¡EL VIERNES NEGRO!
Some "Black Friday" suggestions
So here’s the thing: I am not at all a fan of “Black Friday”: the shopping bacchanal so named because retailers make so much money off it that it pushes their accounts into the profitable side (i.e., “black”, as opposed to “red” for debt)*.
I’ve worked on Black Friday as a retail employee, and let me tell you: it’s like gazing into the abyss of human nature. So if you do venture out, try to be kind to the bedraggled retail clerks who’ll certainly be struggling on Friday to keep up. They deserve your appreciation, consideration, and kindness.
Also, if you can: please, please, please shop local. Look, I get that Amazon is going to have some legitimately great stuff on sale. But that’s coming at the expense of local retailers, and it’s utterly decimating physical retail locations. So much of this stuff is systematic, but one thing you can do is support local booksellers and merchants with your purchasing power.
I’ve done some variation on a gift guide everywhere I’ve written, so it’s only appropriate I do one here. This year, I’m going to spotlight places and things that I’d visit and get if I were shopping for either myself or one of my guy friends. And in keeping with what I just wrote, I’m focusing on independent merchants here.
Ready? Let’s roll on with some shopping miscellanies.
A ton of my friends absolutely love soccer. Most of them happen to be Arsenal fans, but there’s Liverpool fans, Bayern Munich fans, Manchester City fans — the list goes on. There’s two places I check out if someone on my gift list is a soccer fan.
First: Talisman & Co. The Minnesota retailer specializes in making their own fan gear: shirts, caps, scarves, accessories, you name it. They’ve got a pretty kickin’ sale going on right now.
This Gunners cap (pictured above) can be had for the low, low price of $20. Yes, that’s former U.S. national team player Heath Pearce rocking the cap.
But let’s say you want something more than a cap. Let’s say your partner is, IDK, a supporter of famed European powerhouse** Everton.
Soccer fans, more than in most sports, have a thing for wearing their team’s jerseys, something you might be familiar with if you hang out with them on an autumn Saturday morning. This is something that I’m painfully familiar with (Hit me up if you want the story). This is where British retailer Classic Football Shirts comes in.
You could really put a smile on their face by getting them this throwback jersey, from the 2013-14 season:
You can cop this shirt for £39.99 ($51.41 USD, according to the exchange rate). Two things about it stand out. First, that particular season has some good memories for Everton fans (they finished fifth! they almost qualified for the Champions League!). Second, they changed their crest (logo) to what you see on the shirt; however, because of the intensely negative reaction from fans to that change, that logo only lasted the one season. So it’s unusual!
Okay, but what if they’re not into soccer? What if they’re into baseball? I got you, fam. This is why you get my emails. This is also why you visit Ebbets Field Flannels. Based in Seattle, this vintage sports mecca covers the whole breadth of American sports. Let me suggest this fine piece: a lightweight sweatshirt featuring the late, lamented Havana Cubans baseball team.
Available for $49.99, you can use this discount code (THANKS25) to get 25% off. That makes it a very reasonable $37.49 before shipping. Get on this.
OK, so what about business clothes? This is a great question, because you can’t exactly rock up to the office with that Everton shirt, right? Bonobos is one of my go-to places here. If you’re in New York City, you can visit their store on Fifth Avenue and 20th Street in Manhattan, but if you’re shopping online? Click right here, and use code BFWEEK to get 30% off. Maybe get something like this?
This unconstructed Italian wool blazer is fantastic. Regularly $450, if you pick it up during the sale it’s $315.
Let’s say that you want something more…casual. Levi’s is one of my two standbys, and I really like the 511 Slim Fit Twill men’s pants, shown here.
You can cop these for $69.50 regular price, but Levi’s (like everywhere else!) has a sale going on, so with code INDIGO, you can get them for 40% off, or $41.70.
If you’re looking for something that can do double-duty as business and weekend-wear, then the Sullivan Slim Stretch jeans in black by Polo Ralph Lauren are an exquisite choice.
Sadly, they’re not on sale; they’re $125, regular price. BUT: if you look carefully in places like TJMaxx, Nordstrom Rack, and Marshall’s, you can find them for $39.99. Polo’s not the only luxe brand available at TJMaxx; you can get these rag & bone™ Fit 2 Slim jeans (pictured below) for $59.99, compared to their original $120 price tag.
