Men's Fashion
Buy and sell men’s fashion in Costa Rica.
A good share of what a man owns was chosen by someone else: the wallet from Father’s Day, the watch that came in a Christmas box, the shirt a size too small that never left its packet. Men’s clothing, shoes, bags, sportswear and accessories meet here, new with tags or worn, from a saco bought for one graduation to a salveque that rides the bus every day. Each piece has one measurement that matters more than its label, such as the hole a belt was worn on or the length inside a shoe, and a seller who gives it saves the buyer a wasted trip.
Clothing, shoes, bags and the small things a man carries:
men’s fashion splits by how long each piece lasts as much as by what it is. Men’s clothing runs from T-shirts and jeans to coats and full suits, and it wears out fastest. Men’s shoes and men’s bags are more leather and stitching than cloth, so the good ones can be repaired and kept going for years. Men’s sportswear holds the training kit and the club shirts. Men’s accessories are the small, durable end: belts, caps, sunglasses and watches, the pieces most often handed down and most often given as presents.
Belts, watch bracelets and insoles, each with its own number:
the size on a label tells you less than one measurement taken at home. A belt is sized from the fold at the buckle to the hole you actually use, and it runs about two inches longer than the trouser waist, so a man in 34 jeans wears a 36 belt. Ask for that length rather than the stamped number, because a belt can be cut down but never made longer. On a watch with a metal bracelet, measure your wrist and ask how many spare links come with it. On shoes, the length of the insole in centimetres beats the size printed on the tongue, because US and European sizes both turn up here and each brand rounds them its own way.
Father’s Day presents and Christmas boxes never opened:
a lot of new-with-tags men’s fashion started life as a gift. Father’s Day falls on the third Sunday of June in Costa Rica, and between that and Christmas a man can collect more wallets, belts and shirts than he will ever wear, often in the wrong size or in a style he would not have picked. Those pieces are worth looking for, with no wear and sometimes still boxed. What holds their value is the packaging. A watch with its box, booklet and spare links, or a wallet still in its wrapping, sells far nearer its shop price than a used one does; the same piece left loose in a drawer for a year is simply used. When a seller says “never worn”, ask why. “It was a present and it is not my size” is an answer that holds together.
Belt holes, wallet edges and shoe heels on a used piece:
men’s things wear where they are handled. On a belt, the hole the last owner used is stretched, with a crease across the strap beside it; if you will wear a different hole, that crease will show. Bonded leather, made of scraps glued to a backing, tears at the holes and flakes along the edges, while full-grain leather darkens and softens instead. On a wallet, open every card slot: stretched ones let cards fall out, and flaking at the fold means it was never real leather. Turn shoes over. A heel worn hard on one side shows how the last owner walked, and a cobbler can replace it for little, but a stitched sole can be renewed more than once while a glued one is much harder to redo well.
A wallet, a watch or a pair of shoes ready for its next owner:
list it with the measurement a buyer would otherwise have to ask for: belt length to the worn hole, insole length, the wrist size the bracelet is set to. Photograph the parts that wear in daylight, which means belt holes, the wallet fold, heels and soles, and the box if there is one. If it was a gift, say plainly whether it was ever worn. A buyer coming from Grecia or Guápiles to collect a belt should wear the trousers it will go with, and one coming for a watch should ask the seller to bring the links that were taken out, because without them a bracelet set for a thinner wrist cannot be let out again.