Have you ever bought something that you’re convinced is going to be the greatest thing ever–and a short while later, you’ve completely changed your mind? You’re not alone! Buyer’s remorse is something that happens to many, if not, all of us. Here are 12 such examples in my wardrobe, and suggestions for more stylish alternatives.
- Wardrobe Items I Regret Buying
- 1. Fingerless Driving Gloves
- 2. Denim Jackets
- 3. Over-Embellished Clothing
- 4. Faux Glasses
- 5. Acrylic Scarves
- 6. Madras Shorts
- 7. Fast-Fashion Shirts
- 8. Linen Pants
- 9. Low-Quality No-Show Socks
- 10. Narrow Dress Shoes
- 11. Heavy Dress Shirts
- 12. Hats
- Conclusion: How to Rid Yourself of Regrettable Purchases
- Outfit Rundown
By the way, both Raphael, Preston, and our scriptwriters have compiled similar lists of regrettable items, so be sure to check those out, too!
Wardrobe Items I Regret Buying
1. Fingerless Driving Gloves
You have to admit they look pretty cool–but unless you really need that much extra grip strength when driving around in your Prius, you probably should leave these alone, lest you look like a burglar. I felt incredible in the store at first, but I soon realized I didn’t have a genuine place or time to wear these gloves, so they were never worn. And then, of course, there’s the small issue of me not currently owning or driving a luxury car like an Aston Martin, a Bugatti, a Corvette, or anything like that!
For a selection of high-quality driving gloves, though, it’s worth checking out the offerings from the Fort Belvedere shop.
2. Denim Jackets
I really enjoy denim jackets and I’ve bought a few of them over the years, but I almost never wear them. I believe they sit in my closet because of the typical shorter body length that denim jackets are almost always offered in.
I usually prefer wearing jackets that go a little bit past my waist. I’m already tall to begin with, so wearing something in a shorter body length like a denim jacket makes me feel like I’m shopping at Gap Kids.
3. Over-Embellished Clothing
Now, we all might have our own interpretation of what “over-embellished” actually means. But I’m not referring to clothing that represents a particular cultural heritage, or that has a certain type of functionality; for example, extra pockets on a military garment. I’m talking about clothing that is so busy that an onlooker will be quite distracted when they try to talk to you.
Clothing that has so many buttons, patterns, colors–one has to wonder where in the world you’re actually going? I once bought a few shirts like this; so many colors, stripes, and patterns, that if I were to wear it in a crowd, you would never lose me.
![Over-embellished clothing can be quite distracting to onlookers. [Image Credit: Shoppingcarnival]](https://www.gentlemansgazette.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/embellished-1030x579.jpg "Embellished")
4. Faux Glasses
It’s not that I dislike the concept of wearing faux glasses from time to time, but the style of frame that I chose was just a little bit too trendy for me. Going forward, I will stick to glasses that actually help me see. Crazy concept, I know, but I will still keep an eye out for some fun faux glasses to wear from time to time for a fun occasion.
Need help choosing the right eyeglasses or sunglasses? We’ve put together a bunch of guides you’ll enjoy!
5. Acrylic Scarves
I suppose I could have also said “acrylic anything,” as I’m not a huge fan of this material. However, acrylic scarves in particular are something I highly regret purchasing. Initially, I was quite happy with my selection. I liked the style of the scarf, but I soon found that after wearing it, in the middle of the day, I would find large clumps of the acrylic fabric on my beard and head, which was very irritating.
Lesson learned: I got what I paid for. In the future, I’m investing in better quality scarves, especially those made from natural fibers.
6. Madras Shorts
In truth, I’ve really liked all the madras shorts that I purchased. I wore them around for a while, but then I soon realized that I looked like I had just retired. In other words, they were not an age-appropriate fit or style for me. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t try them, though, especially if your style skews more traditional (like Raphael’s and Preston’s, for example).
