Last week I talked about affordable shops for plumping your wardrobe. But mass-market clothes can be a drag — not-so-free trade, child labor, caustic dying methods — who knows what that $25 shirt has seen. Below you’ll find a list of San Francisco men’s hot spots. Some of these shops feature local designers and all are locally owned. When you shop boutique the prices are higher but so is the quality. Bonus: it’s unlikely you’ll see another guy wearing the same thing if you shop in smaller stores.
The Upper Haight chock full of casual hipster clothing stores. There’s everything from faux vintage to real vintage to rockabilly gift stores to urban slick to cheeseball clubber-guy duds. Shoe Biz is one of my favorite San Francisco shoe stores, and there are three of them on Haight Street (as well as outposts in Noe Valley and the Mission). Kweejibo (1580 Haight St.) makes shirts for men in a variety of current and retro styles. While some shirts are awesome, I find other styles too be a bit out of date and unflattering — look for the leaner cuts that have the seams right at the shoulder (not halfway down the upper arm). For those who insist on buying more T-shirts, Giant Robot (622 Shrader) has a cool selection of comic book/Japanese-American influenced superhero stuff.
Style doesn’t always come cheap in Hayes Valley but there is plenty of it. The shops along Hayes and Octavia are independently owned by people with great fashion sense. It’s hard to go wrong in any of the dozen boutiques along this route. Another plus to shopping in Hayes Valley: you can plop down with a cocktail at Absinthe (398 Hayes St.) or have a coffee in the back garden at Arlequin (384 Hayes St.) and admire your new acquisitions.
RAG, or Residents Apparel Gallery (541 Octavia St.), features locals-only designs for men and women. Depending on who’s renting rack space, clothes can be dressy, upscale or adventurous. RAG is a cool place to shop for one-of a-kind (or few of a kind) items. I’ve bought things at RAG and get compliments on them with every wearing.
Zeni (567 Hayes St.) boasts a great selection of upscale brands. The men’s section has lovely crisp dress-casual shirts and a fine array of current jeans. There are rows and rows of sunglasses to tempt you, and I think you should give in to temptation here. Zeni also sells underwear, and you should probably update your underthings while you’re at it.
Shoe-shopping is fantastic in Hayes Valley. There’s the sneaker store, Huf (516 Hayes St.), which is owned by a former pro-skater and feels more like a gallery with its curated kicks; Bulo Men’s (437A Hayes St.) specializes in stylish shoes in the $150-300 range; Paolo (524 Hayes St.) is all about the Italian leather design. Hot stuff.
This is a very Bay Area-centric list. Many independent designers don’t sell their wares online because of the inventory (and potential losses) required. If you know of a great online store selling independently produced clothes, send it my way and I’ll pass it on.
