Men's Fashion
Buy and sell men’s clothes, shoes and bags in Guatemala.
A lot of the polos and work jackets that American brands sell are sewn in Guatemala, in factories around the capital and in Chimaltenango, so a “Made in Guatemala” tag on a Ralph Lauren or Carhartt piece is ordinary rather than suspicious. Men’s fashion covers what a man wears to work, to the gym and to a wedding, along with the shoes, belts and backpacks that go with it, new with tags or pre-owned. Much of the used side comes from men who changed size or job, and with men’s clothes the deal usually happens once the buyer has tried the jacket or the shoes on.
Five men’s branches and the gap each one fills:
a man rarely goes shopping for “fashion”. He needs a jacket for work, shoes for a wedding or a bag that will take a laptop on the bus, and each of those has its own branch. Shirts, trousers and suits are in men’s clothing, and dress shoes and work boots in men’s shoes. Men’s accessories holds the small pieces that finish an outfit, from a leather belt to a watch. A backpack or a cross-body bag goes in men’s bags, and the football shirt, the gym shorts and the swim shorts for the pool go in men’s sportswear.
Duck canvas for the workshop, honeycomb-knit cotton for the office:
the cloth tells you more about what a piece is for than the brand does. Cotton duck, the stiff, heavy canvas of Carhartt and Dickies work jackets and trousers, starts out like cardboard and takes months of wear and washing to soften. It is made for building sites and workshops, for cement dust and sawdust. Honeycomb-knit cotton, the textured cloth of a classic polo, holds the shape of its collar and breathes, which is why it suits a day in an office or behind a counter. Polyester sports fabric dries in an hour on the line but holds on to sweat smell as it ages, and a used gym top often loses value for that reason long before it shows any wear. With bags, the measurement that decides is the laptop. A padded sleeve cut for a 14-inch machine will not take a 15.6-inch one, so check the screen size before you look at how many litres a backpack holds.
The “Made in Guatemala” tag on a Carhartt or Ralph Lauren piece:
is no reason for suspicion. Factories here sew for both brands and for many other North American labels, so a genuine polo bought in the United States can carry a Guatemalan origin label, and a copy can carry any label at all. Judge the garment instead. Real duck canvas is heavy in the hand, and most Carhartt jackets have triple-stitched main seams; a copy feels thin and its stitching wanders. On a polo, the collar and the button placket should lie flat after a wash, and a cheap polo knit goes thin and shiny under the arms. Wear turns up in the same places every time. Work trousers go at the knees and at the back of the hem where it meets the heel, jackets at the cuffs and the zip. On sportswear, check that the waistband elastic still grips and that printed names and numbers have not started to lift at the edges. On a backpack, look at where the shoulder straps join the body and run every zip its full length: torn stitching at the strap anchors and a zip that skips are what finish a bag, not a scuffed base.
Before a buyer travels to try on a jacket or look over a backpack:
give them what they would check in a shop. Photograph the brand label and the origin label side by side, so nobody wonders why a Carhartt says Guatemala, then the size tag, the fabric and anything worn. Give the length and chest of a jacket, and for a bag the laptop size it takes. Say how the piece was used: a work jacket from a carpentry shop in Chimaltenango and one kept for Sundays are different buys, and each has its buyer. Agree on somewhere the clothes or shoes can be tried on, because men’s sizes vary from brand to brand and someone coming from Mixco will want to before paying. A canvas jacket that a year on site has finally softened is the one plenty of men would rather have than a stiff new one, so describe the wear instead of hiding it.