On the hunt for menswear? Forget about it!
By Clinton Duncan
HAVE you ever tried to go clothes shopping for a female friend, girlfriend, relative or wife? It’s difficult, right? Mostly because there are so many options to choose from. Have you ever tried to go clothes shopping for a male friend, boyfriend, relative or husband? It’s difficult, right? Mostly because there are only so many options! And GOD forbid he’s anything taller than six feet and needs a pair of quality pants, or has proportions outside of the “model” figure.

Honestly, as we make a veer into the Christmas season, and at the peril of sounding acrimonious, I have to say that I’m quite fed up with the generic “menswear” gifts. A rudimentary plaid neck-tie, a pair of socks, a tie pin, a cap or some semi-creative version of a white shirt- all of which [though gifts nonetheless] garner nothing more than a jaded “Thanks” accompanied by a dejected, sotto-voiced “sigh” and shoulders drooped lower than a bad cricket inning.

This perpetual “push of basic” leaves a feeling of resentment in the male customer, who, most often, “waits until they travel” to do their yearly shopping. If we were to do an accounting audit of all the men who “did their yearly clothes shopping abroad” we would realise that it is a situation where millions of locally earned dollars are spent abroad.
But the big question at this point is why do most men feel the need to shop abroad? Or, why can’t our local designers seem to make the cut when our fashion savvy men are ready to crack open their wallets? I decided to pose this question to several acquaintances in an ttempt to make some sense of this cultural contagion and boy, oh boy, did we make some revelations!

THE TROUBLE WITH MENSWEAR ON THE LOCAL MARKET
Media influence. You know that figure of speech that says, “call a spade a spade”? Well if the local men’s fashion industry was a deck of cards I’d call it a jack, get it? Jack! Or, rather, for the les s risqué mind, this expression (calling a spade a spade) doesn’t exist to describe fashion collections or products linked to the few- if any at all- “popular” local menswear designers. The truth is, these designers, writers, bloggers, editors, boutiques etc. usually employ elaborate euphemisms and metaphors, and publish hundreds of images and videos that help to make sure they do not express their objective opinions, since, after all, life is too short to lose advertising possibilities or the occasional free “media invite” to a fashion event. The fashion journalists play a major role in reviewing collections, forecasting trends and forcing producers/retailers to be more thoughtful in their production and selection of what they make available to men in their shops and they should endeavour to be as objective, impartial and non-patronising as they can be. Only then, with honest critique, will our local designers be able to produce items our local men actually want to buy.

Little room for originality. Most men feel like the originality in the range of aesthetics available to them in the local market is vastly lacking. This is in part due to most retailers employing women to do their selection for importation. I don’t think I need to elaborate on this point any further. Also, most fashionable men feel like the man in the street isn’t always ready for a trend until they see an ultra-macho celebrity wearing it. This forces them to only buy and wear certain things when they travel, to avoid a snide “Is where he really feel he going?” or “Is wha he get on deh?” as they navigate our city streets.

Poor finishing. Another major concern is that when we do see “some originality” that is not a patterned fabric on the pocket of a white shirt, or a stripe of colour down a pant seam, or a wooden button (which I strongly believe should be banned) there is a severe lack of fit and finish and choice of fabric. I guess this is the point where I make a public appeal to our Ministry of Social Cohesion which is now also responsible for culture to invest in quality menswear lecturers, as they do in womenswear lecturers at the Carnegie School of Home Economics and the E. R. Burrowes School of Art, or rather, to invest in a National “Accredited” Fashion School of our own. A school that teaches menswear as well as it teaches womenswear; a school that provides an international standard of education and access to relevant information about marketing, innovations and customer service.

Equality needed. Which brings me to my final point, most men feel like local designers provide better customer service to their female clients. This is interesting because menswear always, somehow, ends up costing a lot more in comparison. We need to work industriously to close this gap between the service expectations of menswear and womenswear. A gap aggravated by massive differences in costs, originality, quality and customer service.
It is only when this gap is closed that we can be able to create a bridge to bring our lost boys, and their wallets, home to the local market.