Good Alternatives - Topic of the day 12/18/24
Sometimes you don’t want the real deal, whether it’s because it’s too expensive or you want to be unique. Beckett Sinomons in place of common projects, COS jackets instead of Lemaire, or Ramones instead of Chuck 70s for instance. What are your favorite alternatives and which ones are not worth it?
72 Replies
Buying clothes instead of touching grass
I’m a big proponent of the theory that any type of Chelsea boot can be replaced with a cowboy boot (or western style boot if we wanna be pedantic) and it’ll improve the fit. Plus it’ll drive down the cost. I feel like really good Chelseas are hard to come by for less than 400 retail. You can get a pretty great pair of yeehaws for half that.
Beckett for most entry level mens shoes as well as plain leather sneakers and dress belts
The Last Conspiracy for Guidi and most darkwear footwear
I mean people here love their blundstones and for good reasons imo
Our Legacy for a lot of Acne and other higher end brands
Pretty much any repro type stuff that Chinese brands like Bronson, SauceZhan and Bob Dong put out is a great alternative for far more expensive MiJ products
Labour Union too
an undersized kirkland tee or jockey undershirt is basically what carmy wears on the bear, change my mind
This could be a good thread, interested to see where it goes. (Please someone give me the perfect alternative for Indys)
Not sure on the EU pricing but would it be Grant Stone?
Alpaca works well insted of cashmere for sweaters.
I really like my cos pleats instead of issey
Novesta for converse
I do not reccomend the beckett simonon gats
I think buying 'alternatives' is as much psychological than physical i.e. buying a Cos jacket because you like the look of it (whether it's similar to another brand or not) is totally fine, but buying it because it's an alternative to the jacket you actually wanted but can't have is gonna have you fundamentally unsatisfied with it.
Also, brands which define themselves (or are billed as) 'affordable alternatives' are generally wack because it's an admission they don't have much value of their own. They require the existence of something better to peg their identity to.
No
Got it. I'll stick with the chucks then 🫡
student budget shoes :xd:
general question, how do yall find alternatives to a garment with a similar cut you like? like finding a similar brand. i.e. taiga takahashi lot 704, almost always out of stock, what's your search process on finding something similar?
CeraVe foaming facial cleanser can replace all other products in your bathroom
Finally, I've got something to replace bath form, toothpaste and soap
I find chinos to be a good alternative to jeans a lot of the time. Although most of what I've got doesn't have the jean style pocket-in-a-pockets, except for these levis
Yknow I don't think I've ever used the coin pocket
I used it as a gum pocket when I was downing a pack a day
i thought it was a key pocket but that makes sense too
Ya know, on the days I wear chinos, I feel like I want to wear jeans again the following day, and on the days I wear jeans it's the opposite.
Touching grass
Ok :linkSmug:
There are definitely many alternatives to the Buzz Ricksons /Gibson MA-1, but I know I'm fooling myself if I don't actually get that one at this point. Even if, functionally, they'll be near identical, I love the stupid story of it too much.
I use the coin pocket for airpods
Someone on ig told me to get pellet machos instead of waiting for paraboots and I instantly blocked them
RIP Dion Lee, it was "we have Mugler at home"
In my experience there is almost no good alternative because every time I’ve bought a cheaper version of the thing I want, I’ve ended up disappointed and often end up buying what I wanted in the first place. So in the long run, it costs me more money for less enjoyment.
Real
Always just get the thing you want or not dont settle
I bought a Filson work jacket repro from Red Tornado, and the quality is so good that I don't care to try the original.
They've been going for cheap on y!JP auctions, heads up
I’ve found settling is great if you’re not the type to fixate on every detail you’re missing and can enjoy what you have. Sometimes you find other stuff you love about the alternative and sometimes what you’re comparing it against only exists in your head anyway.
