INTRODUCING MENSWEAR MONDAYS

Apparel Therapy would like to introduce and welcome Scott Wicken to the team!

Scott is a fashion junkie, with a passion for menswear and style.  Each week, Scott will contribute a menswear blog with tips, ideas, and shopping references.  If you are a guy that wants to be stylish, but is wary of that "trying to hard" look, Scott will steer you in the right direction.  If you are a gal looking to help the man in your life with his wardrobe choices, Scott has great ideas for you too.

So without further ado, here is the first Menswear Mondays blog:

Members Only….

By Scott Wicken

By now you are well aware of the amazing variety and perhaps even overwhelming range of online destinations for men’s clothing. Perhaps you are even a savvy online shopper with a well edited collection of websites that you frequent. Well get ready to up your savvy quotient...welcome to the world of membership only online boutiques. These membership sites are the newest and best way to get incredible deals on a huge range of designer labels. All sites are free of charge and typically requiring nothing more than an email address to sign up. These sites have daily and weekly sales available only to its members. The site will email you each morning right before the sale starts letting you know what styles and labels they have on sale. Once the sale starts, usually around 9am, the dirtiest, most low down bargain frenzies on the web begin. Savings are huge, often up to 80 to 90% off, but only limited to the stock the site has so things go quickly. From suits to shirts to shoes and beyond, these sites feature large, name brand labels like Brooks Brothers, Calvin Klein, and John Varvatos as well as small boutique and higher fashion labels like Ermenegildo Zegna, Trovata, and Steven Alan. Here are three top choices to start exploring:

Gilt.com – The Rolls Royce of online membership shopping sites carries an impressive range of high fashion, classic, and European brands, all at incredible discounts. Great sales on accessories, shoes, and sunglasses also abound. Sales happen every day and top items go quickly. I highly recommend joining this free-for-all right away for incredible bargains.

JackThreads.com – Purveyor of a large range of street wear, surf wear, and other more casual brands, this site has both daily and weekly sales. This site also features great sales on hip and limited edition sneakers and sunglasses.

RueLaLa.com – Originally founded as a women’s site, this newcomer to the men’s scene has a more limited selection of men’s offerings but a good mix of casual and higher fashion labels. Recent sales include Nat Nast, Tommy Bahama, and Michael Kors. This site also features sales on accessories, home furnishings and travel.

So get savvy and join the club, and as the commercial says, membership has its privileges.