Selection of Clothing For Thailand etc

[Guest]

I tend to favour lightweight & quick drying clothing for use in warm climates.     Hence I'm slowly migrating from cotton T-shirts to synthetics.

Trousers seem to be more of a challenge.  I was delighted to see some North Face shorts which were light, fitted well & had 4 zip pockets on the front.    Nylon material, but with a reasonable finish.  When discounted down from £60 to £40 the price was also tolerable.    I was initially quite happy with this purchase & soon picked up a second pair.

Then the first problem cropped up.    They are supposed to be washed at 30C and if washed at a higher temperature, as is common at Thai laundries, they turn into a crumpled mess.  The shorts are not supposed to be ironed.   Secondly, the pockets have a mesh fabric liner & after a few months use, these develop holes.   I would expect better for a product with a RRP of £60.  This is a genuine product, purchased from the North Face shop in Covent Garden, London, not some knock off from Patpong market.

There are, of course many options for cotton shorts, but these tend to be heavier, slow drying and therefore less suitable if walking a few miles in SE Asia.    

Finding a well made, lightweight & quick drying option that has good pockets seems to be remarkably difficult.   

 

 

[Lonnie]

2 hours ago, z909 said:

well made, lightweight & quick drying

Hi z909, These are quick drying and never need ironing but the pockets may let you down. If 6 is too daring I think they also come in 8

https://www.gap.com/browse/product.do?pid=777880032&pcid=999&vid=1&&searchText=mens%20nylon%20shorts#pdp-page-content

[anddy]

1 hour ago, Lonnie said:

https://www.gap.com/browse/product.do?pid=777880032&pcid=999&vid=1&&searchText=mens nylon shorts#pdp-page-content

one can probably get similar stuff pretty cheaply at Uniqlo here in BKK

[vinapu]

I also like to travel light

this is is what I'm wearing when travelling to tropic.

 

Shirt ( I have 7 different colors but the same fashion, all purchased for 300-400 baht on Silom , Pattaya Noght Market or Talat Bobae along Saen Saep canal )

has 2 velcroed pockets ( velcro is great theft prevention tool )

I always take 3 one them , one is on me , one is drying and one ready to use dried already

shorts ( only 5 different colors, the same price and source ), 4 velcroed and 2 regular pockets at front and 2 velcroed on the back. I take only one 

Always do my own laundry and no problem with either one to dry overnight. In case if does not  or in need of more formal dress ( no shorts at Grand Palace or Bank of Thailand Museum at Rama VIII bridge  for example ) I use long trousers I wear on the flight .

I have whole science as to what is distributed to  which pocket but that's different story.

[kokopelli]

The best shorts I found are Izod and Chaps Golf Shorts. They are synthetic and stretchable and have six pockets. Similar to cargo shorts but the "cargo pockets" are not the usual baggy type. Rather they have zippered pockets and are in the interior rather than exterior thus giving a neat appearance. About $30 USD. I usually wear golf type polo shirts that I buy from Thrift Shops for $3 or $4 USD. Great value and quality compared to the usual polos found in department shops. 

[CurtisD]

I have been all-in on linen for a long time, shirts and trousers. No shorts, I am not big on sunburned calves or shins. Any falang wearing shorts is not me.

Linen is very comfortable in a hot climate and looks good.

I don’t mind the wrinkled look and I have the hotel or a local laundry do my laundry so I am not looking for drip-dry.

Every so often I get a tailor in Singapore/India/Thailand to run up a few new shirts and trousers. Linen wears well. I am still wearing things that are over ten years old and none-the-worse for wear.

The shirts I have made in both button-down collar and collarless. Always long sleeved against the sun, although I often roll the sleeves up a little way as I do not like stuff around my wrists. I do the same with business shirts, I have never seen the point in French cuffs or cufflinks.

When I wear a collarless shirt I also wear a cotton/linen/silk scarf knotted around my neck to keep the sun off.

The trousers I have made either with pleats and cuffs and with a roomy leg or as a simple elastic and draw-string waist, baggy and formless except a taper toward the cuff. The first type I can wear with a jacket (linen also) if I need to, the second type are totally informal and are useful to pull over swim shorts.

Everything is in some variation of white/cream/beige/olive/blue with the exception of some of the collarless shirts in bright stripes and one pair of strawberry crush draw-string trousers. I rather like the strawberry crush draw-strings but they get the constipated look from Bangkok Guy and then the mischief. “Nice pants (unspoken 'for lady'). Today I am man?”

I also always take a sun hat, either a panama or an old cotton safari one.

