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RRL
In less capable hands, RRL could have been more costume shop than actual clothing store—but this is Ralph Lauren we’re talking about. Which is to say that the workwear- and Western-inspired brand, named after Lauren and wife Ricky’s Colorado ranch, is a passion project with flawless execution. Each of Lauren’s six RRL boutiques (including a spanking-new one in Williamsburg, Brooklyn) offers variations on a single theme—a kind of general store of our menswear dreams—and is stocked with the pieces that keep obsessed collectors coming back: the brand’s built-to-last American-made jeans, super-soft washed button-ups, and a buffet of indigo—from bandanna scarves to chore jackets—that will cause average Joes to geek out. The curated mix of vintage items, from belts to cowboy boots, not only adds more eye candy but ensures no two shop experiences are ever identical. Not that they ever could be, considering Lauren’s hand-picked locales are as varied as a timeworn barn (East Hampton) and a concrete garage (Los Angeles).—Matt Sebra
Reliquary
A reliquary is a vessel that holds relics—the bones of saints—and it’s a perfect name for this shop in Hayes Valley, a neighborhood that’s bursting with indie stores that feel like they hopped straight off the pages of GQ. But while there are many good spots here beckoning for your bucks, this is the best and most original of them, hand-packed as it is with all sorts of strange and wonderful finds by a woman from Santa Fe named Leah Bershad. Here, the apparel focuses on what Bershad calls “high-end basics”—that’s chinos and outerwear from Homecore (designed by an ex-rapper from Paris), shirts and reworked vintage Levi’s from RTH (also on The GQ 100), and field shirts and kimono-like lounge shirts from Evan Kinori (a local San Franciscan whose work has quickly taken on cult status). The new clothes, which are mixed seamlessly with vintage finds on the racks, are meant to be relatively simple, because in Bershad’s mind’s eye a man focuses his cash and his flash on his accessories. And she has a badass knack for those, too: African beads, turquoise and silver Native American jewelry, gold signet rings, D.S. & Durga fragrances. When you’re done getting your body outfitted and scented in high-level grooviness, consider turning your eye to your living room next, without leaving the store. “We’ve got African mud cloths you can drape over the back of a chair,” Bershad says. “Or simple, modern, organic ceramics. Everyone seems to be freaking out over ceramics right now.” Yep.—Will Welch
Maketto
The trick to nailing a minimalist riff on an Asian night market is preserving some Zen amid the bustle of a combination streetwear store, eatery, and coffee spot. Maketto—a joint project from a pair of Washington natives, ramen god Erik Bruner-Yang and designer Will Sharp—pulls it off with lightly choreographed chaos. Downstairs, handmade Swedish raincoats, Danish baseball jackets, and Japanese selvedge denim share racks with hometown wares from Sharp’s Durkl line and the store’s own Franklin Thompson, whose caps embroidered with “RENT IS DUE” have become calling cards for D.C. cool kids. (Yes, they exist.) Past a glass case with limited-run sneakers, the open kitchen is slinging Taiwanese fried chicken, scallion bread, and other takes on Southeast Asian street food. Upstairs, Taschen coffee-table books are displayed next to the coffee bar, along with grooming stuff and the kind of niche foreign magazines that can stand in for passport stamps. The vending machine stocked with Pepto-Bismol and condoms feels like a mission statement.—Tory Newmyer
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Supply & Advise
If the idea of shopping in Miami brings to mind buying half-price Speedos, SPF 6 spray tanner, and a gently used speedboat once employed by a cocaine mule, you’re going to be shocked by this multilevel paradise of approachable style. Supply & Advise sits downtown, away from be-thonged South Beach, and the owner, Jonathan Eyal, moved from New York City. We’re not saying that his pedigree is what makes the store one of our new go-tos, but that does explain why its restrained take on men’s clothing—Supply & Advise is packed to its slim-fit gills with labels like Engineered Garments, Gant Rugger, Unis, and Alex Mill—can feel so fresh down here in the land of glistening pectorals. More than that, Supply & Advise has nailed the smile-and-then-some service delivered by the best menswear stores on either coast. Want a cocktail while you try on a custom-tailored suit and some last-a-lifetime Alden wingtips? Coming right up. (Try the Aviation.) Soon Supply & Advise will even custom-tailor your hair in its very own barbershop. The store’s part of an up-and-coming neighborhood pegged as the city’s antidote to Collins Avenue douchery. We’re taking back Miami, starting now.—Liza Corsillo
