When you consider your options in menswear, it helps to be honest with yourself. And the first question you should ask is, “Do I need help with my style?”

For a small percentage of men (looking at you Lil Nax X), the answer is “no.” But for anyone who didn’t make People magazine’s best-dressed list again this year, the answer is probably “yes.”

Fortunately, this is a great time to be alive if you are less-than-stylish by nature. The Internet has made it possible for just about every guy to get help from a personal stylist. In addition, a clothing subscription box can deliver high-quality, stylish items to men who have neither the time nor interest in spending hour after hour in retail stores.

The second question you’ll have to ask is, “Which clothing subscription box works best for me?”

Things here are a bit more complicated. There are a great many companies offering menswear-subscription services in 2024. Some let guys rent clothing, rather than commit to buying. Some are quite expensive; others are reasonably priced. Some connect customers with personal stylists. Others use an algorithm to select clothes for customers. Some subscription services do both.

In the article, we’ll look at two of the leading subscription-box companies in men’s apparel and help you decide which works best for you.

Taelor vs. Stately Men 

Personal stylists

As mentioned above, one of the key reasons to use a subscription clothing service like Taelor or Stately Men is because doing so gives you access to professionals who are paid to make you look good: personal stylists. 

Both Stately Men and Taelor provide access to stylists. Both services ask customers to complete an online style quiz when they join. Personal stylists use those quiz responses to select items to send to customers. 

There are some key differences in how Taelor and Statey Men customers use stylists, however.

At Taelor, all customers have direct access to their stylists. Texts and video conversations between a stylist and their customers are common, particularly early in the relationship as the stylist collects feedback on what does, and doesn’t, work for a particular customer. In addition, Taelor augments the work of its personal stylists with artificial intelligence, sorting through thousands of data points about clothes and personal preference to ensure customer satisfaction.

By contrast, Stately Men offers personal consultations only to customers who buy its most expensive offering: the $499 per month VIP package. Stately Men does not use artificial intelligence to improve apparel selection.

Rent or own

The key difference between Taelor and Stately Men is the subscription model.

Taelor is a subscription rental service. Customers receive a box (or two, depending on the package they choose) per month. When a customer is ready, they return the clothes. Taelor then sends new items. 

If a Taelor customer really loves an item they have rented, they can purchase it at a discounted price.

Stately Men is a subscription purchase service. Customers receive a box every month that is theirs to keep. If a guy loves everything in his box, that’s great. But if some of the items are less-than-loveable, the customer is stuck with them anyway.

 

How expensive is Stately Men? Pricing and tiers

Taelor offers two pricing tiers:

• Guys can subscribe to rent 10 clothing items a month (two shipments of five items each) for $109. 

• Or guys can pay $79 a month to rent a single box of five items.

How much does Stately Men cost? Stately Men has five pricing tiers:

• The lowest cost package is $129 a month to purchase three items.

• There are also mid-tier packages at $179 (5 items) and $299 (7 items).

• Stately Men’s most expensive package is $499 a month, which gives a customer a styling consultation and “premium, personalized looks that will include a suit or outerwear, footwear, and an assortment of tops, bottoms & accessories.” 

Which brands do you get from Stately Men? Brands and selection

Both Taelor and Stately Men have built relationships with numerous well-known men’s apparel manufacturers. Both subscription services offer items from an enormous number of brands. 

Taelor carries clothing from more than 350 brands. We were unable to find the number of brands carried by Stately Men, but it would appear to be substantial. 

Many top-tier brands – including Bonobos, Johnston & Murphy, Calvin Klein and Luchiano Visconti – are available from both services.

Both Taelor and Stately Men offer apparel that is suitable for office work, casual weekends, dating, outdoor, beach vacation, etc. Neither service offers formal attire (tuxedos, etc.) 

Common complaints about Stately Men

Jason C. is a Taelor customer. He used to be a customer of Stately Men. 

Jason said he’s particularly fond of the selections made by his Taelor stylist – a fact he attributes to video calls where he could provide feedback. 

Jason said his experience with Stately Men was quite different. He called the price of the service “huge” and said he was often dissatisfied with the items he received. And because Stately Men is not a rental, he was “stuck with it,” he said. 

“You pay the full price to get all these things, but 90 percent of it was not a fit for me. You wind up paying $250 a pop for a shirt. That doesn’t work for me,” he said.

That’s apparently not an uncommon experience. A review of Stately Men on the ClothedUp site notes that “there’s an interesting difference between new and existing customers of Stately Men. Those who have just started with the service seem relatively happy from the jump, but this outlook seems to change for many people after a few deliveries.”

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