Seventy Five bucks. That’s a lot of money. It’ll get you a couple pairs of Levi’s
Pro-Keds Royal Lo Plus Suede – $72.98 ($85)
Give me ALL the stripes. I honestly didn’t know Pro-Keds were still going strong, let alone making sneakers in suede, not just the basic canvas. On sale via Huckberry.
PairOfThieves Super Fit Boxer Briefs – $11.49 per / $22.99 2 pack
While not featured in our Great Men’s Underwear Showdown post, Pair of Thieves seems to be a favorite to some here. The super-lightweight, moisture-wicking, 85% Polyamide, 15% Spandex cooling-mesh fabric in their SuperFit (SF) style is perfect for the recent heat wave, and come in plenty of cool designs and colors. More styles can be found direct through the brand, but it seems like Target has them beat easily on price? UPDATE: The brand says that the Target line is “a different line” with “different construction.” Whatever that means. Anywho, they also said you can knock 20% off direct through them with Dapper20 (NOT Dappered20, Dapper20). So we got that goin’ for us. Which is nice.
Made in the USA Nordstrom Carter Leather Dress Belt – $49.90 ($69.50)
A good, clean looking, timeless dress belt can be hard to find. I don’t know why. Either the leather stinks (both literally and figuratively), and/or the buckles are too clunky/weirdly designed. That doesn’t seem to be the case here. At all. USA made too. Ships and returns for free. Part of the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale.
GAP GapFit Breathe Pique Polo Shirt – $22 ($39.50)
Surprisingly nice for the price. Cool and crisp tech-pique. No cotton in here, all tech. Size shown above is a medium on 5’10” / 200lbs, so, one could say they run a bit big. But get the sizing right and the fit is pretty darn good. One word of warning: the white is translucent. Not transparent, but, translucent. Some won’t give a hoot. But it’ll be a deal breaker for others.
Banana Republic Biking Raccoon Sock – $8.70 ($14.50)
They did it. They actually did it. Those magnificent bastards at Banana Republic put a trash panda riding a bike on some socks. These are magnificent times in which we live. Drops to under nine bucks when 40% off.
Fire Season by Philip Connors – $11.90
Part memoir, part fire-science lesson, part rolling metaphor of how we, an otherwise insignificant, bothersome biped, can really screw up the world around us, even (especially) when we’re trying to “help” it. We have made mistakes. We will make more mistakes. Blame for the sake of scoring political “points” in drunken conversation or over the super-conductor of toxicity that is social media only delays us from either fixing our wrongs, or, getting the hell out of the way so Mother Nature can do it for us. Enormous thanks to Tracie I. for the tip here!
Nordstrom Men’s Shop Alton Chukka Boot – $79.90 ($125)
Close enough to the $75 price cap, plus, these ship and return for free. So they have that going for them. Available in stone suede, brown leather, and black leather. Leathers are allegedly sourced from Italy? Full disclosure: Those chukkas at the very top of the post are also from Nordstrom, but they’re last year’s 1901 “Bradford.” Also $80. But they look awfully close to these Altons. The soles even seem to be super close, if not identical. Fingers crossed that the quality is just as good, because those Bradfords were incredible for the price.
Elis James & John Robins Podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live
What tremendous nonsense this is. Some of you will absolutely hate it. But if you’re like me, the constant barrage of news from the very, very serious world can feel very, very serious. This is a bit of a break. And these guys understand what they’re doing. Unlike many other “breaks” from that seriousness, they don’t seem to, I don’t know, take their “break” from the seriousness… too seriously? I know that sounds clunky, but you get the feeling that with many other distractions (some sports *cough* GOLF *cough*, some art, some entertainment), the producers of that stuff often lose sight of the fact that they, grand-scheme, don’t amount to a hill of beans. Elis and John somehow wrap their arms around the silliness, have gotten very, very good at it, yet that talent and success hasn’t seen them slide into the cesspit that is delusions of grandeur. That’s a tough trick to pull.
Amazon Rivet Pike Factory Industrial “Antique Brass” Table Lamp – $59
Be honest with yourself. Does your “lamp game” suck? That could unintentionally say a lot of not so great things about you. For the longest time the only lamp I owned was a fluorescent orange (yes, orange) floor lamp with a matching, translucent, upturned “bowl” style shade I picked up at Walmart in my college-town for like $15. Anyone (especially the ladies) could take one look at my pathetically poorly lighted and shabbily “decorated” bachelor pad and understandably think: “this man-child is more child than man.” Look, it’s about more than the stupid lamps. But lamps (or lack there of) can be an indicator. Of what? Hell if I know. But some even call it the Lamp Litmus. Overhead lighting is fine and all, but at some point you’ve got to want something between those overheads and, well, nothing. That’s where lamps come in. And there are plenty of options (like this “antique brass” option from the Amazon home-goods brand “Rivet”) that are NOT bright orange, or, have a shade that does nothing but collect dead bugs and cobwebs.
Gustin Made in the USA Slub Pocket-T 3PK – $44
A ton of great things going on here, which you wouldn’t think would be possible since they’re just simple t-shirts. 100% organic cotton, 5 oz weight, trim but not tight fit, slightly tapered body, and they’re made in the USA. Breaks down to $14.66 per t-shirt. Sure, they’re just t-shirts. But they’re really good “just” t-shirts. Estimated ship date is September/October.
For other Best Bets under $75 from previous months, click here.