A lot of purchases you make throughout the year are perfectly serviceable. Many are quickly forgettable. So as the year winds down, we start asking ourselves a simple question: of everything we bought in 2025, what actually mattered?
So we put that question to the people with the strongest opinions (and the most receipts): the GQ staff. The gatekeepers confessed. The stylish named names. And the twist of it all is some of our most beloved pickups weren’t fashion purchases at all. Below, the stuff we genuinely loved and would absolutely buy again.
Gerald Ortiz, Style Commerce Writer
HashTag Vintage
Vintage 70s Vietnam Era M65 Fishtail Parka
My favorite purchase of the year was definitely my vintage fishtail parka. I’ve been pining for one of these for a year or two, and yeah, maybe the Oasis reunion had a role to play, if not the straw that broke the camel’s back. The length is perfect, the removable lining makes it *modular*, and I feel like a rock ‘n’ roll star when I wear it.
Ian Burke, Senior Commerce Editor
Levi’s
501 Shrink-to-Fit Jeans
I’m decidedly not a denim nerd, but after seeing a few too many pictures of myself in not-so-flattering jeans, I picked up my first pair of raw denim 501s. After a hot soak in a YETI cooler and a hang-dry, I’ve worn them pretty much every day since, and after the initial break-in period, I’m happy to say that for around just 60 bucks, these have become the best-fitting jeans I’ve ever worn. Still waiting on those cool fades though …
Michael Nolledo, Commerce Director
3sixteen
Square Toe Side Zip Boot
For years, “3sixteen boots” was shorthand for Viberg collabs. But now it means these side-zip boots. I’d been hunting for a square-toe boot and just kept circling back to this pair. The silhouette is dynamite and the matte leather is proper top-tier stuff that’s already broken in beautifully. But my favorite thing is how comfortable they are. When you get to a certain age (you know the one), that becomes non-negotiable. The rubber sole makes them genuinely easy to wear all day, which is rare territory for a boot this good-lookin’.
Tyler Chin, Associate Lifestyle Editor
I managed to lose two pairs of sunglasses in one month, so I needed a new pair to fill the sunglasses-sized hole in my heart. One of the pairs I lost was from Akila, and instead of going for the Zeds again, I opted for the Atria. They’re not as bold as my lost pair, but they are just as good. The lenses also don’t completely blackout my eyes, which makes me feel better about wearing them indoors.
Yang-Yi Goh, Style Editor
U-Turn
Orbit Basic Turntable
When I moved to NYC from Toronto back in 2019, my vinyl collection didn’t come with me. A delicate stereo setup and a giant crate of LPs aren’t exactly the easiest things to stuff into a carry-on, after all. I’ve made do with Spotify in the years since, of course, but a few weeks ago—as part of a greater effort to stay the hell off my phone—I decided it was time to recommit to analog and splurged on this best-in-class starter turntable. Good *god* had I ever forgotten what I was missing. Now, at long last, I’ve got the motivation I need to rescue my records from their storage-unit prison on my next trip home.
Reed Nelson, Contributing Commerce Writer
Henri
Rowan V-Neck Sweater
Since I got the navy Rowan V-Neck Pullover from Henri this summer, I don’t think I’ve worn, or wanted to wear, something more often. Proportionally, it’s a little short and a little loose (i.e., perfect). The V is on the shallower side and it’s made out of a pillow-soft 95/5 cotton/cashmere blend that fears no season. And if I weren’t an insatiable lunatic it would’ve been the last sweater I bought this year, because it’s the best sweater I’ve ever owned.
Avidan Grossman, Senior Commerce Editor
On a balmy afternoon this past August, I helped a friend move the bulk of his winter clothes into storage. His closet was already pretty bare when I arrived, but he had set aside a small reward for my time anyway: ostrich-leather cowboy boots from an unknown Italian shoemaker, thoroughly broken-in from decades of hard wear. My buddy inherited the boots from his grandfather, a worldly art dealer with a penchant for double-breasted suits, Modigliani, and kosher pâté. They didn’t fit my dainty-footed pal, so, in turn, I inherited them from him. Every time I pull them on, I think about the life their prior owner lived while wearing them—the places he went, the sights he saw, the people he met along the way. I figure the best way to honor that legacy is by telling folks how and where I got them, and occasionally treating myself to a flute of bubbly with a dollop of pâté.
Kelsey Niziolek, Designer
Santa Maria Novella
Inceso Eau de Parfum
Incenso by Santa Maria Novella is a dark, heavenly scent that brings me back to Italy, where I smelled it for the first time. It is comforting and solemn with fine packaging and notes of frankincense and cardamom, similar to the trail of incense left behind in an old church. I like to think that this is the fragrance Artemisia Gentileschi would have wanted to wear.
