Twenty years ago, the menswear market was saturated by bargain bin denim and oversized sweaters. Jerry Seinfeld was on the cover of GQ in a burgundy suit and Luke Perry was sporting this cosmically awesome vest that may or may not have been stitched together from leftover fabric samples found on the floor of a Hobby Lobby. Sure, men’s fashion of yesteryear had its own special brand of offbeat charm, but it wasn’t exactly what you’d call timeless. Or tasteful.

Then, in the twenty aughts, Don Draper reminded us that as long as you can invest in a good suit and act like you know what you’re doing, you can pretty much get away with being a total fraud. But the seeds of the movement toward well-dressed men were planted long before everyone’s favorite antihero ad exec hit primetime. The trend has been gaining traction for years now, and the online marketplace is taking notice.

According to a recent report from research firm IbisWorld, menswear is outpacing the online sales growth of all fourteen of the other business sectors analyzed. Shoes came in third, and we imagine there’s some overlap here, but hey – we didn’t make the study. Between 2010 and 2015, IbisWorld found that men’s clothing sales online grew an average of seventeen percent per year.

Some analysts in the fashion industry are attributing the rapid sales growth to a societal shift in attitudes about masculinity. Others have taken a more practical stance, arguing that men are shopping online because we have aversion to shopping in department stores.                                                                                                                                             But it’s not just the volume of menswear sales that’s changed; it’s also the quality. Men aren’t just buying bare bones utilitarian threads to make themselves look halfway presentable. They’re buying clothes that make them look good.                                                                                                                                                                                                         At Paul Evans, we’re thrilled to be a part of this paradigm shift in fashion values. Since 2013, we’ve been providing men the opportunity to dress well without breaking the bank. Stop in, or shop online today to see just how good you can look in a pair of Paul Evans.