Seventy Five dollars. That’s a lot of money. It’ll get you a couple pairs of Levi’s, a nice dinner out, or a couple months at your local gym. Seventy Five dollars. It is a lot of money, especially if you spend it right. Ten picks follow, all for $75 or under, and some of them are much, much less.
1. H&M Waxed Canvas Weekender – $59.95
Utilitarian in it’s simplicity. Waxed canvas exterior, two grab handles up top, a simple shoulder strap to go hands free, and appears to be good size (they don’t give you the depth measurement).
2. Mitchell Leather Money Clip Wallet – $49, $79, or $149
Serving as an update here, four months after the original purchase. Love this thing. Works great, looks incredible, and is aging well. Shown above in the $79 Horween Chromexel in Burgundy. Haven’t had any issues with the metal binding causing trouble against fabrics (jacket pockets, pants pockets, etc… no catching, wearing, or tearing issues).
3. Declaration Clothing Made in the USA Tee – $28
That’s a lot of money for a t-shirt, but, they were just on sale through Huckberry at a discount. Fingers crossed that they end up back there. Look, graphic tees aren’t the most popular thing among style-fans, but these are made in the USA, trim fitting, extremely soft, and there’s history behind their designs. A splurge.
UPDATE: The guys at Declaration Clothing caught wind of their shirts making the Best Bets, and they wanted to offer 20% off to all of us w/ the code Dappered. Code expires Sunday 7/20. Many thanks to them for doing that!
4. TheTieBar Royal Blue Gingham Cotton Pocket Square – $8.00
A crisp, white, linen or cotton pocket square is always gonna be #1 with a bullet… but a royal blue gingham is a solid #2. It gets a lot of play this time of year (warmer weather = more color), and it even looks good next to deeper, darker navy. Super cheap through TheTieBar.
5. Aston Grey “Jetway” Suede Derby – $79.95
A bit over the $75 limit, but DSW runs sales often, and they do ship free with the code SHIPR (so we got that goin’ for us, which is nice). Big fan of their “dien” suede buck (which appears to be identical to Banana Republic’s “Owen”), but these are noticeably slimmer through the sole & toe. Available in the two shades shown above.
6. Glenmorangie 12 yr Nectar d’Or Single Malt – $65.99
Real summery… for a single malt Scotch. Spends a decade in Bourbon casks, then gets finished off in Sauternes (a sweeter, French wine) barrels. Lots of citrus & honey without being overly sweet. Plenty of spice to mull over as well. Not the smokey, earthy stuff some Scotch fans reach for in the colder months. Quite the opposite.
7. Cole Haan Greenwich Leather Money Clip – $11 – $12
($48)
It’s oddly difficult to find a basic leather money clip with a little bit of personality. The Cole Haan Greenwich line delivers, but is usually way overpriced at between $30 – $50. Now? Dirty cheap via Amazon. Dirt Cheap at CH too, but they won’t ship free and fast like they will through Amazon if you have Prime.
8. Nordstrom Reversible Dress Belt – $32.90 anniv. pre-sale ($49.50)
There are a lot of really bad belts out there. Seems like 95% of the affordable dress belts out there are stuck with buckles that are either too big or too shined up. This one doesn’t seem to suffer from either of those drawbacks. Plus, the curve to the buckle is a welcome change from the usual 90 degree angles. Ships & returns free, and is currently at this price as part of the Nordstrom Anniversary Pre-Sale, which you have to be a card member to access (sale opens to general public on Friday).
9. Polo Ralph Lauren Willem Loafer in Tan – $74.99 ($99)
Gets a lot of things right that other drivers get wrong. Bit of color across the top with the strap, subtle logo tag on the side, and decent quality for being a (now) $75 pair of easy to wear summer drivers.
10. Old Navy Slim Fit Twill 5-Pocket Pants – $12.99 ($29.94)
Huge thanks to reader Eli for pointing out how good of a deal these slim-fit 5 pockets are: “The material is soft but not flimsy. They’re cut slim without being skinny, and I even have larger thighs and they still fit great. I got 4 of ’em…” Code SAVINGS knocks an extra 20% off through Wednesday. UPDATE: Not it doesn’t… at least not on clearance items, which these are tagged as such. Dang. No ten dollar pants. Thirteen dollar pants though.
BONUS: Ledbury Wessex Stripe – $75 if… you got that rue la la deal…
But that’s a pretty big if. Remember about a month ago, when the flash-sale site Rue La La did a spend $75 get a $150 voucher to shirtmaker Ledbury? Right. Already burn through that thing? Probably. But if you haven’t (and you picked one up) consider the slightly out-of-the-ordinary Wessex Stripe Button down. Nice sized collar for going tieless, and obviously the corners of the collar will be kept in line thanks to the buttons. Looks great with a navy linen or cotton blazer, or under a much lighter colored suit jacket.
For other best bets under $75 from previous months, click here.
Sweet deal on the Old Navy pants, but shipping at $7 kind of kills the deal.
