Over the years, I’ve been experimenting with finding the best brands for different scenarios. I tend to focus on brands that produce natural cosmetics and for clothing those that focus on natural materials like merino wool.
This exercise is important for me because once I know which are my favorite brands I can reduce my options and know that whatever I buy from these brands will fit me well and feel good. Having many options to choose from is a huge time sink for me and one of my main enemies in the quest for high productivity.
Note that much of my wardrobe and products I use are focused around functional elegance, casual and sports. That is 99% of my daily life, so I don’t really own any very elegant wear like suits, shirts etc.
Here’s a list of the clothing brands I love and typically stick to.
Underwear
- Icebreaker
- Lululemon
- BN3TH
- Smartwool
- Polo boxers (for sleeping in)
- BN3TH for sports
- Under Armour/Puma/Columbia
Premium Underwear
- Zimmerli
- Hanro
- Sunspel
Sea Island cotton is the best quality I’ve found.
Sportswear
- Icebreaker
- Lululemon
- Salomon
- Gore
- The North Face
- Acrteryx
Indoor Wear
I love the feeling of Merino wool, especially when indoors as the loose and comfy style is especially fitting for this purpose.
- Icebreaker
- Smartwool
- Unbound Merino
- Uniqlo
Casual Wear
- Asket
- Arket
- Lestrange
- Paul Smith
- CDLP
- Uniqlo
- ETQ
- Theory
Jeans
- Levi’s
- Edwin
- Everlane
Jackets
- The North Face
- Columbia
Footwear
- Asics & Wilson – Tennis and Padel
- ON
- Baldinini
- Golden Goose
- Zegna
- Tod’s
- Salomon – hiking shoes
- Timberland – winter boots
- Ugg – indoor
Caps
- Zegna
Socks
- Smartwool
- Icebreaker
- Darn Tough
- Falke
- Happy Socks
- Vitalsox
- Vincere for Beach Tennis
Future List
There are a number of brands that I’ve heard great things about and would like to try out at some point.
- Aspesi
- Brioni
- Loro Piana
- Bottega Veneta
- Brunello Cucinelli
- Mr Porter
- Sandro Paris
- Acne Studios
- PiniParma
- A Day’s March
- Reiss
A good place to buy luxury items is Farfetch.
Cosmetics
Using the right products around the house and for personal hygiene and care is very important. So you can say that every product I own has been carefully selected to make sure there are no harmful chemicals present and that it does what it says. I’ve honed this process over many years, so I wanted to document my process in a few lines here.
I use the following apps and websites for research into ingredients:
- INCI Decoder – tells you what ingredients do in layman form
- EWG Skin Deep – ingredient and product research
- Skin Carisma
- Skin Safe
These are some of my favorite brands:
- Weleda
- L’Occitane
- Shiseido
- The Ordinary
- La Roche Posay
- Pauula’s Choice
- ISDIN
- Sebamed
- Satin Naturel
- Procoal
- Lush
- OAK Berlin
- Neutrogena
- Biretix
- Yuskin
- Sapiens Barbershop
- Mr Natty
- Suavecito
- Hanz de Fuko
- Cellar Door
This PDF is worth a look at for understanding the basics on product safety and how to pick better products.
Essential Oils
I like using essential oils or blends of them in diffusers while I work. The world of aromatherapy and oils is quite an interesting one, although it can also be quite scammy in terms of claims and products.
When buying essential oils you need to make sure you’re buying the right quality, which means products that are 100% natural. If the price looks too good and it comes from suspicious vendors (looking at the Chinese ones on Amazon especially here) you should look away.
In the United States, companies like Doterra have quite a bad reputation due to their MLM-type structure and outlandish health claims, so be aware of things that are too good to be true.
In Spain, I’ve encountered a few reputable brands:
- Essenciales – only available from their online store
- Sisen – high-end brand with excellent info about each oil
- Phytofrance – very good French brand
- Pranarom – French brand found in many local shops
- Terpenic – a Spanish brand
In Barcelona a good shop for essential oils is Arke.
Luggage & Bags
My favorite luggage and bags brands are:
- Tumi
- Rimowa
- Briggs & Riley
- Travelpro Maxlite
- Thule
- The North Face
- Lipault
Also tried Level8 and Horizn Studioes and they turned out to be typical made in China products that are heavily pushed by Instagram influencers, nothing more. Returned both of them.
Electric Vehicles and Toys
- Brompton
- Other brands found on this site
Further reading
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