For several years now, I’ve been paying a lot of attention to the things I own and the things I should to have around me. Here I’m including furniture, utensils, stationary, devices, and even software.
The idea of owning many things doesn’t upset me per se but, for some reason, it does raise an eyebrow. Objectively, I need very little to live, and if we were to extend that need to include a fulfilling and comfortable modern life that would still apply. Now, don’t get me wrong, the list is actually rather long if we were to list everything, but most of these things (bed, wardrobe, bike…) aren’t items that you replace often or even think about all that much. They’re the kind of thing you buy and forget about. I still think they’re worth mentioning, especially if we’re talking about designing a life’s itemization—that’s what I like to call it—but they’re not disposable or replaceable in the same way as say, a phone or a shirt. I think there are different categories of things—I haven’t gotten there yet—and there’s just a lot of stuff in the big category, and that’s not what I want to talk about today. First, I want to focus on the small stuff. Perhaps a mistake, but that’s how I feel like doing it.
When there’s talk of consumerism, fast fashion bubbles up seemingly immediately, and with good reason. To be honest, my family and I have never subscribed to this fast fashion thing; chasing trends and replacing clothes often is simply something we don’t do, though we do often shop at the typical fast fashion brands (Primark, Zara…), not because they have a constantly updating roster of trendy clothes but because they are cheap, and price is very important to organizing your life.
I did a bit of digging, trying to find the best brands and items to buy to put in my wardrobe, and it was surprisingly simple, actually. Black and white shirts, jeans and sweats, a couple hats, some quality shoes, socks and boxers (some people might need bras as well), and that’s it. I came up with a few brands:
- Fruit of the Loom
- Wrangler
- Lefties
- Intimissimi
- Merrell
And that’s it.
Fruit of the Loom is the brand that basically every shirt you’ve ever gotten for free at a random event made. They produce in bulk, and you buy in bulk. They’re durable and high-quality. Now don’t get me wrong, these are good cotton shirts but they’re not satin or something of the sort, if you want something top of the top of line then maybe you have to look somewhere else, but they are damn good shirts for very, very cheap. They have different colours, long and short-sleeve, what more could you want?! Nothing, I’d argue.
Wrangler make jeans, and they make them well and for cheap. I’ve never actually bought Wrangler jeans because I have a single pair of Levi’s (recently bough, gift from my mom) and they’re holding up very well, so I’ve seen no need to buy any more. That being said, Wrangler has great reviews and are very affordable. My next pair of jeans are definitely gonna be from them. Levi’s is, of course, the other brand in this category that people often talk about. A lot has been said about some loss of quality over the years, but if you buy the 100% cotton 501s you’re gonna be fine. They’re much more expensive and not because of quality, but because it says Levi’s on the pants. I wouldn’t recommend based on that alone, but the quality is there. Some jean aficionados might talk about raw or selvage denim, but that’s rather unnecessary if we’re looking for a good price-quality relationship.
Lefties is a brand that I’ve made lots of purchases from over the years. They don’t make fantastic stuff, not really, but they’re good enough. I like their shorts and sweatpants, is what I’m getting at. They’re comfortable, cheap, and discreet, which I value quite a lot. I’d like to remind you, at this point, that I’m not looking to separate myself from the trash that is fast fashion, but to take advantage of it to maximize my own life. If a fast fashion company makes good shorts, buy from them, it doesn’t matter that they’re fast fashion. Just don’t compulsively replace them whenever the new ones come out. Buy the good ones, then take good care of them.
Intimissimi is one I found relatively recently. I bought a bunch of Primark underwear before and, while acceptably comfortable, they got holes in them before I knew it. When I looked for good underwear brands online I was thoroughly shocked by not only the disagreements between users and the astronomical prices of the products. Tons of recommendations that got slammed and lots of recommendations that, put simply, obliterate the bank. Intimissimi, I felt, was a nice middle-ground. They have good quality at affordable prices. I can’t really recommend them too much on account of seemingly gigantic personal aspect to underwear. I love them, but hey. Their socks are also great. They’re much more expensive than, say, Primark and some other brands out there but god the quality is incomparable.
