Boat Shoes / Affordable OCBDs / Parachoc / Pocket Tees

THE RADAR / Issue #4

Hello! Welcome back to THE RADAR, The Prep Clubs’s fortnightly digest for interesting bits and pieces in the sphere of collegiate threads. You can attend last week’s meeting here, for a Spring layering vibe check.

The State of the Boat Shoe Trend

I wrote an article a little while back about boat shoes, principally the three-eye-lug style popularised by Timberland. It has been this style that has spearheaded the rise in popularity that boat shoes have seen as of late, the ruggedness of the lug sole perhaps makes the shoe more palatable.

I’ve found in my own tastes, however, I’m becoming more drawn to the classic slim soled silhouette, with fewer eyelets. The lug sole feels like a very contemporary interpretation, the slim look does not, and it’s for that reason that I think I’m falling in love with it. There’s something anti-style about it, yet at the same time it’s such a longstanding classic. These two factors I think give it good endurance, more so perhaps than the lug sole equivalent. That anti-style factor I think is a big part of the “Grandpa aesthetic”, it’s an aestheticised nonchalance, something I’ve been chasing a little more. The pursuit of nonchalance is in a way an oxymoron, but it feels like what we’re all really after when it comes to clothing, an engagement which is enjoyable as a hobby, but appears care-free.

Back to the boat shoes:

The ideal pick for this is the L.L. Bean Camp Moc, I reckon, the full New England special, and also pretty affordable.

Second to that I’d look at the Sebago Dockside, another classic.

Then, as a premium option you’ve got the Paraboot Barth, although I worry that it’s a little too nice, it loses it’s anti-style appeal to a certain extent.

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The Club Favourite Affordable Oxford

For all of it’s ubiquity, acquiring a really good, classic-style Oxford shirt for not a lot of money is really damned hard. It just seems that the moment you endeavour to make an OCBD affordable, certain corners get cut that leave it underwhelming. Collar length is the main victim, with most high-street offerings leaving a lot to be desired. It tracks, a large collar is a detail very few (us) care about, and shaving away that extra fabric I’m sure saves a few cents, but I do find it a shame, generations before us got to enjoy gorgeous voluminous collar rolls without having to embark on an expensive and time consuming search. Realistically, there just isn’t a great classic OCBD on the high-street, as always secondhand is going to be the best bet.

Yet, looking to secondhand, many examples that turn up affordably fall foul of the same issue, the Polo RL oxford in particular. Others have different problems, modern Brooks for example, collar is good, but the Regent fit just isn’t the classic button down look, it’s too slim. Gitman suffers from the same issue, with most affordable secondhand listings being slim fit.

So, the club picks for cheap button down purchasing fall on two options, vintage GANT and B.D. Baggies. Both can quite easily be found under £50, and they tick the boxes that the others above miss. You’ll still need to keep an eye out for slim fits, always check measurements, but they offer suitable abundance such that searching should be easy enough.

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Parachoc by Paraboot