As ever, guys, make sure you get these hemmed? Don’t be like the model here and have these bunch up at the cuff. That’s just not right.
Let’s say you’re into books, like me. My favorite bookstore here in New York City is The Strand. If you’re looking for fiction, may I recommend Zadie Smith’s story collection Grand Union? It’s fantastic, and you really ought to read more women authors, anyway, so why not start here?
That said: while I love visiting The Strand, I’ll be hitting up bookculture this weekend. The reason why is that they’re desperately fighting for survival, and I am here to contribute to that fight. They have four locations: three in Manhattan, and one in Long Island City, Queens, which is one of only two bookstores in what would be America’s fourth largest city, if it were its own city.
Can you even fucking imagine? Two bookstores in a city of 2.35 million?! Come the fuck on. This is what Amazon has wrought.
ANYWAY. bookculture is amazing, and if you’re interested in helping them survive, you can contribute right here. They’re looking to raise $750,000, and they’re three-quarters of the way there. Give what you can, but if you can, give.
I’ll be picking up Hanif Abdurraqib’s They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us because it’s gone missing again from my library. Also, he’s from Columbus, like me, and he’s simply fantastic.
Okay, okay, okay, let’s say you’re looking for tech. I’ll get to that in a second, but first, a public service announcement:
I used to be the kind of gadget fiend that would get the new iPhone (or iPad, or whatever) right when it dropped. Not anymore. Two reasons why:
First, I’m no longer (and I wonder if I ever really was) in a position where I need to have the latest, greatest technology in my possession. “Best” has given way to “good enough”. Take the iPhone, for instance. The 3-camera system in the iPhone Pro is breathtaking. But do I - specifically, me - need to have that?
No.
The truth is that I’m perfectly fine shooting pictures with my year-old iPhone. It’s fine. It’s in excellent condition, I take care of it, it’s plenty fast, the pictures I take are plenty good. And that brings me to my second reason.
Namely, I can’t justify adding to the amount of electronic waste that already exists in a world that we humans are literally destroying. Yes, I’m aware that Apple does an admirable job of recycling electronics; I used to work there. The point still stands: unless your phone is broken beyond usability, there’s no good reason to simply switch out a year-old phone. There simply isn’t, aside from vanity.
Same goes for clothes, by the way. You’re much better off buying a slightly more expensive clothing item (like the Polo jeans above) and mending them as they wear than just buying new clothes. That’s what I’ve been doing for the last two years.
Okay, so you want to buy a cool gadget, nevertheless. That’s fine. May I suggest, then, something with a great deal of functionality?
I’m fascinated by what IKEA is doing with Sonos. IKEA is, well, IKEA — they’re basically the furniture of so many of our lives (also the meatballs? tasty!). Sonos is a company that makes speakers. Specifically, they make multi-room wireless speaker systems that you can control with an app, and have them play different kinds of music in different rooms.
So you can have one speaker in the living blasting out indie music from the ‘90s, another in the kitchen playing light music, and a third in the bedroom playing quiet, downtempo chill beats. They’re amazing. I have one (the Sonos One, which comes with both Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant built in), and the sound is just jaw-droppingly good. I think Apple’s HomePod is better, sound-wise, but Sonos has so many integrations with different services and is cheaper that it’s no competition.
But, you’re asking, where does IKEA come in?
So earlier this year, the two companies combined to release a product that’s just wildly clever.
That’s the IKEA SYMFONISK. That’s right: it’s a lamp and a Sonos speaker combined into one device. How cool is that? It’s $179, works with Airplay 2, so you can pair your iPhone with it, it’s a Sonos speaker, so you can use all the integrations, and it’s a smart lamp, so you can use it with IKEA’s smart home platform (I’m not wild on the concept of smart homes, but you do you).
Okay, that’s a wrap on this. Hopefully, you’re with loved ones this weekend. I’ll be with my cats, and celebrating a Friendsgiving Thursday. It’s been a rough year, so we should take the chance to give thanks to be alive for the fight, and to fight for those who can’t.
I love all of you. If you need a place to feel loved and appreciated for who you are on Thursday, and you’re in New York City, reply to this email, and I’ll come gather you up. If you’re not, but you need a pick-me-up, reply to this email — and I’ll pick you up.
I’m here for you. Be well. Give thanks.