Off the Rail #0

Tall tales, small talk, and entirely useless tangents inspired by my daily wardrobe rotation

If we’re honest with ourselves, the oft-used adage of ‘buy less, buy better’ is as pithy as it is potentially vapid. Sure, the ‘buy better’ goes down easy enough. After all, there’s a romanticism to the idea of investing in well-made, hard-wearing and authentic goods that will gain a little character over time.

‘Buy less’, on the other hand, is a tougher pill to swallow. The gears of the fashion industry are oiled, greased, slathered by our constant and collective drive for newness. Fast fashion - the logical extreme of this on-to-the-next-one philosophy - thrives on the notion that one year’s purchases are somehow worthless by the next. Which, as we should all know, is complete and utter bullshit. 

Not your harmless, garden variety grade of bullshit, mind. No sir, we’re talking bullshit of the most insidiously metaphorical sort. The sort of metaphorical bullshit that’s apt to get all up in your metaphorical eyes and render you metaphorically blind to the very real values of things like quality, craft and provenance. Which is a sad and sorry state in which to find yourself, if you ask me. I mean, not only are you about as detached from the heart and art that lies at the core some of the finest makers in the world, you’re also neck deep in the metaphorical shit.

Off the Rail, then, is a bullshit free, stitch-by-stitch celebration of fashion from the perspective of slow and functional minimalism. It tells the story of key, wardrobe pieces worn so thoroughly since their day of purchase  that they’ve picked up a few neat stories along the way. Neither advertisement nor endorsement, Off the Rail is nothing more than a nostalgia-laden, and admittedly indulgence-ridden, trip down memory lane. A trip that also happens to celebrate well-made goods, the makers that make ‘em, and the merchants that move ‘em.

In its simplest and most sincere form, Off the Rail offers nothing more than a heartfelt attempt to slow things down, think things through, and make things personal.

I invite you all to get involved.