For anyone who doesn’t want to pay bourgeoise money to look proletarian, J. Crew’s Wallace & Barnes sub-line is worth checking out. The line has been around for a few years now, but has surprisingly attracted little attention from the menswear community. Not totally sure why. The pieces have more of a boutique feel than J. Crew’s mainline, are made from considerably better materials, and are supposedly inspired by the vintage pieces that Frank Muytjens and his team routinely collect for their design archive. All things that make other lines appealing, except that Wallace & Barnes doesn’t come with the same price tags.
Take these two shirts, for example. The first is made from a heavy and thick cotton canvas, and has an interweaving of brown and cream yarns that gives it a unique textured look. The side seams, yoke, and sleeves are all tripled-stitched, and the overall construction has a sturdiness that’s more reminiscent of RRL than J. Crew. The second shirt is an inky-blue, deep indigo-dyed piece, with a white pin dot pattern that has been woven into the fabric (rather than printed on). The subtle variegation in its coloring makes it feel more hand dyed and special — something more like what you’d expect from a niche Japanese label. I picked up both shirts on sale for $35 and $65, respectively. You can hardly drink at a bar in San Francisco these days with that kind of money.
Granted, the designs are not particularly unique, but the fabrications are nice, and the clothes are simple enough to be versatile. This season, Wallace & Barnes has things such as washed chambray shirts, which look better than Uniqlo’s (faux) Pure Blue Japan offering, and comes at a cheaper price thanChimala’s (you can add your own wear-and-tear for a more authentic look). There’s also some Japanese selvedge cotton chinos, which come in a heavier weight cotton than Left Field’s (a brand that I’ve come to really like), and a grey sweatshirt that’s presumably better than the company’s mainline. All things that you can probably pair with whatever casualwear you might have in your closet.
Again, the key is to buy all this stuff on sale, as J. Crew routinely discounts everything by 25-50%. They won’t come with the “artisanal” story of smaller brands, but you’ll have a story about how you saved money. That can sometimes be a good story as well.
(Pictured here: Cotton canvas and indigo pin dot shirts by J. Crew, loopwheeled pocket t-shirt by Barns, reversed sateen fatigues by Engineered Garments, olive Chromepak service boots by Viberg x 3sixteen, and navy cotton canvas D-ring belt by Ralph Lauren)