Like, I imagine, a not insignificant number of us, I used to be a nigh-exclusive wearer of graphic tees. I had, quite literally, dozens of them. I could go a whole month and not wear a single one twice. They were all too big for me, and most of them rather loudly proclaimed my nerdiness. I even made my own graphic tee, once, with one of those iron-on transfer sheets.
When I lost weight and decided to start caring about how I dressed, I stopped wearing my graphic tees almost overnight. All of them. I went probably a year without wearing a single graphic tee.
But, you know what? There’s nothing inherently WRONG with graphic tees. Going to a metal show? Throw on that thrifted Iron Maiden graphic tee. Not that I own a Maiden tee — but I do wear my Spamalot tee (bought when Spamalot was on tour) sometimes. And I’ve gotten more “I like your shirt” compliments on the Spamalot tee than I’ve ever gotten on any other article of clothing. Yeah, it’s not as nice or polished as a good polo in the summer months, but sometimes you don’t need those things. Headed to the beach or the marina? No reason not to wear the tee posted above — it’s got a nautical theme, you’ll be fine!
(Oh, and I kept those old graphic tees around. They’re great shirts for the gym, where I don’t much care how I look. And the old XXL tees are a great reminder of how I used to dress and how much bigger I used to be. They’re good motivation to keep going.)
Try in store, or, buy a shirt or something from GAP/BR/ON and get above the $50 free shipping pre-code threshold. GAP inc. actually has one of the lower free shipping thresholds in the industry (aside from those that offer free shipping no min all the time)
Is the free shipping cross-site/brand for GAP?
I can’t get the old navy code to work on the pants, anyone else having an issue with that?
The Old Navy “SAVINGS” code doesn’t work on clearance items, including those pants.
Yep, same cart/shopping bag. At least it was the last time I ordered across the brands.
Son of a. Well that stinks. Thanks adam. Updated above.
I’ll second that Glenmorangie. I’m not a Scotch fan really at all, but this one is a great intro (just from my perspective) to what drinking Scotch is all about. I tried the sherry casks (that one’s an 18-year), but just couldn’t get a grasp on it. Having said, after I tried this one, I’m a fan. Definitely recommended.
Even at $13, I think I’ll have to bite at the Old Navy pants– they’re not the best best quality, but I’ve been wearing a couple pairs regularly for about 2 years and they’ve held up fairly well
buy 2 pairs of pants and its free shipping
If you sign up for the Old Navy email (can be any email that you can check, not the one your account is associated with) to get an additional 20% off. As an added bonus, if you meet the free shipping threshold of $50, you’ll get to keep the free shipping even after the coupon applies: 4 pants for $41.57 + tax shipped instead of $51.96 + tax shipped.
Not sure if this direct link will work, but you can also find it off of retailmenot or on the Old Navy homepage in the bottom right under “Find Us | Email sign-up”: https://secure-oldnavy.gap.com/profile/info.do?cid=52346&src=Site_TextFooter&mlink=5151,3446303,9&clink=3446303
Now if you’re making a case for solid white pocket squares for under $10, JCF item 05580 might just fit the bill. SHOPSHOP code gives free shipping until tomorrow night (while TTB may not for that blue gingham pattern). Seems to be backordered, though.
I cannot reccomend that Nectar d’Or enough
I can’t get the coupon to apply for some reason on those Gap pants.
Re: that link to the About section of Declaration clothing. And here I was thinking I was the only Klepacki in the US apart from my family. And bias aside, if I’m gonna buy a graphic tee, these seem the way to go.
Hmm. Most 18 years are probably too much for casual Scotch drinker.
Might I suggest the 12 year sherry cask Glenmorangie Lasanta.
I don’t think I’ve had that one. I definitely look into it.
I actually have 3 of the declaration clothing tees (including the one above, Join or Die, and the Eagle, Globe, and Anchor). They do actually fit fairly well for a tee and are incredibly soft. That being said, at 5’11 and 170, I’m slightly in between a M and L, as I generally don’t like looking as if I’m wearing my kid sister’s t-shirt. But to each their own.
Copped on a couple pairs of the J Crew Mcallister boot in store this week for a pretty killer deal. The grey suede were $45 and the “stone” or beige color was $50. Your mileage may vary, but they had lots of them sitting on the sale rack for 50% off the already-sale price when I went last Tuesday (admittedly, that’s almost a week ago now though).
I’m curious what peoples take are on the fake croc/alligator (printed or embossed cow leather) that seems ubiquitous nowadays (money clips, card cases, belts and watch straps)? I don’t quite understand why that’s a thing.
I do not mean this as an over-critique of the Nordstrom belt (it looks fine enough in its own right), but it maybe should not be labeled a dress belt. It is 1.5 inches wide, and most dressier belts are thinner. I’m sure it’d go great with dressing up jeans/chinos, though.
Are these pants on sale in store as well?
I just had them put two pairs on hold for me and they were still 50% off. Thanks for the tip.
I just went to my store to pick up a pair. They had them on sale for $20. I was able to talk the cashier to ask the manager for an override. They sold them to me for $13, but “they don’t normally price match the website” as she said. Kind of stupid, but I still got the good price on the pants.
I just figured out that you can get an extra 20% off the pants with the new email introductory offer