dinosaur branding. Same for the andwander version ($184), though with a more interesting waterproof zipper pocket, which I weirdly also saw in my other hobby of football manager fashion-watching. (NG)
Get a day-trip backpack
As a not very Gorp-y person, I don’t know that much about outdoorsy brands (except for the Japanese Snow Peak, which I’m obsessed with). Going into REI is like going into Home Depot for me: I have no idea what half the stuff is for. But once you notice the Osprey logo, from the backpack and gear brand, you’ll start seeing it everywhere. Jess and I picked up a Daylite Sling bag ($50) for extra-active travel, like skiing and hiking. Not only was it perfect for day-long expeditions around the thousand-year-old vineyards of Lake Geneva, it’s also great for long DC dog walks. The cross-body strap means it’s cooler than a backpack and doesn’t flop around as much since it hugs your back more closely. Its small-ish size has enough capacity for anything short of overnight camping. You can easily store a water bottle, snacks, dog bowl, sunscreen, and any souvenirs you pick up along the way. We got black from REI, but the Osprey site has plenty of cool colors and patterns. (KC)
Vintage corner
Wearing orange makes me look like the whitened inside of a Satsuma peel. If this happens not to be the case for you, and you are looking for a vintage splurge, check out this very beautiful Dries van Noten sweater ($332) from someone/some store which appears to be a bona fide collector of his ready-to-wear collections in Japan. The whole shop is very compelling, though no more information is forthcoming. This sweater-blazer ($154) is my other favorite. DvN clothing, to me, bounces fairly wildly between overpriced staples and runway-level adventurous. Every once in a while, though, I see some very interesting masc-but-androgynous pieces, whose very light but clean structure runs counter to the conventional wisdom of the gender-neutralizing potato sack. I think these are two good examples. (NG)
More One Thing on summer lifestyle:
Fashion is an ongoing concern of One Thing. If you have an item you want us to research, just hit reply or email onethingnewsletter@gmail.com.
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If you're down with the gorp, the Janji sunchaser is a trail runner fav https://janji.com/search?q=sunchaser