The only way to be more comfortable than naked (environmental and social factors allowing) is by wearing a nice suit and shirt.
I said this often, I meant it, and I didn’t know any better. For years my calling card was a classic style of two and three piece suits, beautiful Borsalino hats and as often as not a cigar too close out a productive day. I actually rolled my eyes at the terrible faux-pas of someone on a shoe with rubber soles instead of leather ones. Hoodies were… well.. hoodies. How the times change…
This is SharpestThought anno 2020 in a Vollebak Isolation Hoodie:
It took a while for me to become a true convert to the wonders and benefits of techwear, but clearly, I’m a true convert now. Comfort, versatility, utility, the environment and last but not least the looks have changed my mind. For the better, I’m sure. After this write up you may feel the same…
It’s real easy to stand out with a sharp business suit, beautiful shirt and Hermès tie. By not wearing them in places where everybody else is. My added value is thinking outside the box, challenging the status quo, driving innovation and taking the lead on risky, unproven business models. That’s what I do. Looking like a Wall Street finance guy from the mid nineties lands me with a serious believability problem…
… walking into a room full of suits wearing clothes made of carbon fiber, ceramics or kevlar makes heads turn and commands instant recognition as ‘that innovation guy’. Score one for the future!
Lately I’ve developed a real affinity for with brands like enfin levé, Seagale, Thunderbolt and especially Vollebak. These brands continually push the frontiers of fashion and functionality by creating clothes that do multiple things really well, and are collectively part of the Techwear style of fashion that is making waves from Japanese and Korean pop bands to U.S. Special forces types and the Hiphop / Urban crowd. Designers like Errolson Hugh have influenced and collaborated with mainstream brands like Nike and Stone Island to step up their game, and so tech wear is starting to become more mainstream. Still, walking into a room full of suits wearing shirts and hoodies made of carbon fiber, ceramics or kevlar makes heads turn and commands instant recognition as ‘that innovation guy’. Score one for the future!
This was SharpestThought c.a. 2017, putting the fashion in ‘old fashioned’, or is it the old?…
What tech wear can do for you
These days are reliably unpredictable. Everything is changing. Where you work, what you do, the climate, you name it. Wearing a limited yet highly versatile wardrobe of materials that are as comfortable and good looking is a definite asset. Techwear is your friend inside as much as outside. A day in 2020 can easily consist of making a YouTube movie in the morning (and that camera sees everything), attended a company event remotely mid afternoon, walking to a corner café in the rain and doing some yoga in a nearby studio, wearing the same things throughout the day. Techwear keeps you comfortable, looking hella sharp and with it, and keeps up with your moves (or lack thereof) without any restrictions or wear. Plus, cotton can acquire a definite… aroma. This stuf never smells (with the one exception of takeout smell for some reason, I think it’s to encourage healthy living), and is water and stain resistant to boot. Coffee will just pearl off of the surface instead of landing you with a nice warm spot to clean out. I still wash my tech wear clothes a bunch because I don’t like the accumulation of dead skin cells and other detritus of daily life, but that’s more hypochondria than actual need.
The leverage of materials science
Materials science, especially the science of fabrics, is fascinating and capable of extraordinary things. Our cars, planes, surround set speakers and even our flower beds are suffused with high tech fabrics, but often our daily wear lags behind. Cotton, wool, some synthetics, the occasional dash of silk, that’s about it. Mostly stuff your great-grandfather would have recognised, if not worn.
Right now a lot of tech wear is pretty expensive, but that comes with the territory of doing something ahead of the curve. It’s usually responsibly made, featuring the blue sign label for sustainable and non polluting production, and being made in countries like Portugal where there is absolutely no sweatshop or child labor going on. The trends, technology and benefits of tech wear are starting to transfer to more mainstream brands as well.
Subscribers to this Substack get access to exclusive content like reviews of all my techwear clothing and other experiments I run in daily life with food, implants, nootropics, exercise and more! Also, this post is available as a podcast to paid subscribers.Clothing that is harder wearing (especially in terms of abrasion resistance and resistance to tear) is much better value and a far cry from the unsustainable fast fashion frippery that is made for a single season before heading into the rag bin. This way the science that goes into tech wear has effects across the value chain: better materials, better production, better experience in wearing it, longer lasting and requiring fewer laundry runs. That adds up to real benefits for people and planet.
Techwear clothes tend to be comfortable across a wider range of temperatures then regular stuff, and is usually festooned with pockets. I can manage to go in and out of the office without adding or removing layers in temperatures between five and twenty five Celsius in my ‘regular’ outfit. All the while, I have all my gear including phone charges and stuff on me without having a bulky profile. Look like Spiderman, carry like Mary Poppins. What’s not to like?
Looking ahead
What exites me is the long term perspective that clothing can be a great asset in everybody’s life, and that if we can make the technologies, fabrics, and production behind this techwear cheap at scale, everyone can enjoy the benefits. Actually, the harder your life is, the more important your clothing becomes! Protection, utility, durability etc are not matters of life or death for me but they can be for people who currently wear whatever they can get a hold of. I’d happily overpay for a carbon fibre shirt if it means that somewhere in the near future these things can be cheap and ubiquitous, so people need to buy (and eventually discard) far fewer clothes because the ones we have are so great. I want fashion to move back out of the ’Gilette mentality’ of buy it, use it, toss it and back into the mentality of ‘buy once, wear forever’.
Enjoying my Condition Black ceramic base layer in the podcast studio. This thing has been with me for years now and still looks like new despite being in frequent rotation, including many trips to the local CrossFit box, the office and an active lifestyle.
Getting started with techwear
For starters I’d recommend more or less normal looking, but highly technical brands like the Ministry of Supply, Tunderbolt Sportswear or the excellent French brand Seagale. If you’d like to dip your toes into the look as well, brands like Uniqlo and Under Amour have several lines that bring both the materials and the fashion elements of tech wear into play without looking overly casual. If you are going all out, look into brands like Errolson Hugh’s ǍCROŇYM, enfin levé or Vollebak (my personal favourite). This is… not cheap, but comes with all the perks. From keynote speeches to a rainy afternoon outside, this gets you in and out in comfort and style. As sailors (and Swedish) say, there is no bad weather, only bad clothes. For more practical information about techwear, layering, commonly used terms and a bunch of brands, check out this article at Grailed.
In short, tech wear provides
Distinctive ‘mr. Innovation’ looks
Materials that resist water and stains while breathable and odor-resistant
Great comfort
Long-lasting durability
A large amount of well-designed pockets for gear
Flexibility to go indoors and outdoors in different environments without a lot of dressing up and down
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Stay productive, and make things happen!
-SharpestThought