Uniqlo
Simply put: If you happen to be near a Uniqlo, do whatever it takes to carve out enough time to hit it up. When the Japanese retailer quietly touched down in America nearly ten years ago, mass-retail chain stores were in a try-hard phase, with racks and racks of clothes that were more appropriate for the club than for the cubicles where we all actually spend out time. What Uniqlo offered instead was just the simple stuff: slim-fit oxford shirts, selvedge denim, fistfuls of socks, and cashmere sweaters in every color, all at prices that basically mandated buying multiples. Since then, the retail giant has only gotten bigger (and cooler) by answering every guy’s wardrobe wants with new products, from Heattech gear packaged like astronaut ice cream to their latest collaboration with French label Lemaire.—Matt Sebra
Askov Finlayson
Sometimes good enough isn’t enough. Owners Eric and Andrew Dayton left the original Askov Finlayson shop for larger digs—a necessity for any store that's constantly in pursuit of need-it-now items that appeal to our inner aesthete and our outer manly man. The larger space also allows them to properly showcase their copious cold-weather-ready brands like Norse Projects, Woolpower, Danner, and the brothers’ own made-in-the-U.S.A. line—plus a stellar book/gadget/grooming nook that could keep any guy occupied for an hour. (Same goes for the old-school dome hockey table.) And if all that isn’t enough to get you through the door, the shop also boasts Minneapolis’s first Warby Parker outpost. It’s a store that brims—but doesn’t burst—with quality pieces that demand a second look. And a third—that is, if you haven’t already swiped your credit card. Oh, and pop by the old shop while you're in town—it’s now a café.—Liza Corsillo
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Notre
When it comes to stores, the New York of the Midwest has always lagged impossibly far behind actual New York City. (Oh, and LA, too.) But that's starting to change. Notre Shop, which opened its doors in 2014, is one of the first Windy City stores that's been designed to meet the new-wave needs of modern men who know the difference between good and meh thanks to the Internet. In addition to offering upgrade-ready Chicago dudes a winning lineup of GQ-approved labels, including A.P.C., Our Legacy, and Norse Projects, its owners wisely know that an impressive shop can’t rest just on good raw denim alone. That’s why Notre has also made high-fashion power moves, stocking envelope-pushing designers like Gosha Rubchinskiy, Raf Simons, and Robert Geller, as well as the collection of a hometown favorite named Yeezy. “We’re not a streetwear store or a high-end fashion store or a menswear store,” says MJ Jaworowski, one of the shop’s founders. “We're the only store in Chicago hitting all those different lanes.” Something tells us that won’t be the case for long.—Jake Woolf
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Trading Post
A lot of the shops in The GQ 100 are on this list because they are exactly what you want them to be and completely satisfying: the ideal hat store, say, or a shop that always has the sweetest sneakers. But, to be honest, our favorite new spots are the ones we never could’ve dreamed up in a million years. Like Trading Post, a small and wickedly groovy corner store on La Brea that’s tended by a tousled young Frenchman named Teddy Grasset. Grasset built and stocks the store by hand—starting with his own line of vintage-inspired, California-made apparel. (Think denim, slouchy military pants, Henleys, and painter’s jackets, all of which fall under the Dr. Collectors label.) From there, the store only gets freakier: Baja-print skate sneakers from Peru, a small collection of vintage Hawaiian shirts, traditional French-blue work jackets from Le Laboureur, hemp tees from Jungmaven, all sorts of cool patchwork bucket hats… The Post takes the idea of eclectic to unimagined new heights, and it's awash in sun-faded colors, crooked stripes, and tons of little foreign objects you'll want to stuff in every last corner of your suitcase. You probably can’t fit enough of them in there to re-create the Trading Post magic when you get back to your living room—but every time we’re in Hollywood, we give it a shot.—Will Welch
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Shinola and Willys
