Urgent help needed. Best shirts on a budget and other questions.

[EnglishFeller]

Hey SF, need your help pretty desperately.

I'm going back into sixth form in 20 days (sixth form is essentially college but at our school you're forced to get business wear). Obviously I want to look as SF as possible for this, I've saved up £345 to spend on a bag and shoes.

My parents will then pay (within reason) for the shirts, belt and trousers.

Now for the bag, I was hoping to get the thin Saddleback Leather briefcase which is $411, I'd need a proxy for this because with import tax that's like £400. So first question is, who's the most trusted proxy on SF? This will hopefully cost about £250 leaving me with £95 for shoes (I'm sure if the shoes are slightly over I'll be able to scavenge enough to meet the price).

What would you guys recommend for the shoes? I'll get the briefcase in whatever colour the shoes are in. What's the best quality shoe I can get for the cheapest amount of money? No loafers please, though. Nothing against them, just not my kinda thing. I can assume I'll be able to spend around £100 on the shoes but the lower the better.

Finally, the shirts. Where can I get some nice looking button down collar shirts in the UK? Again, price is an issue here. I'll need at least 5 washable shirts.

If you do take the time to give me a response you have my utmost thanks. I see threads like these just being ignored all the time.

Cheers. :foo:

 

[Liquidus]

I would suggest that you spend more on the shoes and less on the briefcase, but I'm guessing you're pretty set on getting that briefcase.

 

[Teggeh]

So it's like high school?

Cheap shirts if that's the case, save your money until you get a job then spend the money.

 

[EnglishFeller]

Hmm, I do love the look of it. And I'll have to buy new shoes next year too so I don't want to splash out on them just yet. I know what you mean though.

 

[Pendulum]



Hey SF, need your help pretty desperately.

I'm going back into sixth form in 20 days (sixth form is essentially college but at our school you're forced to get business wear). Obviously I want to look as SF as possible for this, I've saved up £345 to spend on a bag and shoes.

My parents will then pay (within reason) for the shirts, belt and trousers.

Now for the bag, I was hoping to get the thin Saddleback Leather briefcase which is $411, I'd need a proxy for this because with import tax that's like £400. So first question is, who's the most trusted proxy on SF? This will hopefully cost about £250 leaving me with £95 for shoes (I'm sure if the shoes are slightly over I'll be able to scavenge enough to meet the price).

What would you guys recommend for the shoes? I'll get the briefcase in whatever colour the shoes are in. What's the best quality shoe I can get for the cheapest amount of money? No loafers please, though. Nothing against them, just not my kinda thing. I can assume I'll be able to spend around £100 on the shoes but the lower the better.

Finally, the shirts. Where can I get some nice looking button down collar shirts in the UK? Again, price is an issue here. I'll need at least 5 washable shirts.

If you do take the time to give me a response you have my utmost thanks. I see threads like these just being ignored all the time.

Cheers. :foo:

IMO you're going at it the wrong way. Quality shoes are way way more important than a quality bag. Spend £250 on shoes and £100 on a bag, walk before you can fly. Your budget isn't really sufficient as you'll need at least 2 pairs of shoes to rotate. Shirts, Charles Tyrwhitt do 4 shirts for £100 at the moment, they've just brought out their new range today so everything is back in stock again. If you don't like any of theirs then TM Lewin is also fine on a budget. You're unlikely to find formal shirts in button down, CT sell a range of OCBD but designated as casual shirts (which they are more so in the UK at least).

 

[Journeyman]

For shirts, as well as ties and other accessories, take a look at places like Charles Tyrwhitt (www.ctshirts.co.uk) or TM Lewin (www.tmlewin.co.uk) for shirts. They often have deep discount sales and their shirts are reasonable quality.

Alternatively, depending on where you are and whether they fit you, you could look at somewhere like Uniqlo.
I don't know what Uniqlo is like in the UK, but in Japan they make reasonable shirts that sell for the equivalent of 15 - 30 pounds.
The Japanese ones are typically fairly slim-cut and have shortish sleeves but, of course, that accommodates the typical Japanese person.

As for shoes, there may well be plenty of High Street places that you can visit.
You could also look at retailers such as Herring Shoes or Pediwear, as they sell shoes by English shoe manufacturers such as Barkers and Loake for a not a great deal of money (they also sell much more expensive shoes, too).

Best of luck!

 

[connor09]

I suggest you invest in a good pair of shoes, a black oxford, more than the bag. There are great inputs here with Charles Tyrwhitt, TM Lewin, and Uniqlo is very affordable with shirts at less than £50 I believe.

 

[ysc]

As others have said, Charles Tyrwhitt and TM Lewin for shirts, unless you are a ***** you will want to look into their slimmer fitting lines. If you need suit style trousers I would have thought TM Lewin would work for this also. However I think the only button down collars will be on their 'casual' shirts which are giant and baglike in shape.

I saw Uniqlo was also mentioned their shirt material can be pretty hit or miss, if you can get to a shop (in london) they might be a good source for shirts and trousers. The material on their more casual Oxford and linen shirts tends to be better than their smarter shirts. They do shirts with button down collars.

For the bag - don't spend a lot of money on a leather bag, it will most likely get trashed. Do you really need a briefcase style bag? If you can I would go for something like a canvas satchel, they can still have classic look, can often take a lot of abuse, and the shoulder strap makes carrying stuff around a lot easier. Lugging a briefcase around is a pain. I had a canvas 'Ally Capellino for tate' satchel (probably too casual for you?) that I used every day for years and put through the toughest abuse till it was stolen. I have a leather satchel now, but I am thinking of buying another canvas one because leather is so heavy, even empty.

Herring shoes might be a good place to start you shoe hunt, they have excellent service in my experience. http://www.herringshoes.co.uk/brands.php?brandID=6
You want something with a Dainite/rubber welted sole since you will probably doing a fair bit of walking on it (?) and they last much longer than leather sole whilst still looking smart. They will also stand up to the rain better than leather soles. Their classic collection is about the price you mention, it is corrected grain leather (called polished calf on their site), so not the finest, but they are still pretty good looking shoes. For slightly more money their Classic collection mostly uses wholegrain calfskin.
I don't really know what sort of style you are looking for, or how formal, but since we are heading into autumn/winter these might not be a terrible idea. A little on the casual side perhaps, but a classic style that is also fashionable at the moment.
http://www.herringshoes.co.uk/produ...&shoeID=2246&selectedSizeID=0&selectedFitID=0

If this is your second year at college then ignore this, if not - if I were you I would avoid being too smart at college, most people will probably dress as casually as they can within the limits of the rules and whilst everyone should dress as they want etc. etc. you don't want to stick out too much. The key to dressing well is in the execution of what you are wearing, the attention paid to fit, style and colours, not wearing the smartest clothes possible at all times.