The Permanent Style Awards are back. We had a bit of a hiatus last year for ‘Dry January’ but I wanted to do the annual awards again, with some of the most popular categories from previous iterations, plus a couple of new ones.
So I would like to know – or rather everyone would like to know – who is:
- Your favourite menswear brand in the world right now, and why
- Your favourite product you bought last year (still why)
- Your favourite artisan in the world (OK why for all of these)
- Your favourite mainstream brand (definition: more than 10 stores)
- Your best repair or maintenance experience (anywhere, ever)
The point of these awards is to gather all the collected knowledge of 2 million+ Permanent Style readers around the world, at one time, because it’s nice to do two things:
- Provide recommendations to all the other 2 million+ readers
- Recognise and reward the brands for their style and hard work
Although Permanent Style is bigger now than just me (Simon) it’s still much narrower than the experiences of all PS readers. The problem is those experiences are often scattered across many different comments sections. This puts them all in one place.
In terms of why we chose these categories, the broad brand award allows everyone to mention anyone they like. The product award forces people to name a single thing they’d recommend. And there has to be one on artisans – otherwise they often miss out.
Those are categories we’ve done in the past. I’ve added the new ones because I know a lot of readers shop from non-niche, non-#menswear brands, but we rarely talk about them. So number 4 is an opportunity for everyone to say which they do most, and why.
And then lastly, we need something that isn’t just about buying stuff. The most important thing about buying quality clothing is looking after it well – so I’d like to hear positive experiences of repairs, cleaning, and general maintenance.
This might be from the brand itself or it might be a third party, either way the point is to help other people look after their things, through first-hand recommendations. Because everything else you scroll through just tells you to get something new.
Please leave your nominations as a comment in the section below.
Those comments will be the primary resource for everyone that wants to read and use this year’s recommendations. But I will also do a follow-up article in two weeks’ time congratulating the winners (those that were nominated the most) and listing a handful of runners’ up that were interesting.
I can’t wait to see what you put.
All six previous sets of awards (2018-2023) can be seen here in the PS archive with a quick search. How we announced the winners varied from year to year, but each primary article has all the nominations in the comments section.
Images, top to bottom: Our review of seven boat shoes; Edward Sexton offshore service; Blackhorse Lane jeans alterations; the worksop of Charlie Borrow