Back in 2011, the made-in-Detroit watch company Shinola put the Motor City back on the style map. Three years later, it spun off a sister store in the same cavernous old Midtown building, which used to house Willys-Overland Motor Company. This new boutique, known simply as Willys, stocks more than 50 brands—Imogene + Willie jeans, Fail jewelry, D.S. & Durga cologne, you name it—that are all also made in these United States. (The giant neon wall map of this great nation drives home the point.) We don’t wanna go overboard and say everything’s okay in Detroit now that the locals have somewhere to buy watches and wingtips. But it’s a start. And if you ever needed justification to blow a bunch of money on a pile of clothes and some wearable ’Merica-made hardware, you could find worse excuses than “pumping up the local tax base.”—Nick Marino
AllSaints
When the fashion world went all goth-ninja, with complicated draping layers and leather details galore, it also got damn expensive. Which is why AllSaints has such a fitting name: This store has been blessing the middle class with well-made boots, slim leather jackets, and killer dark-and-distressed sweaters that could be mistaken for Rick Owens. And that makes it a true godsend. We recommend swinging by monthly for staples like jeans and Henleys. And seasonally for big purchases—moto jackets, boots, parkas. And do us a favor while you’re in there: Ask how they got so many damn antique sewing machines. Just mind-boggling.—Mark Anthony Green
Tabor
Charlotte men: You can shut down your browsers. Tabor, a shop in a whitewashed 1920s house filled with all the menswear covetables you were once forced to buy online, is finally open. Enjoy actually trying on your clothing! The brother to Capitol, Charlotte’s pioneering designer boutique for the fairer sex, features a carefully selected mix of clothes and accessories selected for their American spirit but sourced from designers all over the globe. Think Dries Van Noten jackets, Thom Browne oxfords, and off-duty pieces from Cuisse de Grenouille. Plus there are more than just great clothes inside. Tabor also features an assortment of rare records and books, plus a curated gallery featuring a rotating lineup of photographers and artists. It all adds up to an IRL experience that no add-to-cart click can compete with.—Sam Schube
Baldwin
If you’re the type of person who thinks that style dies in middle America, think again. For proof, just check out Baldwin’s two shops in Kansas City, Missouri, and Leawood, Kansas. Both are dedicated to clean lines and classic denim created by onetime GQ Best New Menswear Designer in America Matt Baldwin. Inside, the streamlined shelves are stocked with premium jeans, better-than-just-basic button-ups, Henleys, and everything else you need for a completely chill wardrobe. You’ll find a curated selection of other labels, too, but make no mistake—this is Baldwin’s house. Make sure to pick up one of the brand’s trademark “KC” hats, and when people ask you what it stands for, wink and tell them, "Excellent Taste."—John Jannuzzi
RTH
It’s a little tricky to explain the transportive power of René Holguin’s two almost side-by-side shops that are set on a random strip of La Cienega Boulevard in Los Angeles. But what the hell, here’s a try: Imagine you're at a large dinner party of vintage-denim collectors at, say, Ralph Lauren’s Double RL Ranch in Colorado. You feel slightly out of place, so you sneak outside to clear your head. Suddenly you hear a “Pssst!” and the guy you noticed earlier from down the long dinner table—the one wearing paint-splattered low-rider jeans and a pile of leather necklaces—is waving at you to follow him across the property. Eventually he leads you to a small glowing cabin of coziness that smells of burnt palo santo and cedarwood. There’s something chapel-like about the space that gives you a new appreciation for the word “vibey." Everywhere you look there are piles of old jeans and military cargo pants that have been altered and repatched with bandannas. The walls are piled with leather bags, leather necklaces, rope belts, pieces of tie-dyed suede, psychedelic Yves Klein–blue ceramics, pencil drawings of the sun and the desert… An old Elvis song plays on a stereo hidden somewhere in the room. You notice that a feather has appeared beside you on the floor. The incense makes you feel calm, clear, and light. You pick up a pair of the jeans, and bow to the man, and stumble out of the cabin. Suddenly you are on a busy street in Los Angeles. It’s smoggy and cars are honking. Hopefully you can remember where you parked your rental car? You’re still holding the jeans. You press them to your nose and inhale. Aha! Palo santo and cedarwood.—Will Welch