 

[Londoner]

Speaking of clothes...

Things have certainly changed. On my first visit in 1995, my memory is that, in  Boyztown, falang gentlemen (sic) made an effort to dress more formally in the evenings. I mean by that long trousers, usually not jeans, and shirts with collars, not T-shirts. I certainly did but  "dressing for dinner" had  always part of my holiday experience. In the Caribbean, which was my chosen destination before Thailand, hotels wouldn't serve dinner to guests in shorts and some places even demanded a jacket.

it took a few years for me to adapt to the more informal (and infinitely more sensible) fashions of today. And P too, though I expect some of you will be surprised by that. Like me, he wore shorts in the daytime but for the evenings he changed to long trousers. He is as old-fashioned in a Thai way as I am in my  British habits!

And then , one evening, on the way to Central from Jomtien we both noted that we were the only men in a crowded bus not in shorts. A revelation indeed!

Now, my up-bringing is out the window and I wear shorts and a polo shirt to dinner. Just as P does. And it feels so much more comfortable.  

[vaughn]

I try to pack light to leave plenty of room for shopping when i travel, no better place to shop for the climate of your destination than when you're there.

That said, I live in a hot humid climate already so my casual clothes don't really change too much between home and holiday. Shorts and tee during the day, shorts or jeans and a short sleeve button down shirt at night.

[Guest]

Thanks for the suggestions !

I've previously checked all the clothing at Gap & Uniqlo in Bangkok and the UK, as they are certainly amongst my favourite retailers.   There was nothing suitable, but I need to have another look with a slight relaxation of criteria.    e.g. accepting a slight increase in weight, or pockets can be added later.     

Golfing shorts are another area to look at, although a first look shows that cotton is the most commonly offered material in the UK. 

 

Like  Londoner, I used to put long trousers on to go out in the evening, but in more recent years I've tended to stick with shorts.    

During the daytime, I try to avoid excessive sun on the legs either by walking on the shady side of the street, or using sunscreen.   Also, I always take a sun hat.  

[Vessey]

Day-wear I love baggy linen shirts, nice and cool and the local laundries usually do a good job with them.

Evening-wear I prefer a fairly heavy, freshly ironed, cotton shirt; just looks that little bit smarter. I have noticed that most of my Thai friends will also put on a posher shirt if they are being taken out for the evening.

Usually long trousers; even I find it hard to take myself seriously in shorts - its not my best look haha. On the beach maybe shorts but ......

[Londoner]

Nonsense! we are all irresistible, whatever we look like, whatever we wear.

Or so I've been told.

 

 

[TMax]

My last 2 trips I packed light and bought clothes in Bangkok, usually I check out the stalls upstairs in MBK or at Chatuchak markets and generally find the shorts and shirts I want there. 

[kokopelli]

Interesting that so many of the replies above show that you guys are wearing decent looking attire.

Many of the men I know usually wear the very same outfit every day and it is not fashionable at all!

At least none  I know wear tank tops aka wife beaters.

[Guest]

49 minutes ago, kokopelli said:

Many of the men I know usually wear the very same outfit every day and it is not fashionable at all!

Sounds like me, with 2 identical pairs of scruffy shorts.    I aspire to something slightly smarter, but the light & practical comes first.

Wearing the same thing every day didn't hold Steve Jobs back.

Incidentally, after searching for shorts on my PC, even the Instagram app on my phone is showing ads for shorts now. 

[Midguy1]

Next is my go to shop.  I seem to find all that I need there. Shorts/tees/long shirts/jeans/swimwear/jackets etc all in a variety of fabrics light/heavy/linen/denim/lycra/cotton etc.

[spoon]

I feel the same way lol. Although i changed to fresh outfit for the night out, my wardrobe is pretty much of the same things. Office attire are really for the office only and even this havent ben used for more than a year now that ive been wfh. 

3 hours ago, kokopelli said:

Interesting that so many of the replies above show that you guys are wearing decent looking attire.

Many of the men I know usually wear the very same outfit every day and it is not fashionable at all!

At least none  I know wear tank tops aka wife beaters.

 

[Londoner]

Please, please, not vests! I was having a beer in Panorama. A couple of tables away was an elderly gentleman in a white vest with his Thai companion....heaven knows what my mother would have said. I thought it absolutely appropriate  that he was drinking beer (the large Singha or Leo, whatever) while the Thai had a glass of water.

But that's my prejudice showing. Apologies; my Britishness is showing again.

A km away, in Soi Bukheaw (sp), he could have bought a T-shirt for less than 100 bht.  Less than the cost of his beer.

