This afternoon I told my husband that I would go clothes shopping for him, since he liked a couple of the things I picked out for him last year on a whim. They were well made and looked ready for work casual or an evening out at a restaurant or show. His clothes are getting kind of old, and some of his shirts have been getting use for at least a decade.
I went to Woodfield Mall, and searched store after store. I even waded through the motley crowd of people waiting for autographs in the center of the mall from members of the World Wrestling Federation. I looked and looked and looked.
JC Pennys had shirts for men who had given up all hope. Not one pattern that was more interesting than thick vertical stripes. Low thread count polyester dominated. They might as well be pre-stained with the clammy sweat of fashion failure. This actually surprised me, because lately JCPenny has improved their womens clothing lines. I didn't even try Sears. Kohls is also a no go for anything but socks and underwear and the utter basics.
Limited Express Men's section was for some reason either dress shirts or t-shirts and nothing in between. I usually really like their stuff. Today though, they were living up to the "Limited" name.
One store that had some really cool shirts was going out of business and only had 2xxls left. I could fit 3 of Dan into one of them.
I was already discouraged. I still could have looked at Macys and Nordstrom or even H&M, but all the "shop" had dropped out of me. Too much of the same, same, same. I will have to finish my quest another day...when I am really, really desperate with nothing to do.
The cultural expectation for American men is that they hate to shop for clothes. Clothing retailers make sure that it stays that way with monotony and poor quality in their mens clothing lines.
Environmentally, this is probably a good thing. Economically, interesting men's clothing with high quality fabric and construction is one of the those curiously untapped areas of retail potential.
Dan will just have to keep his decades old threadbare shirts in his closet until one of us can stomach shopping again.
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