December Signals
What’s up Fras,
Welcome back for the latest installment of Signals. Signals is our bi-monthly round-up of anything that has caught my eye recently. It really doesn’t have to relate to menswear or fashion or anything — it’s a true grab-bag in that sense.
Please also consider liking, commenting, or sharing — your engagement really goes a long way! Either way, I hope you enjoy.
Official 2023 Gift Guide For Niche Menswear Instagram Page Admins
Porsche 911 Targa 4S w/ premium heritage design package ($170,000)
Look guys, I don’t ask for much, okay? I’m just saying that one of you needs to step up and be the official Frayed Collar Paypig™.
Vitamin D Levels
Frankly, I’ve been feeling like shit lately. At first I just chalked it up to the changing of the seasons, but the dreadful feelings continued to persist for a few weeks. I switched to thinking that maybe I was overtraining for rowing or something, but backing off the volume didn’t help at all (and adding more volume didn’t hurt either — just this same nagging fatigue and spaciness).
As a True Fauci Patriot, I was reminded this past week that our lord and savior took 6000 IUs of vitamin D during covid, which also reminded me that your body is no longer able to produce vitamin D starting mid-October here.
So I’ve basically gone ~2 months without vitamin D. I promptly upped my dose (WITH vitamin K, very important) and feel like a gigachad again. Crazy how the body works lol.
Moral of the story is, make sure you’re getting enough vitamin D or you’ll feel extra shitty in the Winter. Also consider buying a red light therapy lamp — I try to use mine every morning and I swear by it, especially for athletic recovery.
‼️Take with vitamin K or you will get kidney stones ‼️
Cybertruck
Tesla’s Cybertruck is finally starting to ship units. The design has been incredibly controversial, mainly because of the extreme hate boner that traditional media has for Elon Musk at the moment.
I personally don’t like Elon Musk — I find him very off-putting and frankly gross-looking. I do, however, like the cybertruck. It’s different — it breaks the mold of refinement culture that has utterly obliterated the car market.
Take for example the image below — the differentiators between these cars have shrunken to the point of meaninglessness. I’ve discussed before the potential for innovation in design with the rise of electric cars, something that I think manufacturers are currently falling short on (of which Tesla is one of the main culprits!!). EVs aren’t necessarily beholden to the same environmental regulations that cars with combustion engines are (a large driver behind this same-ification of the car market), and this less regulated environment is a perfect launchpad for the creation of cool shit.
Maybe this is a controversial position, but the cybertruck is positioned to be the first domino to fall in our retvrn to cars that look cool. I want nothing more than to own a car that looks like a ‘94 Jeep Cherokee (that isn’t a rusted-to-shit lemon), and am willing to pay though the nose for an EV version.
Even if you don’t like the design, it’s likely setting a precedent for car companies to go out and experiment a little bit with their own IP. The future may be a little brighter and less same-y just because Elon forced this issue.
This (the Hyundai EV concept) is literally so cool. There’s so much potential being left on the table in favor of the dweebish “futuristic“ BS that EVs have shoehorned themselves into. The future is HERE. We’re already living in it. Enough with the out-of-touch space age nonsense please!!
That said, the hate for him right now is insane. I’d even go so far to say that many of the people who are tearing apart the cybertruck’s appearance are only doing so because it’s en vogue to shit on Musk, and those same people would be otherwise applauding the novelty that the car provides to the market (again, I don’t really like him either, but it’s getting a little ridiculous).
I don’t expect these to be a big seller, but again, it’s challenging the industry standard which is more important IMO than making a ton of money off this venture.
Merrell
Merrell has made a near-meteoric rise back into the zeitgeist by getting heavily involved in the recent GORPcore trend (a trend that I personally think will have some staying power over the next few years). Their sub-brand, Merrell 1trl, has been putting out some really incredible stuff as of late. Here are few things that I’m really digging at the moment:
From top to bottom:
These have a really cool nappy, full-grain suede leather that looks great, especially in the olive colorway. I find myself surprised by how much I like the low-cut hiking boots/oxfords. It works way better than you’d first think.
Hut Moc 2 packable fleece - $125
Just some cozy-looking sherpa fleece camp shoes for sitting around the fire. Novel in the fact that they can be zipped together for easy transport.
Very GORP-forward, but I like these as a stand-in for the Salomon snowcross (which I hear really isn’t all that great of a shoe). Interesting design for wet/snowy conditions.
Ssense model flouride stare
Ssense as a clothing website is unique in the fact that they seem to be actively scaring you away from buying any of the products. The models are so strange-looking that it’s actually pretty difficult to focus on what’s being shown.
POV: you’re innocently trying to browse a black friday sale on the biggest fashion website on the internet:
The Holdovers
I saw this with my wife a couple of weeks ago, and was very pleasantly surprised. It turned out to be a really great Christmas movie, centered around an unlikely makeshift “family” spending Christmas at a boarding school in central Massachusetts (seemingly modeled off of Deerfield Academy, where some of the movie was shot).
The film was graded to look like it was made in the 70’s and the directors/cinematographers manage to capture it very well. Da’Vine Joy Randolph, playing Mary Lamb in the movie, even goes to the lengths of learning an authentic 1970’s Roxbury accent for her role.
Oakley x Fortnite
I laughed at the Polo Ralph Lauren x Fortnite drop. I said “who in their right mind would buy something from this collection? These brands have nothing in common”. Lo and behold, these abominations are selling for $1500+ on eBay right now:
So, are you willing to turn down free money?
Oakley just released two co-branded models with Fortnite. For all we know, these Hydras (razor blade reproductions) could be selling for $400+ in a few months.
The Future is Here
Alright guys, that’s it for this edition of Signals. That’s everything I’ve been up to or have otherwise been thinking about recently.
These posts take a lot of time and effort for me to write out — if you liked this post, I would appreciate a like/subscription. Engaging with you guys really does make a difference in my ability to dedicate time toward putting out quality content.
Thanks for reading and see you next time!
Look at the subtle Fluoride stare, the tasteful hint of a pedo stache...oh my God...he’s even got a played out polo bear bucket hat