15 Affordable Menswear Upgrades for Your Next Vacation

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Let’s set the scene: the holidays have come and gone, the New Year is now just the year and the harsh reality of a summer spent indoors, moving numbers around in Excel or whatever, suddenly seems unbearable. Sound familiar? We figured. So if you’re jonesing for a break from the usual drudgery and get the chance to take a trip somewhere—anywhere!—with palm trees and sandy beaches, take it, and take it fast. But what the hell should you pack? If last year’s rotation of warm-weather clothing isn’t feeling quite as inspired as the notion of kicking back poolside in the far-flung locale of your choice, don’t sweat it: That’s where we come in.

If you’re going to revamp your gear solely in the name of looking your best over the course of a few idyllic days, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to drop crazy cash on designer grails destined to end up covered in sand, sweat, and oddly-colored stains. So we rounded up a baker’s dozen or so of beach-ready basics that you can buy right now, toss in a carry-on, and wear during the duration of your stay—each for less than a hundred bucks. You don’t need much to spruce up your packing list, but the right assortment of affordable menswear will go a long way in freeing you up to focus on what really matters: absolutely nothing.

5 No-Duh Vacation Upgrades for a Pittance

The Proper Tee: Alex Crane Sun T-Shirt

Cotton tees are great: they’re soft, easy to care for, and even easier to get your hands on. But if you can get your torso into an unfussy linen tee, you really should. Alex Crane’s Sun tee is exactly that: airier than a coastline, sustainably sourced, naturally moisture-wicking, and pre-shrunk for maximum nonchalance. Put more succinctly, a better vacation tee might not exist.

The Only Suit You’ll Need: Bather Swim Trunk

Bather’s vintage-tinged trunks—a perennial GQ favorite—wear so well that you’ll have to remind yourself to wear the other shorts you packed when pooltime isn’t on the agenda.

The Subtle Wrist Candy: Shinola Chain Bracelet

Okay, so Shinola’s sterling-silver bracelet is $25 over our self-imposed price threshold, but given the wear you’ll get out of it, we thought we’d let it slide and deal with the fallout. Pony up the added cash and you’ve got yourself a turbo outfit-booster for any off-duty ensemble in your closet.

The Mediterranean Summer Shoes: Deer Stags Huarache

If you haven’t experienced the unmitigated delight huaraches can provide—particularly when worn with an arbitrarily-buttoned shirt—you, sir, are depriving yourself. And if you thought you had to go nuts to get a good pair, Deer Stag makes one of our all-time favorites for well under $100.

The Easy, Elegant Pants: Banana Republic Linen Pull-On Pants

When it comes to vacation pants, you’ll want a pair that can handle a few different dress codes. Banana Republic’s pull-on trousers, for example, will crush with breathable leather footwear at dinner, but look like they were made to exist poolside, at the beach, or anywhere else you feel like disassociating.

The Anti-Tourist Bucket Hat: Our Legacy Bucket Hat

We’re aware that bucket hats can be a bit of a third rail, especially in the baseball cap-dominated world of men’s millinery. But they don’t have to be goofy! Sure, Our Legacy’s comes in a vacation-worthy shade of blue, but the crown is reasonable, the brim is practical, and the vibes are overall immaculate.

The Throwback Shades: Sunski Tango Sunglasses

Investing in pricy sunglasses before visiting a place you’ve never been is a risky proposition—the last thing the most itinerant item in a wardrobe needs is a series of unfamiliar locations to get lost in. The best part about Sunski’s is that they’ll last you for years if you can handle the responsibility, but won’t crush your soul if you can’t.

The Sultry Polo: Abercrombie & Fitch Crochet Sweater Polo

It’s no secret that we love an open-knit shirt, with or without an autoreply message on deck. For whatever reason, though, they hit like an absolute narcotic when you’ve got a keycard in your pocket. When it comes to sheer bang-for-your-buck value, Abercrombie’s vintage-inflected polos are still some of the best you can find.

The Leveled-Up Slides: Salomon RX 3.0 Slides

No one should be worried about step count on vacation, but if you plan on relaxing and exploring, Salomon’s RX slides are practically unbeatable, regardless of price point. They kick back as ably as leather clogs, but boast the same off-road capabilities as sneakers.