Kinfolk
In just a few short years, Kinfolk has become an institution in Williamsburg, the land of ever-changing hipster fashion whims. What sets this place apart in a world of a thousand store/bar/restaurant/lounge/event-space hybrids (a concept that Kinfolk helped pioneer) is that the store by itself would be one of the best in the ’Burg, without all that other stuff thrown in. Go there to find Japanese brands you’ve never heard of (or can never find), handmade accessories, kitschy home goods, and work by local artists. Mix in their ever-expanding, always-cool in-house clothing line (varsity jackets, ombré cardigans, baseball caps), and you’ve got a recipe for success, not to mention longevity.—Garrett Munce
Indigo & Cotton
A move from New York City to Charleston, South Carolina, left Indigo & Cotton founder Brett Carron with a lack of decent local men’s shops—so he opened his own. Located on a quiet street in an up-and-coming neighborhood of one of America’s most charming cities, Indigo & Cotton is the kind of place that ticks off all the shopping–related boxes modern guys want: reliable clothes that you can feel good wearing in an office and a bar, an uncluttered layout (owed no doubt to Carron’s past museum and design-world experience) that would make Marie Kondo happy, and brands you won’t find hanging anywhere inside a local mall. Even more impressive, though, is how those labels—like Makr Carry Goods, General Knot & Co., and Crescent Down Works—aren’t just rare for Charleston, they’re prime finds in any Zip code.—Liza Corsillo
A.P.C.
Uncommonly good jeans are hard to come by, unless you happen to be standing in the middle of an A.P.C. store. In that case, all you have to do is pick up a wash that fits your taste and fork over your credit card. Such is the magic of the French retailer helmed by the always quotable—and sometimes controversial—Jean Touitou. But the A.P.C. experience hardly starts and stops with denim: Drop by any of the pale-oak-outfitted boutiques and you’ll be killed softly with a tightly edited selection of cool, French-kid-approved sweaters, pants, blazers, belts, manly candles, and even blankets (never underestimate the importance of a cool blanket). Though Touitou has set up multiple shops on both coasts, the one we’d steer you to first is the Silver Lake location. You can spot it a mile away, thanks to a trademark wooden-slat exterior and big-ass curved window. The inside gives off some serious spaceship vibes thanks to a massive display unit with tube lighting. You won’t get beamed up anywhere, but at least you can explore some new gear.—John Jannuzzi
The Woodlands
The Woodlands is a pine-wood-lined multi-brand shop from the guys at Oregon's leather-goods juggernaut, Tanner Goods. If you're looking for something locally made, then skip the PDX-carpet tchotchkes and head here to get weird in finely crafted Pacific Northwest hats, bags, leather goods, and Danner boots. See, there's more to Portland than a bunch of coffee roasteries and vegan strip clubs after all.—Michael Williams
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Hathenbruck
Park City isn’t exactly a fashion destination—cowboy boots, plenty of fur, and (come Sundance) production-company-emblazoned puffer jackets are about as advanced as style gets in this ski town. Which is where Hathenbruck comes in: Open since late 2012, it’s a smallish shop tucked away on the back side of Main Street, and it’s bringing style to Park City one waxed-canvas jacket at a time. They’ve got the #menswear staples that you know and love (and that a town like this needs)—Filson, Red Wing, assorted other tasteful Americana. But the real reason to check out Hathenbruck is its stock of harder-to-find left-field picks, like Danish oddballs Han Kjobenhavn and the so-cult-it-drinks-Kool-Aid Japanese line Visvim. All told (and along with a dynamite grooming section), it’s a shop that collects the best of High West style—and then gives it a hearty push into the future. So ditch the cowboy costume. Whether you’re fresh off the slopes or you just locked down distribution for your debut film, this is the place to celebrate.—Sam Schube
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WP Store