Yeah, just waiting for one in my size. Literally come up for a third of retail
good altrerntatives for chelsea boots: literally anything else #hater
what are those
Search engines
what
bald opinion
good alternative to shoes: boots
Strong anti-Australian sentiment right here
I think there is a subset of this, where the alternative to the real deal is actually more expensive than the real thing.
Like Solovairs as an alternative to docs
or orslow 105 as an alternative to levis 501
My case of tha specific subset of alternatives was getting Indigofera Wyatts as an alternative to Cowboy cuts, because I did not love the european cowboy cut model in my size.
The hem does not scale well to a W36 imo on cowboy cuts. I measured them and they were actually still slightly tapered beneath the knee lol
i think similarly - while there are some things for which i don't or wouldn't compromise, the way i dress lends itself to multiple paths to achieving a similar outcome
this is exacerbated by how much i enjoy vintage clothes; sometimes you don't know a certain brand is a good substitute because it doesn't exist anymore
Yeah, for me personally, if I waited until I could get the exact things I wanted, I'd never be able to explore my style interests.
my opinion has so much hair you don’t even know it’s like the bigfoot of opinions
For people further along their clothes journey, I could very well see why it would be different
or if they favor a specific aesthetic which relies on nailing the details. i get what digs, jawn, etc are saying, that if you DO want something specific, to wait for it vs settling
one exception - a good alternative to Thursday Boots is searching on ebay for any of the numerous brands they rip off
just checked those out, what’s wrong with them?
When I go to Aldi I usually keep a quarter in there
yes + fuck thursday, except thursday actually has shoes in me size
i will not shut up about big feet problems
I remember seeing a lot of “Allen Edmonds are superior shoes!” followed by “Redwings are better alternatives to AE!” followed by “Thursday Boots are better alternatives to Redwings!” back on the sub
Most…. Boot company’s go pretty big
i genuinly haven’t found another one that goes up to 15.5/16, or atleast ones that i can afford that go up to those sizes. same with like, normal shoes/sneakers
Meanwhile, none of these are really comparable and idk why you would compare them
Good alternative to poop is pee
it was the 2010s, guys just wanted a single pair of shoes for every single thing in their lives
Men would buy 12 different knives for 12 highly specific and rarely performed tasks, but ask them to buy 3 pairs of shoes and they lose their minds
peegang
any pissers in the chat?
Grenson Sneakers instead of CPs. Grenson makes good shit and they're like $75 lightly used.
Oh no, I commented before reading through the entire discussion history.
shit, vans eras or authentics over CPs
they're 1/6th the cost so you're less likely to freak out about getting them dirty and hardly anyone is getting that close to your feet to see the tiny vans tag
My #1 alternative is "used" instead of "new".
Which works for me, because I find "used" to be as good or better than "new", by the criteria that matter to me.
CP??
But I agree with @jawntanamo_bae 🥀 that "alternative" in the sense of "something you settle for instead of something better" is almost never a good idea.
NBA or Circus as a career?
Jokes aside I'm borderline size wise and it sucks
No Pee January is right around the corner, start dehydrating now
Yippee!! Don’t Pee January!!!
Yeah and the shoes had to be objectively the best and buy if for life
Don't tell them you are not supposed to wear leather shoes every single day or they will throw a temper tantrum.
You gotta get those leather dress sneakers so you can wear them everywhere
have been considering circus, ya. already a clown
no i mean like i’ve taken classes on clowning
do you have a specific reason for this? I've been thinking about getting them for a little while. If it's just that I should be getting the Margiela GATs they're a bit out of my price range
They did not hold up to medium wear. The leather feels good out of the box but is really not great and they tore at the ankle.
They are designed to look premium as you are opening and then it seems like a crap shoot as soon as you start wearing them with any regularity (i do not wear mjne frequently and this all was still an issue)
For the level of quality you get you might as well save your money and buy some original army trainers off ebay
Damn that's dissapointing to hear but very much appreciate the heads up, I'll look elsewhere for that style then definitely will check out ebay