Here at GQ Recommends, we spend countless hours toiling in the e-comm trenches to curate cool things to buy so you can shop like one of us, whether you’re looking for a new suit or a fresh 3-pack of boxer briefs. Our unrivaled window shopping brings you everything from the best new menswear to the hottest menswear deals. But do those selects always align with our own personal order histories? They do not. So we thought we’d give you a tantalizing peek into our very own actual non-imaginary shopping carts, courtesy of our absolute favorite purchases of the entire year, 16 products that GQ staffers enjoyed the most in 2024.
Ian Burke, Senior Commerce Editor
I’ve always liked rugby shirts, but since I started coming into the office three days a week, I’ve really leaned into the look—probably to a fault. (If outfit repeating is a crime, I’m getting multiple life sentences.) I snagged this dress-it-up-or-dress-it-down joint from J.Crew in all the colors they offer, and honestly, I wear them more than I should. They fit great and make your shoulders look jacked, too.
Bowen Fernie, Visuals Editor
I’ve been on the hunt for nice-looking, refillable, non-toxic cleaning products that would make my house smell good without wrecking the environment. Koala Eco checks all of those boxes, and I can’t recommend them enough. 5 stars for the laundry detergent and kitchen spray. Catch them while they’re not sold out!
Gaylord Fields, Copy Manager
Someone once described my fashion sense as “early ’60s civil rights worker.” But it’s the opposite of passive resistance when I accentuate my typical uniform of oxford shirt and slim-fit chinos with the psychedelic Polynesian patterns of a vintage Sandwich Isles sport coat. This is blazer number six since I began collecting this long-defunct Hawaiian brand in the aughts, but thanks-no-thanks to its recent discovery by tikiphiles worldwide, I paid more for this one jacket than my other five—combined.
Mick Rouse, Global Research Director
My trustiest of companions! I’ve been playing tennis with Wilson’s Pro Staff line of racquets for over 15 years now. Over the course of 2024, I demoed pretty much every other racquet on the market, thinking it might be time for a change. Ultimately, though, I wound up right where I started, but with Wilson’s latest (and arguably most beautiful) iteration of the Pro Staff 97. Don’t get me started on strings, though…
Kelsey Niziolek, Designer
What’s better than smelling like asphalt and car exhaust? I can’t stop sniffing my wrist when I spray this stuff on. It’s much easier than walking past the gas station to get a whiff of gasoline (my favorite smell).
Raymond Ang, Associate Director of Editorial Operations
In a moment of temporary insanity, I went to Mitch Wolf, my trusted hairstylist of almost a year now, and told him to give me whatever haircut he thinks I should have, completely letting him have his way with my mop. After about an hour of queasily avoiding to look at the mirror, I looked up to find my overgrown mane transformed into a short fringe—something I would’ve never thought to get but turns out, compliments my pork bun-shaped cheeks. The new haircut eventually went multi-platinum in my DMs. Sometimes, I guess, you have to roll the dice a little.
Martin Mulkeen, Global Commerce Category Director
A few months back I picked up my first pair of Wrangler’s after a colleague tipped me off to a ludicrous sale, and boy, I haven’t been this excited about breaking in stiff-as-hell denim since walking into the ocean in A.P.C. New Cures 15 years ago.
Michael Houtz, Art Director
When I saw a black suede Dylan surface online for half the price (NWT!), I said to myself; don’t think twice, it’s all right.
Gerald Ortiz, Style Commerce Writer
As much as I liked my old water bottle, I’m trying to limit the plastic in my life. So like any neurotic professional shopper, I searched for a very specific water bottle, one made of stainless steel, with a wide mouth for easy cleaning, dead-simple construction with no extraneous parts, and a handle. Turns out, it’s not that easy to find. I eventually landed on this one from Klean Kanteen and have never been more quenched.
Anthony O’Baner Jr., Executive Assistant to the Global Editorial Director
Thank god for a naturally fast metabolism, because I have consumed at least 30 bags of this candy since summer 2024. There’s something magical about the crunch quickly followed by the gummy texture. I haven’t felt true nostalgia like this since rewatching Ed, Edd, and Eddy.
