I know Fugazi once said “You have no control. You are not what you own,” but I am going to have to politely disagree with my favorite band. You DO have control, and in many ways, you ARE what you own. So please take all your Ed Hardy shirts, and kindly toss them in the fire pit. Here are the five best plain t-shirts for your buck.

1. Rugby’s sun faded pocket tee.

It takes a heck of a lot for me to head out for a night on the town wearing a t-shirt, but I swear to whatever god you worship, this is the best, most comfortable t-shirt on the planet. It’s thirty bucks, sure, but this ultra soft cotton shirt worth it.

2. American Apparel’s short sleeve v-neck.

Yes, yes, I know what a slimebag Dov Charney is, but you know what? He makes really great t-shirts that you don’t have to feel bad about buying. These Am Appy tees are under twenty-five bucks, are made in the USA, and are always comfortable as well as stylish. Just one note: make sure you are buying the ones with the shorter necks. Otherwise you’ll be showing off 40% of your upper torso. If you’re into that sort of thing, then just ignore my warning, and more power to you.

3. Lands’ End Canvas heritage v-neck tee.

With their Canvas line, Lands’ End has really taken stuff your dad or local golf enthusiast would normally wear, and made it look, well, much better. These bad boys fit nicely, and are extremely great shirts for sitting around the house or drinking beers on your roof. (Plus, they’re pretty inexpensive.)

4. Freemans Sporting Club crew neck.

I totally understand that a $44 dollar t-shirt isn’t exactly “bang for your buck,” but if you’ve got the cash, this shirt is like draping your upper body in a really nice looking cotton cloth.

5. Alternative Apparel Eco-Speckle gym rat tee.

Again, if you’ve got around fifty bucks to drop on a t-shirt, Alternative Apparel is a fantastic company with a mission you should get behind, and their stuff is the real deal vintage feel you’re looking for. (Personally, I’d buy my expensive t-shirts from them, and shop Freemans for their amazing shirts and trousers.)

The post The Dudes Are Alright: Death to False T-Shirts appeared first on The Faster Times.

Varvatos has done a masterful job at slyly selling his line. The campaign of black and white photos of rock and roll icons wearing his line has boosted his profile, but 2011 has been the banner year for Varvatos. First, it was this Chrysler commercial that is the highlight of the entire campaign aside from the kickoff spot with Eminem:

And now Varvatos has gotten the world’s greatest house band, The Roots, to appear in this incredibly cool new promo spot for his Fall/Winter line:

Follow more Dudes are Alright.

The post The Dudes Are Alright: How I Learned To Love John Varvatos (Hint: The Roots) appeared first on The Faster Times.

If you were to try and trace the lifeline of the American prep, Brooks Brothers might be your Adam (of “and Eve” fame). Although the company’s current offerings greatly differ from the time when the sons of Henry Sands Brooks took over the company in the mid-1800s, it remains an American institution; clothing some of the best and brightest this country has had to offer.

For decades, The Ivy League and the Golden Fleece symbol were intimately entangled. When you wanted great menswear in New York, you’d visit the Brooks Brothers flagship store; and when “prep” became a dirty word, Brooks Brothers stuck to their laurels.

Still, I’ve only recently found myself buying Brooks Brothers. My prior experiences with the brand weren’t the greatest: my mother forcing me to shop there for my school clothes, my Nana forcing me to wear my dead grandfather’s polo shirts. For more than a decade, I thought of Brooks Brothers the same way I thought of brands like The Gap and Abercrombie & Fitch—companies that had their moments, but had since then shit the bed, making crap for people uninterested in quality.

I was wrong. I made the mistake of looking at Brooks Brothers’ style and tradition and I thought it was boring. While affordable American menswear drifted aimlessly in a sea of polyester and sagging jeans, Brooks Brothers played anchor to ships like Ralph Lauren and J. Crew. The company, founded in 1818, is the conscience of American menswear. Whether we acknowledge it doesn’t matter.

While that’s all well and good, Brooks Brothers’ adherence to certain values doesn’t necessarily keep the money rolling in. Over the last two decades, several companies have incorporated the best parts of the Brooks Brothers brand into their catalogues, introducing them to unlikely customers like trendy Williamsburg types and hip-hop stars. Meanwhile, Brooks Brothers caters mostly to country clubbers and yacht owners, nearly rendering the company irrelevant to consumers under 40; however, they have only recently taken steps to bridge this gap. In 2007, Brooks Brothers introduced the Black Fleece line, a hand-stitched collection of slimmer, shorter and more modern looks; living somewhere between Gay Talese and 1960′s dandy. Now Brooks Brothers has announced the release of a line bearing the school colors and insignias of fifteen esteemed American colleges, including Harvard, Princeton, Cornell, Georgetown, Notre Dame and Vanderbilt.

These guys are upping their game. According to ESPN, there are about 172 million college sports fans in the U.S. About 20 percent of them earn more than $100,000 a year; 12 percent make $100,000-$150,000; and 8 percent earn more than $150,000. Brooks Brothers is prepared to court this demographic all the way to the bank. As Karl Haller, Vice President of Strategy and Business Development for Brooks Brothers, told Bloomberg News, “Most of what we position for college students is basic stuff.” Hailer also noted that a great deal of the student body have been observed wearing dress shirts and ties to Southeastern Conference football games. Hailer remarked, “We haven’t given them [students] collegiate suits and ties to wear.”

If this new venture pays off, maybe Brooks Brothers can bring style back to campus, giving students the tools to carry that over with them into the real world. We can only hope.

The post The Dudes Are Alright: How Brooks Brothers Rebranded Tradition appeared first on The Faster Times.