7. Fast-Fashion Shirts
I enjoy the ease of being able to supplement my closet with an inexpensive shirt to wear on occasion. But I’ve found these fast fashion shirts to occasionally break down in the laundry and to very often be too tight across my chest.
I still browse for shirts from stores like Gap or American Eagle from time to time, but I prefer–and recommend that you buy–high-quality products from reputable brands to prevent future headaches.
8. Linen Pants
These are so comfortable, lightweight, and airy–but they wrinkle like no other! We know that the wrinkle is a natural feature of the linen fabric. However, this amazing feature might make one look as though they are wearing pajama pants. This may come down to the fit and styling of the trousers so again, it depends on the style you are going for.
9. Low-Quality No-Show Socks
Nothing can be as irritating to me as when I’m starting a run at the gym or walking around in a nice outfit, and all of a sudden, I start to feel my socks take on a bit of a mind of their own and crawl below my heel. Then I have to completely stop what I’m doing, take off my shoes and pull my socks back down my feet.
This tends to happen on a lot of low-quality socks, where the fabric is shrinking and the grip on the heel is just not that strong. Fort Belvedere doesn’t offer no-show socks yet, but stay tuned!
10. Narrow Dress Shoes
I remember buying a really sharp pair of leather dress shoes many years ago, but every time I wore them, they felt incredibly tight across my toes. I told myself, “They’re leather, they’ll stretch out.” But you might have already guessed, they did not stretch out. I ended up walking around the rest of the day like a newborn giraffe; my feet were not happy with me. I have learned my lesson: take the time to try on different shoe widths at a store.
11. Heavy Dress Shirts
I don’t know if you’re anything like me, but I’ve got this incredible ability to get really warm and sweaty and to look like I just ran a mile when I haven’t even done anything. Therefore, I find it incredibly helpful to invest in clothing that breathes easily. Heavy clothing (and a shirt in particular) that doesn’t breathe easily is usually going to just sit in my closet, and I will avoid putting it on.
12. Hats
I really like hats and the different styles we can all choose from. I’ll occasionally buy a hat style that I enjoy, but I always go back to my default hat choice of a baseball cap. Every time I try on a fedora or buy a trendy beanie cap style over the winter, I almost never wear it and it just collects dust in my closet.
As with a few other items on this list, this all comes down to my personal style. However, if you’re curious about trying to add classic hats to your wardrobe, our series on hats might be helpful.
Conclusion: How to Rid Yourself of Regrettable Purchases
We’ve all had a time where we bought something that we thought was fantastic, but soon had a change of heart and regretted that purchase. Whether you bought these items because of peer pressure or a desire to not miss out on a movement or a trend, don’t lose heart. There’s plenty of ways that you can rid your closet of these things that you no longer want.
Two of my personal favorite ways are donating and reselling. Donating is a great (and environmentally friendly) way to give those gently used items to someone who could really use them. Reselling is another option I occasionally will use, as I like recouping some of the lost money I spent on that item.
What menswear items have you regretted buying, and why? Share with us in the comments section!
Outfit Rundown
I’m wearing a rust-colored cardigan I picked up from Banana Republic against a cream pair of jeans I have from J Brand. I’m wearing that with a dark denim style shirt and a pair of boots I picked up from Taft. Of course I’m adding in a fun lightweight pair of shadow striped socks from the Fort Belvedere shop.
Flat caps FTW. A guy has to have the facial proportions just right to properly pull off a fedora (and, I think, be in the over 40 club). I wear them when I need to protect from sun (Panama fedora) and rain (wool felt), and I fit into both the right facial proportion club and the over 40 club. At all other times, flat caps are where it’s at.
As for shirts so loud they could drown out Metallica… been there, done that. Ah, college.
And yes, acrylic is the devil. So is polyester. Even writing the name of those two materials makes me start to sweat and spark.
As Dame Edna once said ‘ beware – over use of acrylic will make it an endangered species’.