You notice the robin’s-egg-blue doors first. Once you're inside, it’s the whitewashed brick walls, the worn leather chairs, the antique flat-weave carpets underfoot. You make your way to a black steel rack, and that’s when it happens: Every go-to piece in your own closet starts to feel kinda basic. Your trusty flannel blazer is a bulky mess compared to Barena’s unstructured version. The khakis you swear by are country-club preppy in the face of Engineered Garments’ less precious option. Brooklyn’s WP Store stocks the types of clothes guys wear every day, but by a host of uncommon labels that do it better than the rest. The retail arm of the Italian company WP Lavori in Corso, the shop carries the legendary brands its parent company runs and distributes (Woolrich Woolen Mills, Barbour, Baracuta), as well as a lineup of labels that menswear fans can’t get enough of (Beams Plus, Nanamica). The only problem? Your wallet won’t be able to get enough of them either.—Matt Sebra
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Topman
There was a time when the only people whose outfits you saw every day were those of your spouse and those of your co-workers. But this is the Instagram era, and complete strangers are on display every day. As a result, trends are moving a thousand miles a minute. And Topman is usually the first to offer a cheaper option for every one of them. The stores feel a bit schizophrenic (streetwear joggers next to a double-breasted British topcoat next to a denim onesie). But dealing with whiplash and still discovering cool pieces for cheap is part of the big fun. Everything you saw on your feed this morning, everything trending, everything Kanye wore yesterday—Topman has it at a maybe-I’ll-buy-two price point.—Mark Anthony Green
Stag
Don’t mess with Texas…or Venice, California, while you’re at it—at least not when it comes to Stag’s growing crop of shops (Austin, Dallas, Houston, online, and the aforementioned West Coast outpost). The retailer first grabbed our attention for its deft ability to ride the post-workwear wave into more modern menswear waters, and it hasn’t stopped evolving since. Today the mini retail empire stocks something-for-everyone pieces from brands known for having a point of view: Gitman Vintage, Garrett Leight California Optical, RRL, grooming essentials by Malin + Goetz, and many, many more. Although the product range is consistent across all four stores, the curation changes based on shop location—so the Austin flagship bridges the gap between core closet staples and more experimental items, while Venice uses an upstairs space for pop-ins and to incubate up-and-coming labels. And they’re not done yet; while the company hasn’t disclosed the next Stag location, they have hinted at wanting to offer more outerwear in a colder climate. Wherever that place is, it’s about to dress a lot better.—Matt Sebra
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Friend
NOLA boasts style meccas like Meyer The Hatter and haberdasher George Bass, but what if you don’t dress like Louis Armstrong? Stroll into Friend. Not only will you be treated like one (Southern hospitality is alive and well), but you’ll make some new besties in the form of striped Saturdays tees, essential A.P.C. jeans, and haul-all bags by WANT Les Essentiels de la Vie. Founded by Louisiana native Parker Hutchinson, the shop is housed in a can’t-miss-it coral building in New Orleans’ toney Garden District. The product mix even flexes some local pride by including wares from nearby artisans, like a fresh fragrance called Smoke from New Orleans perfumer Kathleen Currie. Even on the city’s swampiest days, this is a store that’ll keep you looking—and smelling—fresh.—Liza Corsillo
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Apolis and Alchemy Works
Brothers Raan and Shea Parton started Apolis with the simple goal of creating cool stuff using the talents of the worldwide community of small-time artisans—and fairly compensating craftspeople from Uganda to Bangladesh for their efforts. Their simple, no-nonsense, utilitarian aesthetic is what’s set the brand apart and created a following of everymen and fashion snobs alike. Meanwhile, their store in Downtown L.A.’s Arts District is a testament to their broader aesthetic. Go for the well-designed wardrobe essentials, like the perfect chambray tie or safari jacket, stay for the well-edited selection of third-party designer goods, then stay even longer for a film or gallery show. Then go next door to Alchemy Works, managed by Raan’s wife, where their enviable lifestyle bleeds into home goods, accessories, art, and the first Warby Parker pop-up shop in L.A. Shopping these cool spaces is like stumbling through the family compound of the most thoughtful, well-traveled, interesting clan in the world.—Garrett Munce
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Need Supply Co.