Peter Lee, Associate Director of Social Creative for GQ Sports
Puma has been dropping some serious heat with their F1 merch line and their recent collab with Ferrari for the Vegas Grand Prix might be their best yet. The desert inspired remix of the Suede Classic is both super comfortable and has a unique faded red (pink?) colorway so I find myself constantly wearing it. With Lewis Hamilton joining Charles Leclerc next season, Ferrari is probably the coolest F1 team to rep on your kicks.
Stephanie Tran, Visuals Director
I got the last pair in a textured leather at the SoHo store and they’re the most elegant shoe I have laid eyes on in 2024. Maybe ever!
Michael Nolledo, Associate Commerce Director
How big should your pants be? It’s a terrible dilemma. After a few seasons of my bottoms getting bigger and wider at the expense of my poor legs, I spent the last year on a serious hunt for my preferred fit, trying on a pendulum swinging’s worth of different silhouettes. Turns out my appetite for wide-legged pants is still strong because the best ones I bought all year were these big honkin’ high-wasted chinos from Studio Nicholson. It has a perfect weight for all temperatures. The peached cotton fabric rumples handsomely. And the exaggerated single pleat could cut a man. They’re the most voluminous pants I own, and somehow also the most versatile. It could be easy to scoff at copping pants as spendy as these, but regrets, I have none.
Tyler Chin, Associate Lifestyle Editor
Corduroy is a year-round fabric, and I’ll die on that hill, even if it means I’m all shriveled up in the middle of August while wearing cord shorts. I guess fall and winter are the best times for the fabric, and my trusty new Engineered Garments jacket has been waiting for its time to shine since I bought it back in January. It’s the perfect boxy fit, slightly cropped to hit right above my waist. It’s lined and heavy, good enough to keep me warm when it’s around 40 degrees, but works great as a middle-weight layer under an overcoat when it’s really truly corduroy season.
Yang-Yi Goh, Style Editor
Sometimes, the algorithm really does deliver. One fateful day last December—during that interminable, vacuous week between Christmas and New Year’s—I had entered into a near-unbreakable symbiosis with my couch, buried beneath a freshly fallen layer of Ferrero Rocher wrappers, when I spotted something intriguing on my Instagram Explore page.
It was a rolltop duffel bag, exquisitely crafted from undyed natural leather and covered in a sublime smattering of handpainted illustrations: a trio of greyhounds on the racetrack here, an ’80s Toyota pickup there. A couple taps later, I’d learned that this was the work of a fella named Erich, a.k.a. Easy Cowboy, from my hometown of Toronto; a few more taps and I’d sent a DM asking if he’d make me an everyday work tote.
And boy, did he ever. Two months later, I picked up my glorious new It bag, which Erich had painstakingly decorated with a jumble of words and images I’d picked out—some aspirational, like the old-school Volvo station wagon I hope to own someday; some goofy, like Kermit the Frog in a cowboy hat; some meaningful, like the name of my late and deeply beloved pup Ziggy. It’s been a joy to carry to the office every day this year, not merely because it’s exponentially more functional and distinguished than the worn-to-threads New Yorker tote I’d used previously, but also because the leather deepens and ages and grows more beautiful with each use. I can’t wait to find out just how good it’ll look five, 10, even 50 years down the road.
Reed Nelson, Contributor
I got a pair of Nothin’ Special’s NOrange Double-Knee Pants in July and they became one of my favorite pairs of pants immediately. They’re handmade in Brooklyn by designer Ryo Matsuoka, and you’ll find more consideration in a randomly selected square inch of these tanks than you will on most pants in their entirety. I’ve treated mine with the kind of reckless abandon that normally gets documented in a police blotter, and they somehow look better than they did on day one. (I also dry them regularly, without consequence.)
Avidan Grossman, Senior Commerce Editor
Exfoliating is good for your skin. We know this. You know this. But, like going to bed early or doing more cardio, it’s one of those tidbits of information you come across online and think Huh, I should really do that…before un-pausing Netflix and forgetting about it entirely. Enter Dr. Dennis Gross’ gentle face pads, a duo of pre-soaked wipes that come packed with a who’s who of nourishing ingredients, like lactic acid, willow bark extract, and colloidal oatmeal. A 5-pack costs less than 20 bucks, and they’re ridiculously easy to use. Swipe your face with one, wait a couple of minutes, then do the same with the other. That’s it. The whole process is as seamless as ordering in Chipotle—if an overstuffed burrito bowl (double chicken, extra guac) came with the power to help you feel holiday-party ready.
