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Home / Blog / Clothing and Style

We Asked 1,163 Men About Fashion: Here’s What They Said (2023 Survey)

Published on January 24, 2023 by Brock McGoff · Clothing and Style May contain affiliate links (what's this?)

What are guys wearing to work these days? Do men still wear jeans? Do they like jewelry? What about cologne?

Mens fashion survey

We collected thousands of responses from 1,000+ men to get a sense of how regular guys are approaching personal style this year.

Here are some of our most interesting findings:

  • Only 1 out of every 10 men wear a suit to work daily.
  • Just 20% of men wear business casual to work.
  • More men (41%) prefer jeans to chinos, joggers or dress pants.
  • Most men prefer sneakers over boots or loafers.
  • Smart casual is the most confusing dress code for men.
  • Most men (60%) wear a watch every day.
  • 5% of men have spent over $5k on a watch.
  • Roughly half of men wear jewelry (rings, necklaces and bracelets).
  • Most men (78%) wear cologne.

Read on for the full report…

👨🏻‍💼 Business Casual Has Been Dethroned

37% of men hold jobs that only require casual dress. Smart casual is the second most popular work dress code (29%), followed by business casual (20%).

Work dress codes
Most men wear casual outfits to work. Only 1 in 5 men wear business casual.

Less than 2% of men wear a suit to work every day.

Most of our respondents actually work on location, either every day or some days. Only 16% of respondents work remotely all the time.

🙋🏻‍♂️ Some Guys Miss Suiting Up

While only 2% of men wear suits to work every day, 1 in 4 men have purchased a custom made suit.

Guys are divided on the increasingly casual of men’s fashion: 48% are “all about comfort” while 44% “miss dressing up a bit”.

👖 Jeans & Sneakers Reign Supreme

More men (41%) prefer to wear jeans over chinos, joggers, performance pants or dress pants.

Sneakers are guys’ favorite type of shoes to wear (46%), followed by boots (33%) and loafers (10%).

Favorite shoes
Guys prefer wearing sneakers over any other type of shoe.

When it’s hot outside, most men (82%) enjoy wearing shorts.

🤷🏻‍♂️ Men are confused by…

27% of men consider “smart casual” to be the most confusing dress code. 20% find “business casual” to be even more confusing.

18% of men are confused about how to dress for a date night, but only 8% of men are confused about what to wear to a wedding.

⌚️ Watches, Jewelry & Cologne

60% of men wear a wrist watch every day. Only 10% of men never wear a watch.

Wearing watches
Most men wear a watch every day.

5% of men have spent more than $5,000 on a watch.

Men are divided on wearing jewelry: 52% wear it, and 48% do not.

A wedding ring is the most commonly worn piece of men’s jewelry, followed by bracelets and necklaces.

Most men wear cologne all the time or sometimes. Only 22% of men never wear cologne.

🕺🏻 Personal Style Aesthetics

Most men describe their personal style aesthetic as: minimal, classic, smart, timeless and basic.

Only 6% of men would describe their personal style as “trendy”.

Personal style adjectives
These are the words our respondents used to describe their personal style.

Some men (21%) view fashion as a creative pursuit. Others (28%) simply want to look put together.

Most men (50%) sometimes, but not all the time, express themselves through their style choices.

📖 Where do men learn about fashion?

Men learn about fashion from many different sources, including their wives, people on the street, Pinterest, and “style god Brock McGoff”.

But the most popular sources of fashion tips and advice for men are YouTube, blogs and Instagram (in that order).

Of the men surveyed, only 7.5% look for fashion advice on TikTok.

🏆 Guys’ Favorite Brands

When asked to choose one favorite men’s apparel brand, these were our respondents’ top six picks:

  • J.Crew
  • Banana Republic
  • Uniqlo
  • Ralph Lauren
  • Levi’s
  • Bonobos
Favorite brands

Lesser known favorite brands included ASKET, Spier & Mackay, Buck Mason and Suitsupply.

🤔 Opinions About Fashion Trends

Finally, we asked men which fashion trends they’d like to see more or less of in 2023.

Our respondents had opinions on everything from skinny jeans to shackets.

But there was one obvious theme: men want to see oversized and “baggy fit” clothing go away.

Baggy clothes trend
A surprisingly high number of respondents are over the relaxed fit fashion trend.

69% of men are not fans of the oversized (relaxed fit) fashion trend. Only 6% are “leaning into it”.

In other words, many of the guys we surveyed want to see slimmer fit clothing remain in vogue for the long-term.

Who did we survey?

We reached out to the TMM audience via email, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.

In total, 1,163 people completed the survey.

Most of them were men between the ages of 18 and 44. 37% of respondents were between 25 and 34 years old.

The vast majority of our respondents live in the United States. Some live the UK, Canada, India, Australia and other countries.

Want to share this original data?

Feel free to share any of these data points or graphics with your readers or followers.

Please be sure to cite our research by linking to this article and tagging us on social (@modestmanstyle on Instagram).

Working on a story? Want more info? Contact us here.

Clothing and Style

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About Brock McGoff

The Modest Man founder, Brock is an aspiring minimalist who enjoys working out, spending time with his family, discovering new brands and creating great content.

Background: Brock McGoff has a bachelor's degree in psychology and a professional background in digital marketing. He believes that men's fashion is just one facet of self-improvement, and he started The Modest Man to help regular guys feel more confident by improving their appearance.

An east coast native, Brock currently lives in Arizona with his wife and daughter. When he's not working, he spends time with family, training BJJ, reading/listening to books and podcasts, and unsuccessfully trying to decide which movie to stream.

Expertise: Brock has built a men's lifestyle YouTube channel with over 400k subscribers. He's also worked as the creative marketing manager in a men's apparel startup. Brock has been quoted in, mentioned by or featured in publications like Esquire, Huff Post, Men's Health, WWD and Forbes.

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