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suits

Knowing what I know now, I would've told my 20ish self to buy a ready to wear navy suit and a made to measure three piece dinner suit and call it a day. A pair of clean black oxfords, a couple quality white dress shirts, a couple of ties, a real bow tie, and a white linen handkerchief would complete the look. All of this now would set you back about $5,000 to $7000, but that's all you would need to get you through most things in life for a few decades — a job interview, formal events, weddings, parties, and networking gigs. Add a dark grey suit maybe if wanting options.

Of course I didn't do that and splurged on several suits and jackets from my amazing tailor Thomas Mahon, at least I hope he's still my tailor since I haven't ordered anything from him for quite some time. He's also cut suits for King Charles, Jony Ive, etc. oh, and me.

You go by cloth and some of the clothmakers he's used for me are Dormeuil, Harrisons, Smith Woollens, and Hardy Minnis.

My favorite suiting is the Fresco line from Hardy Minnis and I had a dark blue suit and a mid-grey suit made. Fresco has a bit of a rough, open weave texture, matte look and finish, that doesn't wrinkle, and it's a great suiting for warmer climates. I had both made up in a half lining and apparently Tom made the same grey suit for himself as his travel suit.

Before the Fresco suits though, we went with Cape Kid and did a navy suit, a dark grey suit, and a stand out blue odd jacket. The Cape Kid line is composed of 60% mohair aka Angora goat with the rest wool which makes the cloth have an interesting shiny effect. I didn't think that was true until I saw pictures. Effectively, I have a shiny/fancy set of suits, a matte/low key set of suits, and a pair of work horse Fall/Winter suits. Go back to the first paragraph, since all of this was too much, but a really fun experience and I learned a lot. Cut/fit, cloth, and details plus years of apprenticeship, tradition, experience, and craftsmanship make for some really cool suits.

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shoes

George Cleverley shoes and last

I'm happy to have gone with George Cleverley many years ago and today with their trainers (sneakers). My first shoe order (middle pic) is what I think is/was their signature style shoe in their signature leather, the Churchill style in red Russian leather. My second order (right pic) was more my style, a no nonsense whole cut loafer, again in the Russian leather. The whole cut pair is my favorite shoe. My third order (left pic) was another loafer in the de Rede style in pigskin.

These days there are so many options for "smart" looking sneakers/trainers to wear I'm not sure if Common Projects led the way with that trend or someone else. I'm sticking with Cleverley on these too with their trainer collection. Replica from Maison Margiela also have fairly stylish looking sneakers I'd buy.

Other shoes I like are Visvim boots (Zermatt and Serra) and FBT moccasins.

For working out, Asics for running (Cumulus and Nimbus), Nike for basketball (Kobe Protros), Sidi and Giro for cycling, and Burton (Ions) for snowboarding.

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steak knives

Wirecutter bugs the hella out of me, recently with their The 3 Best Steak Knife Set article.

If you want "the best", read up on these ones first.

steak knives

Start with Roland Lannier steak knives (top). You've already used one if you eat at really cool restaurants. If you're looking for the absolute best, I say these ones and don't need to read/research any further.

You can go with a classic Laguiole steak knife set (middle). I like the olive wood ones a lot and will use this set for special occasions.

And finally, the Tojiro steak knife (bottom) is really nice. Buy that set for every day use.

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white t-shirt from Whitesville

The talked about "The Bear" white t-shirts are the Merz B. Schwanen 215 and the Whitesville t-shirt from Toyo Enterprise. I got the Whitesville t-shirts from Rodeo Japan Pine Avenue at a good price of $62 which includes FedEx shipping (and no taxes). Not a bad deal at $31 a shirt. I'm more of a navy blue or black t-shirt person so I picked up the shirts in navy blue too. For sizing, I'm a XXL in Japan, XL in Europe, and M/L in the United States.

What makes a white t-shirt great is the feel of the cotton, fit, construction (no seams down the side), and a collar that lasts and doesn't get stretched out too badly. This Whitesville t-shirt is it then because it does feel great, construction is in fact Quali-T, and the collar looks pretty solid.

A few more notes:

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soap

I'm still buying and using this soap/savon de Marseille. I just cut off a piece, however much when I need it, and haven't had to think about a body soap for over a decade now. It lathers well enough as a sometimes shampoo too. I bought three bars that should last me the next three years. I wanted something simple, basic, and genuinely good quality. Weird to be posting about soap I know, but might be helpful for someone. Also this is a bit of a maximizer/satisficer exercise, I searched for and got the "best" soap, no need to revisit that decision. Kind of a bifl (buy it for life) decision as well.

Other soaps:

  • Claus Porto from Portugal for their hand soaps pretty nice (bathroom). Portugal makes some high quality and relatively inexpensive home goods too e.g. La Graccioza for towels and linens (but already settled with linens)
  • Le Labo hand soap and lotion, Hinoki (bathroom). Pretentious but nice.
  • Aesop for hand soap and lotion, Resurrection and Reverence (kitchen and bathroom). Also pretentious but nice.

Previously tried:

  • Caswell-Massey (almond, jockey club, number six, and verbena scents) bar soap and almond hand soap and lotion. These were fine. Packaging and scents from above Claus Porto, Le Labo, and Aesop are better.
  • Kiehl's bar soap this one is nice, but it's a little pricey
  • L'Occitane verbena – hand soap was just ok
  • And if all this seems silly, Dove soap or Irish Spring are just fine

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more "uncrate" stuff

More list of things I don't need "uncrate" style.

Fujimarca MC-711 Manual Shave Ice Machine / $450 I may open a shaved ice stand (pop-up?) one of these days.

Wells WB1E-120V waffle maker / $1409 This is what they use at Ole's Waffle Shop and I think the Waffle House too.

Balmuda Pro / ¥37,400 Not available in the United States yet.

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"uncrate" style of a few things I don't need

A running list of things I don't need "uncrate" style.

Faemina is overly expensive but it sure is nice looking and will make some really good coffee drinks. $5760

BlueStar induction range is good looking too. $6995 is pricey.

Eiderdown comforter is the opposite of a weighted blanket, the premium is with the high warmth to low weight ratio. The down is collected from nests and is about as environmentally friendly and responsible as can be. $4800

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Wiseman knives

Been looking for a nice pocketknife. These ones are made by Gene Wiseman. Didn't really need much more than a sharp blade, a bottle opener, and a flat edge screwdriver for the occasional tightening of that random screw. And I need all the wise I can get.

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device pricing

Current pricing for the benchmark products versus what I think the price should be in the table below. I'm curious what the actual revenue per device would be if the the price were lowered because there's additional revenue outside of the purchase, e.g. ad and search revenue, subscriptions (iCloud, etc), games, music and movie downloads. With lower initial device pricing, there'd be more devices out there, more downstream revenue, and a faster upgrade cycle. I'm sure they've run the numbers though. Obviously this is just wishful thinking. At some point we'll reach the razor-razor blade model where the razor will be cheap or near free. Right now folks are still making good margins on the razors.

iPhone – $649 -> $299
iPad mini – $329 -> $249
iPad – $499 -> $399
Nexus 4 – $299 -> $199
Nexus 7 – $199 -> $149