Have you ever seen a dog doing the thing it was actually bred for?

Like a cattle dog instinctively running around a group of children? Or a beagle baying and dashing into the woods? Or a lab lightly dropping something at your feet?

It’s remarkable isn’t it? The dog is so happy when it’s given the chance to do the thing it was meant to do.

Back when our beloved bulldog was still with us, I always marveled at how her behavior differed from other dogs. For example, she was NOT interested in playing any form of “fetch”. If you got something from her (which was difficult) and threw it a ways away, she would huff and grumble (the bulldog equivalent of an eye-roll) before shuffling over to the item, plopping down, and chewing on it.

If she was feeling energetic, she would indeed bring it back to you… but she didn’t want you to throw it again. She wanted you to try to pull it away from her.

She LOVED tug-of-war. She loved it because that’s what she was built for, essentially. Even though she was only about 36 pounds, she was incredibly strong. Her front legs, shoulders, and neck were heavily muscled, perfect for getting low and bracing against an opposing force.

When it comes to clothing, I always get a charge out of experiencing an item do the thing it was meant to do. And you guys know that I am all about finding joy in something (getting dressed, for example) that we all have to do every day anyway

The other day, my wife and I took the boys to a local nature/wildlife event. Once the event concluded, we went on a little bit of a mountain hike. It was foggy and rainy and it felt great to be outside on one of the first truly chilly days of the season.

I wore my Barbour jacket, my Akubra fedora, and my logger boots.

The jacket’s waxed shell shed the rain. Its wool lining kept me warm.

The fedora’s wide brim and dense felt kept my glasses clear and my head dry.

The boots’ aggressive tread and pointed heel kept me sturdy on my feet while navigating rocks, rivers, and mud.

I was perfectly comfortable because I was letting my clothes do the things they were designed for. And when I do that, it makes me appreciate my clothes even more than I already do.

I even feel that way about sneakers and hoodies!

I use my sneakers exclusively for running. And they’re really good at that one thing! None of my other shoes perform as well as my sneakers do for running, obviously. But my sneakers don’t do anything else particularly well. And that’s ok, because I don’t require anything else of them.

Same thing with my hoodie. In general, I don’t like wearing hoodies because the only thing they are good at is being an inexpensive, easily laundered, light layer for keeping my body heat up when I am working out. They don’t do anything else well! They aren’t all that warm. They don’t protect against bad weather. They are way too casual for anything other than exercise. But again, all of that is ok because the only thing I call on my hoodie for is to be workout clothes. And at that, it’s great!

I appreciate my sneakers and my hoodie because I allow them to shine in their natural environments without asking them to do anything else.

I wasn’t confused when my bulldog didn’t want to play fetch. She wasn’t built for fetch. I happily played tug-of-war with her instead and we had a great time!

I sometimes think people don’t really get excited about clothes (or how they can present themselves in those clothes) because they haven’t really clued into the fact that different clothes are built for different things. And when their clothes WORK under those specific circumstances, it’s really cool and allows you to have fun and enjoy your life more than you would otherwise.

Where I live, one the easiest ways to tell someone is from out-of-town is if they are wearing sneakers in the winter. Around here, NO ONE wears sneakers in the winter because they are just impractical. While shopping for our Christmas tree last year, I saw a guy covered in mud because he slipped and fell. He was wearing (formerly) bright, white sneakers.

I wouldn’t be surprised if that guy’s mood was a little sour after that. He might decide he doesn’t like the cold weather. Or Christmas tree shopping. Maybe he was scheduled to go out to dinner later and had to deal with being cold and wet for the remainder of the day.

But it all could have been avoided if he allowed his clothes to serve their purpose.

Sneakers aren’t for trudging around in the snow and mud. They are built for a very specific purpose (exercise). And at that, they are great. But don’t ask them to do something they’re not built for.

I love wearing my clothes in the right circumstances.

I like wearing my steel, waterproof watch in the ocean.

I like wearing my fur-lined, trapper hat when it’s below-zero.

I like wearing my wool shirt when I’m chopping wood.

I like wearing my leather flight jacket when it’s windy.

I like wearing my double-breasted suit when I take my wife out to dinner in the city.

Sure, many articles of clothes can do lots of different jobs. Versatility is a great thing, after all. But we run into trouble when we pretend that one style of dressing, or a very limited selection of items in our wardrobe for that matter, can be our sartorial Swiss army knife.

I feel like men need to hear this.

It’s ok to have multiple pairs of shoes. It’s ok to have different jackets or hats or whatever. It doesn’t mean you’re vain or a clothes-horse. It might mean that you understand that, in order to enjoy your clothes as much as possible, you need to employ them for the jobs they were meant for.