Drake’s x NB / Madras Buying Guide / Packing Light / Pretentiousness

THE RADAR // Issue #11

Hello! Welcome back to THE RADAR, The Prep Club’s fortnightly mini-magazine keeping you in the loop of what’s hip in the sphere of collegiate threads. You can attend last week’s meeting here, for thoughts on tailoring’s growing costumey-ness.

Here’s what’s on the radar this week:

DRAKE'S X NEW BALANCE, AND THE GRANDAD SHOE VIBE CHECK

Drake’s and NB have been front and centre in the menswear zeitgeist for long enough now that this collaboration feels as inevitable as trips to the beer garden as soon as it hits 20ºC. Whilst the collection at large is a really-quite-lovely array of hiking flavoured Drake’s staples, the headline is a colourful spin on NB’s latest development, the much-hyped, grandadish Allerdale.

PC: Drake’s

The heat on these seems to come in the from of declaring an end to the dad sneaker era, and whilst I don’t mean to be a killjoy, I do want to swing in and just pump the brakes a little on this one. Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice to see a totally new sneaker design that’s not a sock on top of a marshmallow that helps you shave 0.1s off your 10k, but as the Prep Club footwear philosophy decrees, purpose takes precedent and I struggle to see precisely where these fit in.

They occupy a weird space to me, not quite retro trainer, not quite performance hiking shoe, and I really don’t enjoy how they’re styled with suits in the NB lookbook. That gramparents/ wrinklesclub chic thing works for retirees, but replicating the same thing as a twenty/thirty something headed for small plates (as I can only imagine most pairs of Allerdales will be used for) just doesn’t offer the same swag.

I like the dad sneaker because it’s multi-purpose, perfect for a day of heavy walking whilst you decimate the local thrift scene, but will also stand up to a light vacation run, a game of tennis etc. and I like the unapologetic sneaker-ness, whilst steering clear of the all-out performance (ON Clouds and the like). I’m loving silhouettes like the Asics Gel NYC, NB’s own 2002r, and, although they’re a little too out-there (and trendy) for me, Nike Shox. As for a shoe with some hiking credentials, NB’s existing Rainer hits the mark with a bit more suitable ankle support, or something from Danner or Diemme.

PC: Iron Sole

All in, I think Drake’s x NB is a worthwhile endeavour and I don’t want to totally shutter the Allerdale out. I’m advocating for an assessment, do these shoes let you DO something that your current collection doesn’t?

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WHERE TO GET MADRAS

Bound, as we are, to the Ivy style canon, there is one summer fabric to rule them all. Whilst others my reach for linen and seersucker, there’s little that can be done to resist the allure of those colourful checks and how they fade over-time. We bloody love madras, here are a few labels making very lovely things with it:

DC White - A wide selection of shirts: oversized BDs, popovers, cubans, all the good stuff, plus jackets, in a classy selection of checks. Note, their cuban collars are labeled “indian clerk shirts” and won’t show up if you just search for “madras” on their site. No US stockists at the moment, but they do ship overseas.

Original Madras Trading Company - With a name like that, and origins in Chennai, one expects the very best, fortunately they live up to it. It’d be easy for a label like this to run madras as the headline and skip out of the details, but their button down shirts are impeccable, beautiful collars, classic fits. Plus, they win big when it comes to variety.

John Simons - Classic ivy outfitters, a well curated selection of patterns across full button and popover BDs. Whilst they don’t sport as much variety as the other features here (you wouldn’t expect them to given the size of their operation), the offerings they do have are all hits, and as always their design work has all the retro details we like.

J. Press - The obvious choice, but to omit them would have been a glaring oversight, untouchable on the matter of variety across both Made in USA and Pennant lines. Press’ madras is more affordable than a lot of their offerings.

Thinking about budget picks, Press and OMTC will come up secondhand for reasonable prices, but they go quick so it’s worth having a saved search. I like some older GANT stuff too, so long as you can avoid all the terrible branding.

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PACKING LIGHT