Price conscience guy looking for wardrobe upgrade advice

[Mateo1041]

Hi all,

My family loves the Renaissance Festival and are generally able to dress up so-so.  I generally wear a peasant outfit w/ white baggy shirt, dark sweats, and cheap black boots.  However, now that we've been attending for the past few years, I'd really like to upgrade to something better.  I'd totally go for some of the vendor garb at the festival, but it just always feels so expensive.  :-(  I was wondering if anyone had any hints for used or cheaper avenues I could pursue?  I'm happy w/ the shirt as I got it at a costume shop, but really could use something more authentic for pants and shoes.

Any thoughts or helpful advice?

Thanks,
- Matt

[gem]

Check out the "Nobility on a Dime" thread in the Sewing forum:

http://www.renaissancefestival.com/forums/index.php?topic=15985.0

[LAVAGODDESSSS]

Hey there!

Have you gone and searched this forum? There is all taht info somewhere. Though I'm sure everyone will be glad to help a bit more. But the main one is the stickied thread in this forum on mens shoes (there is a seperate one for women's as well).  I think you wont' get a more comprehensive list than if you look there.

As for pants, I believe there are a few threads on that (though not stickied). My husband uses pajama pants from Target, I've heard of black scrubs being used, etc. There are some things you can 'fake' more than others (and go cheaper), pants are one of them. I'd recommend leaving those for last, or investing very little in them. You should be fine for now!

The key is to buy one thing each time, that's what we've done. For my husband, we invested in a nice leather 'vest' and paid about 80.00 for it. The next fest was bracers of leather for about $40. We took our time pricing things, haggled a bit, paid cash (discount), and found something he liked!

Some of them (vendors) are overpriced, but what I suggest is looking around, deciding what you like and then getting their cards or web addresses. Some you will find near the end of the fair mark things down, and they will bargain with you (anytime, but a lot more at the end of the fairs). But I've also noticed their prices on the web are much cheaper. Case and point, BlondeSwan had a hat I wanted for 300.00, I got it on their online shop for like 100.00.

There are some things you can fake, like your pants, so don't worry about exchanging those out right away. I'd say get yourself a vest or something of the sort and then work on boots. For the longest time, my husband used the boots from the costume stores (Pirate boots). They were pretty good! And we only paid like 30.00f or them and then ten dollars for the gel insoles.

Check out Etsy and ebay, you'll find some good deals. We use the fairs to get some of our items, but we supplement them with internet finds. Take your time, and enjoy it. A lot of people take years to build their entire wardrobe!


YOu could always go for the

[Rogue Hidesmith]

At least when it comes to boots, you get what you pay for. I'd recommend saving up for a good and comfortable pair. I have a pair of $99 boots which I could barely wear a whole day at a time. Even with gel insoles, they were hard to tolerate.

I hear very good things about Son of Sandler boots from some friends who have them. They're not cheap though. I believe they start north of $250, but you'll be able to wear them for at least a decade.

I have a pair of Catskill Moccasins myself which are extremely comfortable. But I wouldn't recommend going the route of custom boots until you've been going to faire for a long long time and plan on continuing to go for a long long time.  (also extremely expensive!)

[Betty Munro]

Sweats?  Unless your going to a winter faire, are you just dying of heat stroke by the end of the day?
Since you didn't ask for pattern information, I'll assume you don't sew.  The garb you see at faire is all American made.  It is hard to compare to a pair of sleep pants you get at WalMart that were manufactured in 3rd world conditions.  (I'm not be ugly about Wal-Mart, it just is what it is.)  It takes me "an evening" to make a pair of pants.  From cutting fabric to finishing hems that equated to about 4 hours.  I suspect someone really fast could knock it out in 2.  3 or 4 yards of pretty inexpensive fabric will cost about $20.00, plus add notions like thread and drawstring, even the needle is a buck.  Add to that what you consider a craftman's time is worth, then the pants at faire are probably not so overpriced anymore.  If you can't afford faire purchased garb, that's ok - we can't all be noblemen!  Check out ebay, and keep checking every week or so.  Also, might I suggest posting your size and what you desire to see if anyone on the boards has 2nd hand pants to sell.
Once you wear big comfy poufy cotton (or even better - Linen) pants, you will wonder how you ever got by in sweats.

