Issue #301 | The Weird Origin Story of Your Favorite Patagonia Jacket

The Weird Origin Story of Your Favorite Patagonia Jacket

Vintage Retro Pile fleece jackets from Patagonia now fetch around $300 on eBay, and sometimes as much as double that. While newer versions feature a moderate fluff to cut back on microplastic pollution, the Retro X, launched in 1993, features a deep, shaggy pile that makes you look like the abominable snowman, which is cool as hell. Even cooler, the original fabric was inspired by a fuzzy polyester meant for toilet seat covers. The fabric didn’t make the final cut, but did set up experimentation for what would become one of the most famous fleeces in the world.

Outside

These Are Classics You Can Count On

[Partner] Now that we’re deep into January, it’s a great moment—if you haven’t already taken one—to reassess your wardrobe’s fundamentals. If you haven’t touched something in a year, it’s time to move on and make room for things you’ll want to put on day in and out. You should wear your clothes a lot, and that’s exactly what Flint and Tinder’s core classics are built for. This collection of seven essentials, which includes heavyweight tees, waxed trucker jackets, and the brand’s best-selling pants, is a rig that’s ready to ride every day of the week, for years to come.

Get back to the basics.

A Restaurateur and Vintage Coat Fiend Breaks Down His Closet

Leave it to Flynn McGarry, a “culinary wunderkind,” photographer and writer Christopher Fenimore calls the young chef, to make a Prada overcoat and a pair of beat up Chelseas look as effortless as the dover sole and lobster he serves at his Lower East Side restaurant, Gem Wine. “If you look like you’re trying, it never works, even in food," McGarry tells Fenimore. “In the end there is always a conscious effort in anything that you do well. But I think the goal for me in anything is, ‘How do I look like I didn’t even think about it?’” Peek inside his thought process for clothes, food, and everything in between.

Esquire

Menswear Brands Are Rewarding Their Coolest Customers With the Ultimate Flex: Luxury Vacations

The indicators of status are shifting. While a collection of expensive automobiles will always communicate wealth, fantastical, high-end experiences are now the flex du jour for upper echelons wanting to establish their elite status. “Ferrari hosts its highly coveted, invite-only Cavalcade for the world’s most elite Prancing Horse collectors while Panerai arranges extreme customer excursions led by Navy SEALs or acclaimed climber-filmmaker Jimmy Chin,” says Robb Report. Luxe menswear brands, too, are stepping up to give their clientele something to brag about.

Robb Report

How Fashion’s Favorite Rug Guy Shops

Mikael Kennedy always travels with a crisp white shirt in his bag. “You never know when you might have to clean up a bit before you meet someone,” he tells Valet. The former art and fashion photographer picked up a few tricks out on the road before turning to importing and dealing antique rugs as King Kennedy. He sells the good ones whole out of his new Los Angeles brick and mortar, while some that aren’t so pristine become mules, jackets, or other garments. Here’s how Kennedy curates a closet as intentional as the empire of folk art he’s built around him.

Valet

• 3Sixteen CWU Flight Jacket – $415

• Rhythm Oskar Quarter Zip – $80

• Citizen Tsuyosa Collection – $360

• Bronson 1942 U.S. Army Chino – $80

• Sperry Captain’s Oxford by Chris Echevarria – $375

Good style shouldn’t be a secret.

You’re clued in and looking tack sharp, thanks to Blazer. But that friend (or two) could stand to take some tips on style. Drop a hint and loop ’em in.