Men's Fashion
Buy and sell men’s clothing, shoes and accessories in Panama.
A man who drops two trouser sizes rarely sells one pair of chinos; he clears the whole rail, from office shirts to the jacket he had tailored for a wedding. Men’s clothing often reaches a second owner that way, in batches and in one size, next to new shoes and sportswear from shops and private sellers. Most of it is bought by numbers rather than by eye: collar and sleeve, waist and inside leg, chest and jacket length. A Panamanian tailor can fix a waist or a hem on a used suit but not a shoulder that is wrong, so know your numbers before you message anyone.
The first thing to wear out on a man’s shirt, shoe or belt:
tells you more about a used piece than the brand on it. In men’s clothing the collar, cuffs and trouser seat give out long before the rest, which is why a suit jacket often outlives its trousers. Men’s shoes are judged from underneath: a stitched leather sole can be replaced by a cobbler, a glued rubber one usually cannot. Men’s sportswear dies of sweat and hot dryers and loses its stretch before it ever gets a hole. Men’s bags and men’s accessories last longest, because leather and metal can be cleaned, re-stitched and serviced.
Reading 15½ 34/35, 32×30 and 40R on men’s labels:
men’s clothes are sized by numbers more often than women’s, and the numbers carry between brands far better than S, M and L. A dress shirt marked 15½ 34/35 has a 15½-inch collar and a 34 to 35-inch sleeve. Trousers or jeans marked 32×30 have a 32-inch waist and a 30-inch inside leg. A jacket marked 40R fits a 40-inch chest at regular length; S and L mean short and long, and a long jacket on a short man hangs over his seat. Fit matters too: a 40R slim tapers through the chest and thigh where a 40R classic leaves room, so ask the seller for the numbers, not the letter on the tag.
What a tailor can fix on a second-hand suit jacket:
more than most buyers expect: taking in a waist, shortening trousers or narrowing a jacket at the sides is routine work for any neighbourhood tailor, so a good jacket one size too big can beat a cheap new one. Shoulders are the exception: if the seam overhangs yours or stops short of it, no alteration saves the jacket. Trousers keep spare cloth in the back seam to let the waist out a little, but a hem already cut short stays short, and sleeves with working cuff buttons cannot be shortened from the cuff. Panama City still has tailors cutting jackets to measure, and one of those fits the man it was cut for, so ask whether a suit was bought off the rail or made for its owner. Check the chest and lapels for bubbles too: on a cheaper fused jacket the glued interlining can lift after dry-cleaning, and it never presses flat again.
Why a mall-label polo loses value faster than jeans:
most of what a branded polo costs pays for how it looks new. A Tommy Hilfiger polo runs up to about $90 in Panama, but once the collar curls and the textured cotton knit fades, a used one is worth little more than a plain T-shirt; one with a flat collar and no pilling holds far more, so ask for a photo of the collar laid flat. Denim wears slowly; check the inner thighs, where it thins before it splits, and the back hem, which frays where it drags under the heel. Polos and jeans are also the pieces most often copied: on a fake, the Lacoste crocodile or the Ralph Lauren pony is flat or crooked, and the inside label is printed, with no fabric content.
A rail of shirts and suits listed by size:
sells better than the same pieces one by one, because a buyer who shares your numbers can take the lot. Put those numbers in the title: collar and sleeve for shirts, waist and leg for trousers, chest and length for jackets, and the shoe size marked US or European. Say whether trousers have been hemmed, and to what inside leg. Photograph each piece flat in daylight with its size and fabric labels, since a wool suit and a polyester one look alike in a phone picture and are not worth the same. A jacket that has been let out or taken in should say so, with its original size, because the next tailor will find the old stitching anyway.