Caroline Brooks, Senior Director, Communications
J.Crew
1988 Rollneck Sweater
GQ noted in the 2025 Fashion Awards that prep made its big comeback in 2025, but some of us have clung to stripes and plaid since our teen years (and are delighted to see others embrace it). The J.Crew rollneck is the perfect, classic staple for fall/winter, and I may have purchased it in three colors. Whether the rest of your closet reflects the prep trend or not, this item is a must.
Jordan Bowman, Commerce Editor
Ricoh
GR IIIx HDF Digital Camera
I picked up this camera earlier in the year and have been using it consistently ever since. It has a beautiful lens, and its compact form factor means you can throw it in your bag or slip it into your jacket pocket. Don’t be fooled by the handheld nature of this camera; it can produce super crisp images. I also recommend you cop a tiny flash. Suddenly you’ll have a digital version of your favorite film point-and-shoot camera.
Samuel Hine, Global Fashion Correspondent
Husbands
Flared High-Waisted Trousers
Since buying these charcoal flannel Husbands trousers I’ve worn them three times a week. They’re basically my new jeans.
Louis Cheslaw, Contributing Commerce Editor
You may scoff at the bulk (slimmer in person, I swear) or gawk at the price (admittedly a lot), but this shoe represents contemporary luxury to me. The Mephisto Match is incredibly well-made (in France from full-grain leathers), insanely durable, and truly comfortable for all-day wear—it is an orthopedic shoe, after all—unlike ultra-plush sneakers that don’t actually hold you correctly. It’s also designed to be resoled, and as someone who believes leather looks better the longer you’ve worn it, it genuinely excites me that with adequate care I could be wearing the same sneakers a decade from now.
Mick Rouse, Senior Director of Content Integrity
Reigning Champ
Wool Herringbone Scout Coat
The quest for the perfect winter coat each year is a challenge most of us know well. On the one hand, there’s a perceived necessity for the type of heavy-duty jacket from the likes of The North Face—the kind your mother always said you needed. On the other, there is the desire of high-end flair, like a Loro Piana International Coat with the brand’s incredible Storm System tech, whose price tag if often the biggest deterrent. Luckily, Reigning Champ bridged the gap between both options this year with their Wool Herringbone Scout Coat. I’ve worn it nearly every day this winter, whether I’m going to and from the gym or attending a holiday party, and I don’t think I’ve ever received more compliments from total strangers on the street about a coat.
Alyssa Bereznak, Wellness & Grooming Director
Oror
x Renoma Archive Club Metro.001 Matt Black Sunglasses
While on vacation in South Korea, I assigned myself a shopping quest: Replace my very scratched sunglasses. I looked and looked for 14 days down designer-knockoff alleyways and Blue Elephant display shelves, and on my last day in Seoul found the pair I was destined for at Oror. The Hannam-area shop sells a handful of new and archival designer glasses from brands like Theo and Mykiya, but its in-house line is just as stylish and super affordable. This pair is oval-shaped and kinda vaguely 90s, like something Julia Roberts would wear with a big suit fit in My Best Friend’s Wedding.
Tyler Lee Sparling, Contributing Commerce Editor
Repetto
Lucien Ballet Flats
I don’t like sneakers, and yet I crave the clean simplicity that a white sneaker adds to an outfit. I also love (and own) nearly every iteration of soft-loafer/leather-slipper-shoe on the menswear market. So this year, I decided to take the plunge and buy an honest-to-god boy’s ballet flat in optic white leather—and I’ve never been happier. Soft and streamlined, they’re clean like a white sneaker, but without any of the bulk that laces and a tongue inevitably add—almost like the climactic final stage of the torpedo sneaker ecosystem.
Joel Pavelski, Global Director of Content Strategy
Article
Sven Tufted Leather Sectional
Last year I went from a tiny, cozy, Manhattan studio under the Empire State to an airy and open new big-boy-apartment in Williamsburg. With laundry, an open kitchen, outdoor space, and a walk-in closet, it needed only one final thing to fulfill all my “renting in NYC” dreams: a deep, cozy, patinaed leather couch. The requirements were basically: space for a group on movie or game nights—I like to host, not travel—and something my dog couldn’t destroy. But also, to me, a leather couch says: you’re not in a Boy Room. A man lives here. After four months making spreadsheets of my options and stalking Reddit threads about leather care (I’m a nightmare), I settled on this one. And let me tell you, if you break down the cost of this thing against the time I’ve spent planted in it this year, it’s already paid for itself.