The Capital-S Shorts: J.Crew Pleated Cutoff Chino Shorts

There’s no hard-and-fast checklist for platonic-ideal vacation shorts, but if we were to dream up a pair from scratch, we’d start by making them nice and wide, add a couple of pleats for extra comfort, and then finish ‘em with a raw hem just to up the insouciance factor. In other words, they’d look exactly like J.Crew’s.

The Sandals That Don’t Flip-Flop: Birkenstock Arizona EVA Sandals

Birkenstocks are some of the best sandals on the planet, but they tend to have a serious aversion to water. This gloriously cushy EVA riff solves that problem, and for those who like to pack options, also weighs basically nothing. (Seriously—you might wanna toss ’em in a bag if it gets windy.)

The Button-Up That’s Not Buttoned Up: Banana Republic Linen Shirt

Fair warning: If you buy this shirt—which is a little more laid-back than a lounge chair, and a lot more portable—for an upcoming jaunt somewhere warm, you’ll want to wear it well before you get on the plane. (You should let yourself, by the way; it’ll look great with jeans and loafers.)

The Schlep-Everything Tote: Nike RPM Tote Bag

There are two tote bags most likely to accompany you to your next destination. The first is the canvas freebie, the lowest-profile, most disposable bag in your cluttered front hallway. The second is a tote worthy of carry-on status all on its own, the type of bag that doubles as a brolic haul-all for the duration of the trip. Nike’s is one of the absolute best examples of option two.

The Watch You Shouldn’t Baby: Timex Expedition Field Watch

If you normally rock a pricey ticker (or one with sentimental value), pack a cheap, cheery alternative to ensure you’re not fretting over your wrist while you’re supposed to be relaxing. At the very least, Timex’s handsome, hardy model gives you one less reason to check your phone.

The Mind-Easing Drawers: Skims Knit Boxer (3-Pack)

If you’ve somehow liberated yourself from the urge to overpack on underwear to a suspicious degree, congratulations. If you haven’t, you should make sure the drawers you are packing are spa-level comfortable. Why wouldn’t you treat your whole self to a vacation, you know?

The Do-Anything Shorts: Patagonia Baggies

If, for some awful reason, you can only pack one pair of shorts on vacation, pack Baggies. They swim as well as they hike, they’re relaxed but not sloppy, and they’ll lend your fisherman sandals and Oxford shirts a dose of old-school outdoorsman energy. Packing more than one pair of shorts? You should still pack Baggies.

How We Test and Review Products

Style is subjective, we know—that’s the fun of it. But we’re serious about helping our audience get dressed. Whether it’s the best white sneakers, the flyest affordable suits, or the need-to-know menswear drops of the week, GQ Recommends’ perspective is built on years of hands-on experience, an insider awareness of what’s in and what’s next, and a mission to find the best version of everything out there, at every price point.

Our staffers aren’t able to try on every single piece of clothing you read about on GQ.com (fashion moves fast these days), but we have an intimate knowledge of each brand’s strengths and know the hallmarks of quality clothing—from materials and sourcing, to craftsmanship, to sustainability efforts that aren’t just greenwashing. GQ Recommends heavily emphasizes our own editorial experience with those brands, how they make their clothes, and how those clothes have been reviewed by customers. Bottom line: GQ wouldn’t tell you to wear it if we wouldn’t.

How We Make These Picks

We make every effort to cast as wide of a net as possible, with an eye on identifying the best options across three key categories: quality, fit, and price.

To kick off the process, we enlist the GQ Recommends braintrust to vote on our contenders. Some of the folks involved have worked in retail, slinging clothes to the masses; others have toiled for small-batch menswear labels; all spend way too much time thinking about what hangs in their closets.

We lean on that collective experience to guide our search, culling a mix of household names, indie favorites, and the artisanal imprints on the bleeding-edge of the genre. Then we narrow down the assortment to the picks that scored the highest across quality, fit, and price.

Across the majority of our buying guides, our team boasts firsthand experience with the bulk of our selects, but a handful are totally new to us. So after several months of intense debate, we tally the votes, collate the anecdotal evidence, and emerge with a list of what we believe to be the absolute best of the category right now, from the tried-and-true stalwarts to the modern disruptors, the affordable beaters to the wildly expensive (but wildly worth-it) designer riffs.

Whatever your preferences, whatever your style, there’s bound to be a superlative version on this list for you. (Read more about GQ’s testing process here.)