Over this last holiday season, I conceded defeat and admitted I needed to overhaul my wardrobe.  What had started as a quirky convenience was becoming borderline weird.  My wardrobe consisting of jeans, a gray t-shirt, black zip up sweater and boots/sneakers(depending on activity that day) was close to transitioning to the weird side.  I don’t like to fuss around in the mooring, afternoon, evening or anytime for that matter so having 1 pair of jeans, 8 gray t’s and a sweater worked great for me.  The sweater could “dress it all up” if need be while I could always layer down to just the T in order to work at the farm, bike or just when I’m hot in the office.

At Christmas, my parents hooked me up with some SWEET gear from Joseph A Bank and my style immediately when from a 2 to a 10! (Thanks MOM and DAD).  Unfortunately, I’m self-aware enough to know that I would tear through those nice things in about two weeks trying to go from my bike, to the office, working on one Freight Farm to building another then to the train and back on the bike.

I took a trip to Jos.A Bank to return a few things, really wish I could’ve kept them, to find the pieces that will fit my use for them.  As I walked about the store and watched others shop, it’s a really nice store for those that don’t know, I began to realize that I’m not a “style guy”.  Sure, when I get dressed 7 out of 10 times I can tell if I look foolish or not but I’m not good at planning my look.  Nor do I want to!

I continued to browse the store, mostly watching other dudes shop and began to realize that if I had lots of money, drove a car and went back and forth to my office every day style would be easy.  I could just pick one and go with it, case closed!

Since my case is/was far from closed, I smiled to myself when I realized that whatever style I end up with/in, it will be unique to me.  Sure the actual clothes on my back may be the same or similar to others but the journey to my style is paved by my unique set of constraints and will fit me perfectly!

My co-founder at Freight Farms has given Ted talks about this type of thinking about design and I always agreed but never thought much about it in terms of clothing and style.  It allows me to embrace my personal constraints and cultivate a style that is all me and not have to fuss about to get dressed.