Need Supply has been in business for 20 years, yet this retail stalwart coyly knows how to let you feel like you discovered it. And soon even more guys will know that feeling as the brand sets up shop on the West Coast—and even further west (in Japan). Known for carrying a unique blend of American and international brands under its Richmond, Virginia, roof, the store’s successful tenure can be chalked up to two things: a mission statement to stock what customers want to wear, and an early-adopter attitude toward selling its wares online. Few other independent shops rival Need Supply’s digital moves, from its inspiring editorials to a refreshingly easy-to-shop interface that mimics the simple joy of browsing around IRL.—Liza Corsillo
Puka Puka
When you think of a surf shop in Maui, you might imagine a spot selling wetsuits and Sex Wax that’s been there forever and is way friendlier to the locals than to out-of-town groms. But what you’ll find here at Puka Puka is a more elevated experience. Sure, they’ve got pitch-perfect surf tees, colorful board shorts, and various sunscreens and lotions not available on the mainland. But it’s mixed with stuff that’s a whole lot more curated and rarefied, from watches to art books. Here, even the succulents begin to look statuesque after a while—and that’s before you check out the gallery space upstairs, which hosts, among other things, the archive of Surfer magazine founder John Severson. If you’re anywhere in Maui, don’t miss it—even if it takes a three-hour drive from the other side of the island.—Jim Moore
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Nepenthes
Here are some things you can find in the dirty, gray, and noisy stretch of blocks southwest of Times Square known as New York City’s Garment District: bad perfume, sold by the case; embroidered quinceañera dresses; thousands of miles of beads; bolts of multicolored fabric; unspeakably cool, off-kilter takes on American workwear by way of wizardly designer Daiki Suzuki. Yeah, so, about the one that’s not like the others: Suzuki, the founder and designer of Engineered Garments, set up shop a few years back on a bleak stretch of 38th Street. It’s called Nepenthes, and it’s one of a handful of places that stock more than a handful of EG pieces, along with other culty labels like Needles (ripped-up and repaired Army clothes), Rough & Tumble (LSD-friendly patchwork oxfords), and New Balance (sneakers for current and aspiring dads). The space is cleaner and sharper than the weird-and-fuzzy clothes it carries, and the staff, kindly, won’t tell you that you can’t pull off a pair of tropical-wool Hammer pants. Because at Nepenthes, you can—even if the illusion fades the moment you step, through a cloud of truck exhaust, back into the Garment District.—Sam Schube
Westerlind
Westerlind’s M.O. is tracking down and selling some of the best performance gear in the world—and the company just opened shop at the base of a ski slope in Utah. Andrea Westerlind, a sports-loving Swede who splits her time between Eden, Utah, and New York, is the force behind the carefully curated merchandise at both the new Powder Mountain store and the original boutique in N.Y.C.’s Nolita neighborhood. With a belief that function and style aren’t mutually exclusive—plus her experience in the fashion industry and knack for finding new brands across the globe—Westerlind is changing the perception of what an outdoor-gear store can and should be. The quality brands on the roster include Armor-Lux, Battenwear, Vuarnet, Snow Peak, Woolpower, Grundéns, newcomers Bags in Progress and Ficouture, and an ever-growing in-house line that features felt hats, understated sweaters, and some flawless derby shoes—because what you wear off the slopes is just as important as what you wear on them.—Liza Corsillo
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Pilgrim Surf + Supply
