Shopping online has been one of my best routes to a me me me weekend, but it has also been my Achilles tendon for over-spending especially come pay-check day. Last time in Russia I used to spend hours scouring the British e-Bay. The adrenaline-filled sensation of victory after winning a particular bid after hours and hours of countdown was rewarding, and kept me happy as a student who just knew about fashion online. But buying from dubious sources also meant two possibilities - I had either reasonable purchases or downright rubbish imitations arriving at my doorstep.
I've been shopping online for few years now and from my experience, different websites have different strategies to maximise their fan-base and margin. But as idle time is becoming less possible because of my medical career, and also due to the slight (but not that much) gain in income, I find myself veering towards 'proper' fashion websites for that end-of-season steal owing to convenience AND guarantee of authentic items. Err, I hope that doesn't sound snobbish. You know, as a civil servant my disposable income is ever so limited. But let me assure you - I'm always on my 'thrifty' mode whenever I shop online for those big labels: first, I'd be clicking the sales page only and meticulously filtering by lowest price, and then I'd narrow down the selection to highest discount first. My friends always laugh at my discount-only mentality - but to my defense, 50% off means I save HALF off retail price. Imagine the savings I get from 70% off, and so on. Such is the logic-defying conundrum whenever it comes to shopping...
But as we'd have known by now, most 'luxury' fashion portals impose a hefty shipping fee, despite measly discounts on their offerings. Well, measly to me, at least. Not only finding 50-70% off items are hard to come by, whenever there are such promotions, smaller sizes will be sold out first, naturally. However a new online website has made its debut and I think would be an interesting mix for the global online menswear industry. I was recently introduced to East Dane, a menswear online site from the US catering to a bevy of style-conscious gentlemen out there. This Amazon-owned company, alongside its sister brand Shopbop offers an outstanding list of contemporary and classic designers. Sportswear champ 3.1 Phillip Lim and my favourite Carven are in the line-up, alongside with new cultish brands like Public School. From street-wear labels like Battenwear to the directional luxury lines including Thom Browne down to the commercial big brands like Gucci and Y-3 , I think men (and women) of all style and taste can find something of interest at East Dane.
Apart from its diverse selections, what I like about the site is a lower threshold for free shipping: purchase over 100USD (which I'm sure most of your total pre-sign out value of shopping cart would likely be), and say hello to free express delivery! And even if your cart is less than hundred bucks, the shipping rate to Malaysia is TEN DOLLARS only. Yes, you read that right. I've definitely paid up to 40-50 USD for delivery from other American websites. This is definitely good news for bargain-hunters and credit card over-limiters comme moi. And rejoice, the summer sales are still here (up to 70%, so you could imagine my bargain-hunting hormones increasing) and as sizes are running fast, I found myself impulse-purachasing contemplating over this quirky Albertus Swanepoel South African, batik-ish print cap and the Margiela Tabi bookmarks:
Printastic cap by Albus Swanepoel
I'd never lose my pages again with this nifty Tabi-shaped bookmark by Maison Martin Margiela
Gitman Vintage comic print shirt, on sale. Hilarious!
Sleek and comfy Grenson hybrid brogues, on sale too!
I'm also excited to see non-fashion items like this Mini Dolman wooden radio from Lexon (painfully chic design I tells ya - this could be a clever house-warming gift)
Another vintage, 50's inspired electrical item is this wooden Tivoli Audio Model One radio with Bluetooth functionality. I always have a soft spot for wooden electrical stuff!
Other genius home/gifting ideas are books from Phaidon, including the Master of Cinemas series (George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg - basically sums up my entire teenage movie-watching years), and design/architecture books by none other than the affordable book giant Taschen.
For the grooming gent, I'd suggest the double-edged safety razor and beard comb by Baxter of California
Judging from the generous discounted items, diversity of products and affordable shipping rate, I'd be returning to East Dane soon enough and I happily suggest for you to do so too :)
Disclaimer: This post is a part of Dunia Fashyon x East Dane collaboration.
Hafidzudin Zainal
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