I agree about the shoes.  You get what you pay for.  Again, ebay might be a great source.

[Mateo1041]

Thanks, all.  The sweats weren't too bad (they're pretty light), but just didn't feel very authentic.  No, I don't sew, although would probably do pretty well figuring it out if I had a sewing machine and time (which I don't have much of, unfortunately).

I did some calling today and found a place that can probably do some peasant pants for $30.  I'd then just need to be concerned with shoes.  I'll post back when I've found something.  I did visit some shoe stores and found one or two that would probably work, but they were unfortunately either not in the right size or were too expensive for something non Renaissance Festival specific.

[Betty Munro]

$30.00 is a good price!  When you get your pants, there is a thread for posting vendors.  Make sure you give them a shout out (assuming they are good).
Keeping my fingers crossed for you that you find boots. 

[Adriana Rose]

I know one Gent that wears black dress pants with his garb. Scrubs are a good choice too, I know alot of guys that wear wrap pants and that is the only thing they ever will wear.

[Lady Renee Buchanan]

If you're not completely set on wearing boots, you can get a pair of black or brown loafer type shoes that are plain leather.  Try not to get a rubber sole.  You can wear them just like that, or if you are crafty, you can find some kind of Celtic design (or whatever design you like) and rubber cement it onto the flat top of the shoe.

Then you can save up for the boots you want.  Otherwise, a pair of ghillie type shoes cost around $70 at faire.  Mostly everyone at Bristol wears them, and they are comfortable.  Look in the shoe thread for possible vendors.  Folks have their favorites, as I also do.  And it's posted in that thread.

[Mateo1041]

I did see a few pairs at Kohl's, but they almost seemed too new.

Here are a few ideas of what I'm ideally looking for:

http://www.amazon.com/Ren-50-Large-12-13-Indian-Renaissance/dp/B002F4UDJM/ref=sr_1_26?ie=UTF8&qid=1314058142&sr=8-26

http://www.amazon.com/Ellie-Shoes-Renaissance-Boot-Men/dp/B00410NLII/ref=sr_1_22?ie=UTF8&qid=1314058142&sr=8-22

http://www.amazon.com/Ellie-Shoes-Renaissance-Tall-Boot/dp/B00410GWYI/ref=sr_1_17?ie=UTF8&qid=1314058142&sr=8-17

http://www.amazon.com/RJ-Colt-Oscar-Chukka-Medium/dp/B001FB66Z6/ref=sr_1_37?ie=UTF8&s=shoes&qid=1253803795&sr=1-37

http://www.renboots.com/Shoes/Flair.html

EDIT: Here's another.  Cheaper and even Sketchers brand.
http://www.amazon.com/Skechers-Mens-Audience-Chukka-Boot/dp/B003UZ3O14/ref=pd_sbs_shoe_7

Thoughts?  Do these seem too uncomfortable/low quality?

[Betty Munro]

I have a pair of renboots I bought for about $100.00  I wear them with insoles on rocky ground.  I love them.  Great boot for the price.

[Mateo1041]

I have a pair of renboots I bought for about $100.00  I wear them with insoles on rocky ground.  I love them.  Great boot for the price.

Mind if I ask the brand or manufacturer?

[Betty Munro]

Renboots is the brand.  Sorry, I guess that could be confusing.

[Mateo1041]

These also sounded interesting, but I was concerned about sole thickness and comfort:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320578816327

I also saw these pants:

http://www.medievalcollectibles.com/p-887-medieval-mens-pants.aspx

[Alphena Brennafax]

I'm a fan of garbtheworld.com for inexpensive, well made pieces. I bought my cloak for under $75 and I adore it. They also sell shoes but I can't attest to the quality.

Also, I've purchased tunics from http://www.etsy.com/shop/MiladyGeraldines and was very pleased with the quality.

The Sketchers Audience boots look good- and they seem to get good reviews for comfort.