This was over a decade ago. It's probably not to my credit that it has stayed in my memory.

[Guest]

Well, as summer finally hits the UK, I went searching in the bottom of the drawer.    There I have some lightweight shorts with 4 lots of zipped pockets on the front, two pockets on the rear, all the pockets have continuous linings and are intact.    Despite having been washed at 40C multiple times, the material is not crumpled.    Unfortunately, these are some rather naff looking "Lonsdale" branded shorts, from the downmarket Sports Direct store.    OK for home, but do I really want to go to Thailand dressed like a chav ?     Even if my sartorial standards are not that high, strips and a naff shape are not ideal.

However, the durability and resistance to crumpling of this tat is much better than the more expensive North Face product.     They prove what I want is possible.

 

Had a wander around London at the weekend.   

The worst example of the lot was at "Urban Outfitters", where they had a pair of shorts which had fake pockets, rather than real ones.    Where is a man supposed to put his wallet and phone ?      Handbags really are not that common.

Selfridges had some £180 shorts which looked like they ought to cost £20.      Uniqlo had nice looking cotton shorts and naff synthetic ones.    Must visit a golfing shop, if there are any still open.

[fedssocr]

We have an outdoors store here in the US called REI that sells clothes for hiking and other outdoor activities. I have several pair of their lightweight trousers and shorts. I believe they are nylon material but have a nice finish. They are extremely light and quick-drying. The one drawback is that they do pill a bit where my camera backpack hits my waist. I'd imagine that there are similar products in most shops that sell these kinds of clothes.

I've been addicted to Marmot brand button shirts of travel for several years. Very light fabric that is sun-blocking and fast-drying. And they look nice. Lots of color options. They are expensive but I usually buy them on end of season clearance.

[vinapu]

4 hours ago, fedssocr said:

They are expensive but I usually buy them on end of season clearance.

that's ok, as they say poor people can't afford to buy cheap things 

[pong2]

After these many years I have to do the reverse: In TH-as clothes there are never properly labelled, I stock up, if I see anything cheap&cheerful for EUR and here in EUR I buy pure 100% cotton shirts/pants- mostly in the after season big sales, as I still find these are the best for TH, even only staying the cool monthes there. Except for the yellow+Thai flag coloured monday shirt.

Most of the out of centre hypermarkets have a stall of 2-3 selling 2nd hand cloths and these can offer very good buys, but its a pin in a haystack. The saying is these are donated from the west with pitiful intention to dead poor countries like Cambodia (not/never Laos-even if its more poor) or Burma/Phima. The clever people overthere search them out and sell the better items on to TH as this gives them more money! Now they can buy on their markets 2 pants/shirts/whatever for that they got as 1.

[Guest]

An update on the shorts situation.

Bear in mind my requirements are light weight, quick drying & lots of pockets, preferably with zips.     I don't want to be walking around Thailand for several miles a day in heavy sweaty cotton shorts.

Having ruled out cotton for the tropics & observed that Polyester seems to resist crumpling better than Nylon, I've now acquired a pair of Columbia shorts in Polyester. 

For engineered products, there are plenty of grades of nylon capable of withstanding high temperatures, so I suspect there is no fundamental reason why a good nylon grade should not maintain the shape on clothing.    Other than clothes manufacturers simply not caring.

I did take a punt on some lightweight cotton shorts by post, but they had 3 very shallow pockets and the 4th pocket was a fake.   So these were returned as a matter of principle.

 

Bottom Left:   North Face shorts in nylon showing signs of crumpling and has holes in the pockets.  Premium price and shoddy quality.

Top Left:  Mountain Warehouse nylon.   Washed once & already slightly crumpled.

Bottom Right:   Old & naff Lonsdale shorts.  Polyester. Over 10 years old.   Now used for DIY projects at home, washed many times, but still keeping shape and pockets intact.   Low end, but made well.

Top Right:   New Columbia shorts, in Polyester.

 

 

[kokopelli]

I do like the looks of the Columbia shorts.

[colmx]

The M&S trekking shorts are on special in some colours at the moment and will probably be on clearance quite soon.

 

I find them very good, with good storage and a nice stretch, although I will get an inch chopped off my latest ones when I get to Thailand in the new year

https://www.marksandspencer.com/regular-fit-cotton-rich-shorts-with-stretch/p/clp60372094?color=PETROL&prevPage=srp#intid=prodColourId-60372095

 

 

[Ryanqqq]

Columbia for me as well especially the convertible pants/shorts. Lightweight and quick drying. Only issue is the net pockets than can gets punctured over time.