Thank you very much, Kyle, for this episode. I’m in my late 50s and still make purchasing mistakes. I always hope the next one will be a winner.
Best wishes for continued success!
Glad you liked it, Andrew! And no worries, if the next time does not work for you, you’ll always have options – donate or resell. ;)
Great article. I’ve been guilty of buying sportcoats on sale that I later regretted. Pattern was too jazzy or the fit wasn’t quite right. The fact that the deal was so sweet clouded my thinking. Done the same with shoes too. I shook out of this habit when I finally got my weight where I wanted it. So as a reward I now buy LESS, buy BETTER, and put stuff back if I really, really don’t need.
Cheers.
Oh yes, the dreaded sale items. If I had a dollar for every time, whether it be myself or a family member, bought clothing items because it was on sale or because it was cheap (on the argument everyone can use a $3 t-shirt) I could retire a wealthy individual :) Even if the fit wasn’t quite right as in your case. I guess that’s how retailers sucker people in and together with the FOMO culture, it’s obviously working.
That is a wonderful idea, Mark! Totally agree on buy BETTER. ;)
Greatest wardrobe/style regrets:
1) Arm candy from my 1980’s Hollywood days. Saved costs by not marrying/having entitled brats/divorce, Rinse/Repeat.
2) Porsche 924, only to have every woman look at my crotch and imagining “Tinky Winky.” Sometimes not requiring Porsche to consider that.
3) Early brick cell phone to tell my friends at $1.50/minute that I had a brick cell phone.
4) Over-the-top Italian suits with unconventional cuts that stayed in style a far shorter time than the payments.
5) Huge and unwieldy Montblanc fountain pen because “it was a Prestige Power Tool for a Lifetime.” Clearly made for non-Porsche drivers. That means several things.
6) First two wedding rings because I forgot #1 above.
7) Giant screen projection TVs and video disc players (Google that crap). And because I learned nothing, a huge plasma screen later (you might have to Google that too), despite hating to watch sports on TV. Also movies that I didn’t know anyone in the credits. Doo-shay!
8) “In therapy” because it was the thing to do, and mostly discussing why I bought all this style-less crap. And the Porsche thing. This was a fashion statement in itself at the time.
9) McMansion with amazing decoration so far out of the city to impress people that no one would drive out to visit me.
10) Wool socks. Again, in California.
11) Books on “How Young People Talk Today” by authors older than me. “Totally Bitchin’!” is still a thing?
12) “Toto Forever” tattoo on back. Don’t recall getting that.
13) Purchases made in the late 1980s that I also don’t recall. Both the years and the clothes.
That about covers it for now. So Kyle T, I think you’re doing great! Also, I said “Kyle T.” Is douchiness a fashion thing?
Love this site, gentlemen. You and your readers rock (still a thing to say? No? Sheesh.) Looking forward to more great info!
Yeah, the 80’s were not exactly the most stylish decade. Neon headbands, anyone? We never knew just how ridiculous we looked back in those days. The bigger, brighter and clashier it was, the better. Now I look back and cringe at the photos. They make my eyes bleed (or maybe it’s from me clawing at them…)
And don’t get me started on McMansions.
Good points. But I do miss US suit manufacturers like Norman Hilton and medium length suits that used to fit me right off the rack. Now it’s short or long – and I’m in between.
Wow! Thank you for sharing your experience with us, Craig! I guess at some point, all of us have regrettable purchases. :)
That was pretty entertaining! My greatest hobby is music, so most of my post-purchase regrets involve guitars, amplifiers, and other toys like that. However, I will say that I have a weakness for outerwear, and have bought a lot of coats and jackets over the years that simply didn’t pan out. Wrt hats, I have worked over the years as a field crew member on a large number of professional sporting events – mostly football (i.e. soccer, as opposed to “handegg”), and have amassed a rather large collection of baseball caps from various tournaments, teams, and events that I basically never wear. Rather, in the colder months, I prefer either a fedora, an Akubra Traveler, a wool ‘newsboy’ cap, or a “fiddler’s’ cap, and in the summer something that provides more shade than a ballcap. I think a baseball cap is great for a child or very young man, but by the time you have some grey in your hair, it seems rather forced to me.
