The year of 2018 saw the biggest jump in popularity for men’s fashion in the last decade. For better or for worse, more people are into fashion now than ever and needless to say, the fashion world is huge. The fashion world is always evolving and each season sees tons of new trends every year. While 2018 has seen many great new trends, this year also saw some boring and overused ones as well. I will highlight 5 trends from this year that I believe have had an important impact for men’s fashion.

Shoulder Bags / Fanny Packs

2018 had no shortage of people paying resell prices for supreme and other brands’ fanny packs. When this trend first popped up around 2017, it was clever. Taking something that used to be not cool, like a fanny pack, and making it trendy is very interesting and it a common trend in fashion. However, nowadays this trend is corny and not original.

2/10

Off White x Nike

It’s safe to say the Virgil Abloh has had a good year. On top of a collaboration with Louis Vuitton, Virgil Abloh, the founder of Off-White, has done a lot for Nike. From the end of last year and throughout 2018, Off-White has done numerous collaborations for Nike and Jordan Brand. The hype surrounding these shoes has gotten people to pay upwards of $2,500 for a pair of Jordan 1’s. While some people may not understand them, they are definitely nice to look at. The Off-White’s are very original in my opinion and one of the best collaborations in the past 5 years. Hopefully we get to see more releases with higher stock so that they are easier to cop.

10/10

Loose Pants

It’s no secret that skinny jeans are out of style. And for good reason, they are simply uncomfortable for most men. With less and less people wearing skinnier styles, looser style pants have been on the uprise throughout the past couple years. Many brands like Dickies and Carhartt are making huge strides in implementing looser workwear type silhouettes in trendy ways. Pants like these have always been popular in the skating scene, but now they have gone mainstream. In my opinion, looser styles are definitely more stylish and comfortable.

9/10

Neon

Bright colors is something that high fashion brands like Off-White and Prada have been using towards the end of 2018. I think this trend is just that, a trend.

This is probably not something that will stick around for awhile. We see a lot of neon colors in trendy womens wear right now, but I don’t think that this will catch on in the mainstream for men. However, influencers like Bloody Osiris use bright colors in original and stylish ways that I can support.

5/10

Balenciaga

Balenciaga had a huge influence in 2018 by making ugly shoes something that people will spend hundreds for. With the thick soled Triple S, they made unattractive shoes mainstream. I think that this trend is somewhat original and stylish in some outfits but it is also very cringy and can be done in ways that ruin an outfit. There have been numerous copy cats by brands like Puma and Adidas in attempt to capitalize on this “Dad Shoe” trend. All in all, this trend is hard to follow if you are a casual streetwear follower, but it is different and cool.

6.5/10