This might sound sacrilegious, seeing how it’s in Brooklyn, but Pilgrim is the most stylish surf store in the country right now. That goes for 22-year-old punk surfers and 40-something creative-business types just looking for a cool pair of Vans to wear to the airport and some decent swim trunks. Once you're inside the store, it feels like you could be anywhere: There's an East Coast sensibility to the product and a West Coast attitude among the staff. Here at GQ, we’re attracted to color, and pattern, and snappy-looking pieces that jolt your look—and your day—to life. And that’s what Pilgrim trades in. You might walk inside feeling stressed, harried, or bewildered—all those things New York can make you feel. But you’ll walk out feeling reenergized and inspired. And you’ll probably be carrying something to take to the beach, a pair of shorts you can wear in the city, and a drug rug or cardigan by a brand you’ve never heard of before. What more do you want from a corner surf shop in Williamsburg?—Jim Moore
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Mohawk General Store
Located a few doors down from the original Mohawk General Store, Mohawk Man opened in 2012 as a separate shop dedicated to the Silver Lake area’s style-savvy men. The focus is on a lineup of brands that blends high-fashion labels like Dries Van Noten and Issey Miyake with newer lines that have made simple and refined pieces their stock-in-trade (think Nonnative, Alex Mill, and OAMC). But if you think this is another L.A. shop catering to the most basic set of boldfaced names, think again. Mohawk Man is a store more concerned with offering locals unadorned felt hats to keep the sun at bay or collarless shirts that fit in with the area’s bohemian vibes—best exhibited by the store’s stylish and ridiculously enthusiastic staff. They’re the ones who will help you look good, Silver Lake-style. Which is to say: without looking like you tried.—Liza Corsillo
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Unionmade
If the name of this store gives you flashbacks to the not-so-distant heyday of the urban lumberjack, outfitted in heritage American brands and a well-oiled beard, it should. Because Unionmade was founded in San Francisco back in 2009, on the early side of that prolonged movement, with the stated intent to sell well-made goods with a classic aesthetic. While American-made is no longer a hot topic in fashion circles—and tastemaker types have traded their Bean boots worn with raw selvedge denim for Yeezys worn with ripped jeans—the idea that men should look under the hood of their clothes has stuck. Beards have continued to sprout. And the vast majority of the stylish men in this country still go for hearty, rugged, classic-looking goods that hold up as well physically as they do aesthetically. And through it all, Unionmade has constantly evolved—diversifying its stock and subtly pushing the tastes of its dedicated clientele without ever selling out the house mission statement. And damn, is the product good. Every time we check in with this lively and easy-to-navigate store, we discover new brands (East Harbor Surplus, which is designed in South Korea and produced in Italy), unearth stuff we haven’t seen before from favorite lines (Our Legacy, Levi’s Vintage Clothing), and flip for the store’s own exclusives and collaborations (here’s hoping they keep the self-explanatory Unionmade Black collection alive). No matter where the stuff on the shelves here is manufactured—from Italy to Scandinavia to Maine—the rugged workwear aesthetic that Unionmade helped put on the map has become the baseline look of stylish American men. And this is still the best place in all the land to get some.—Will Welch
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In the Field
The little desert town of Ojai, California, has quickly become the go-to destination for SoCal cool seekers, and In the Field is a required stop in town. With a vast offering of menswear (vintage-inspired Sam Roberts hats and accessories), home goods (a gofer wood bar cart), and even surf gear (Christenson Surfboards), the boutique has the right amount of hippie vibes to keep you inspired and feeling good. (Yes, there is also a teepee.) When you're in Ojai, we’d argue it’s better to spend your money on rugged denim and beautiful handmade ceramics than a batch of crystal-healing sessions, anyway.—Michael Williams