Hi Robert, glad you liked it! Thank you for sharing your experiences with us. Sounds like you have a nice collection of baseball caps! :)
I applaud the sharing of the items that we all should have known that were wrong, and bought them anyway. Like so many things little failures are learning experiences.When we learn good. When we repeat the mistake…we try again.
Gary O’Neal
We agree! We all learn from our mistakes. :)
The clothes I regret most were concert t-shirts, shirts that advertised some type of product, and sports themed clothes from sports or teams I didnt really care about. I have long since divested myself of these item types. After all I only have so much storage and prefer to fill it with things I will actually wear.
I work for a company that makes shoes – we stock leather jackets in some stores and I used to be able to get them for little more than cost – I ended up with a different one every season but I never wore any of them – like Raphaels’ denim jacket.
I also think anything you buy you need to wear straight away – you feel good in it while you still remember how you felt trying it on in the store. This effect is even more important if it’s a look you need to wear with confidence – things like a trilby or fedora hat (I have 2 and wear them regularly) or a leather double breasted overcoat – think SHAFT movie with Richard Rowntree.
Sorry, was Kyle with the denim jacket – not Raphael.
I enjoyed that read. And I agreed with it all – or almost all. I’d like to stand up for the hat. Let’s face it gents … one’s hat collection becomes more significant as the years progress if one’s hair becomes less so. By investing in well-chosen hat you can support some of the worlds remaining traditional makers. There are still hat makers – some of them small artisan companies – in the USA, UK and beyond. But you have to hunt them out. The JJ Hat Center in NYC is worth a look as are hats by Locke and Co, Bates, and Christys here in London. These are the established brands. There will be others manufacturing at lower levels. It’s also a chance to support domestic manufacturing. A proper hat, worn well can make us look elegant and distinctive. The baseball cap looks great on Babe Ruth and USAF airmen in the 1940s but for the most part I’d suggest leaving today’s offerings to the teenagers and the tourists and going for something a little more considered.
Well said, Antony!
Hi Antony,
I get where you’re coming from about hats, especially about making one look distinctive and elegant. Using GG as an example, Preston is definitely a textbook example of the latter (and Raphael seems to wear them really well, too) from the photos I’ve seen. I personally have nothing against them myself, especially on a warm summer’s day to provide sun protection. In saying that, though, hats are like a lot of things: some really like them and rock them with confidence whereas others feel uncomfortable wearing them and it shows, too.
I do tend to agree with you on the baseball cap one. Apart from playing sport, especially if you’re part of a sporting team, or attending a sporting match (with your team’s logo/mascot) or maybe a casual concert (a mate of my loves Elton John and bought a special souvenir baseball cap to wear at a casual concert when he came to Australia just before Christmas 2019), baseball caps don’t have much of a place in a gentleman’s wardrobe. Even in primary school when we had to wear hats outdoors in Terms 1 and 4, I opted for the wide brimmed hat from my first primary school (if one wanted to buy the school uniform hat, the only option was a cap) when I switched schools simply because I preferred the design and greater sun protection. It raised questions from other kids as to why I couldn’t just wear a cap but I didn’t really care.
A few years back I was in Calgary for the Stampede, the largest rodeo in the world, and everywhere they were selling straw cowboy hats for $20 CND. “I’ll get one” I announce to my friend who had just returned to Canada after a few years in Africa. She, an attractive thin blonde, turned to me and said “I bought some wonderful colorful clothes in Africa which looked great when I was there, however once I came back to Canada I just looked silly. So how will you feel about that hat once you head home to Boston?” Wise words from someone with some fashion experience. Ha!
Wise words, indeed Hank!
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