One of Toronto’s best menswear stores, GotStyle, started a blog a few months ago. It’s been updated fairly frequently and is a nice way to keep up with whats new in the store.

I don’t know what changed, but I don’t like anything at Banana Republic anymore. They used to be my go-to store for a work dress shirt, some dress pants, or other daily wear item. I remember being given a discount card after a purchase and going back to find nothing I liked. This weekend was a 30% off sale and again I found nothing I liked.

Watches are pretty important for a guy. For most, it’s our only piece of jewelery besides a wedding ring. While Rolex has always been known for the “king” of the elegant watch, I’ve always found their style a bit boring – a bit too traditional.

While helping my friend shop for a nice woman’s watch, I stumbled upon a new update to a classic Rolex. The Oyster Perpetual Day-Date II. The II is important since it signifies the updated, contemporary look. Now I have to start saving my pennies.

It’s funny how at the height of the Canadian dollar, American stores paid the highest rates for labour and materials to set up a bunch of new retail precenses in Canada. In the past year alone, both Crate and Barrel and Bath and Body Works have set up new locations in the GTA. Now that the dollar has sunk, profits generated by the store probably make the breakeven point a lot longer than they expected.

West Elm is amoung the new stores. I’ve never been to one before so this was a good experience. They sell a large line of furniture ranging from bed to living to office wares. The store is littered with all sorts of accessories too. Although billed as “modern country” I find most of their offerings to be contemporary and not out of place with what you would find at the old Caban. Curiously, their offerings remind me of Urban Barn, so maybe “modern country” is the right word for it. I’m going to add them to my list of “go to” furniture stores in Toronto.

West Elm is tucked away in the Northwest part of Liberty Village.

West Elm
109 Atlantic Ave.
416.537.0110

I’m not sure why guys love watches, but somehow I’ve fell into the same trap. It doesn’t help that in my shared office space there’s two other “watch guys” that love them too. I’ve been looking around for a new watch and settled on the Tag Heuer Carrera. Which one do you like the best? Post up some comments on what you think:

Swatch has introduced a new line of watches – 22 of them – one for each villian in the past 22 James Bond movies. Some of them are downright garish, but others have are a little more sensible. Like the “Zao” watch with deep cuts in the wristband resembling scars and “diamonds” encrusted in it. Have a look at the full collection here or at their store site.

Here’s a list of furniture stores in Toronto that I like. These retailers offer mostly-contemporary-sometimes-modern looks that are perfect for condos:

Crate and Barrel

Structube

EQ3

Pavilion

CasaLife

Urban Barn

Crate and Barrel, one of my favorite US-only stores, is finally opening their store in Yorkdale. The store opens September 25 and is on the North side of Yorkdale Mall. Along with the Ikea catalogue, the Crate and Barrel catalogue is now a must-have.

On their website they announced their second Canadian store will be in Calgary.

Adidas is a big Olympics sponsor and they have launched a line of shoes inspired by various Olympic events. It’s unknown whether these are good for their intended sports, or just “inspired” by each.

The “Sailing” shoes are shown in the picture, but the complete collection is here.

There are shoes for the following sports:
TS Pro Model Olympic
adiStar Team
adiStar Field Hockey
adiStar Weightlifting
adiStar Boxing
adiStar Rowing
adiStar Wrestling
adiStar Fencing
adiStar Slide
Lightster Beijing
adiStar Shooting
adiStar Sailing
adiStar Archery
adiStar Fight
Beijing MD
Barricade 5 Beijing
Microbounce+ FH 08
Excelsior 5 Low
Predator PowerSwerve TRX FG
adiPURE TRX FG
ClimaCool Top Vuelo
Excelsior 5 Softball Low

Need some hot kicks? I bought a pair of

Adidas O-Type Drive sneakers at Town Shoes a few weeks ago. They’re very hot!

Photos courtesy of Underground Station