Merrell is another one that is very speculative, on my part. I’m one of those people that only buys new shoes when the old ones fall apart, and I mean fall apart. In tatters, unwearable. I bought some Merrell shoes at a discount but they didn’t have my size so I ended up having to return them—which worked fine, by the way, their customer support was fast and pleasant—but my little brother (who’s an adult) got a pair of sandals and shoes. He wears them daily and has no complaints. As a matter of fact, the first few days of him wearing them he was rejoicing at how comfortable they were. By all accounts, they’re also rather durable. He got them on my recommendation, but I ended up wearing the same old beaten old sneakers. Whatever, I’m not bitter. Regardless, my next big purchase is almost certainly going to be shoes. I’m in need of new ones, and Merrel is likely going to be the pick this time around. I’ve also been looking at some other brands, especially hand-made and not mass-produced shoes. Nothing wrong with mass-produced shoes, but I was simply curious and was happily surprised by the comparable prices to some big brands.
I also mentioned hats. I didn’t list a brand for them because I like special hats. I bought a hat from a YouTuber brand a while back and it’s served me well, I wear it all the time, and I also have a simple cap from the Kraków Hard Rock Café. I’m sure there’s brands out there that make killer hats, I just don’t really care for that.
My belt is Levi’s brand, bought with the pants. There’s plenty of good leather belts around, really, and I’m not big on belts so I didn’t look into it enough quite yet. I saw a very interesting American brand a few months ago that seemed to make a really nice product, but the prices were… High, to put it mildly. Maybe I just haven’t gotten to the point where I really value a good belt. We’ll see how it goes with this one.
I’d also like to talk about digital devices. Personally, I think a laptop/PC (depending on one’s needs), smartphone, and ebook reader are great. The only one I find very debatable is the ebook reader; reading physical books is indescribably better than reading EPUBs but the convenience of a reader is ridiculous. So many books, for free no less. Insane. I’m actually thinking of investing in a new laptop, actually, but I haven’t gotten a good look at the line-ups just yet, what I have given a lot of thought to, however, is OS. I think Linux is the future, I truly believe that. I’ve tried a few different distros and the only reason I haven’t switched over just yet is inertia. Everything is Windows for me, so changing everything over is a bit of a pain in the ass. I’m the kind of person that likes to personalize things, when possible, and Linux makes everything possible, which is a particular kind of hell and a special kind of heaven for me. Still, I’m convinced. For me, it’s purely a matter of time. For phone Android is the only choice. iOS and the iPhone just don’t compete on any level, pretty much. I’m not an Apple hater by any means—though I don’t really like them because their products are underwhelming—but there are much better Android alternatives. I don’t think the top of the line products for either Android of iOS are the way to go, by the way. I’m big on Chinese brands. I have a TCL 20L+ and it works really well. I’ve had it for a couple of years now and it hasn’t failed me, I intend to buy an equivalent when it’s life runs out. Ebook readers are easy: just buy the cheapest one for the size you want. I have a second hand basic Kindle from way back, I’ve had it for years and it works perfectly. Bells and whistles are irrelevant, as far as I’m concerned.
I don’t have the time or the will to write more here now, but I have a lot more to say on this particular topic. I’ve decided to start writing a Rentry on this. If anyone actually read this all the way through, please do recommend categories of things for me to look into, by the way.
I didn’t read Babel at all, yesterday. Instead, I listened to a Timesuck episode on Alexander Hamilton. Very interesting, especially after having watched the musical. I loved the musical, but I appreciated the more realistic approach to his biography that the episode provided.
I hope to read some Babel today. I will read some, the question is how much, but I hope to read quite a bit. Let’s see.
That’s it.