Boots and Footwear: If it uses glue, it's half a shoe. Look for things that describe the types of leather (Chrome excel, buff, nubuck, etc...) and that have a welted outsole. This used to be on every pair of shoes when they were made by hand, but not anymore. This indicates the sole can be replaced. If buying new, boots and shoes under $300 are trash and will fall apart. You can find really good ones for a handful of shakes on ebay or thrift stores, but do diligence on what to look for. (i.e Welts, sole types, triple stitching, etc...) People complain about being poor and footwear, but you buy once, cry once. If your job is to be on your feet fucking around at all times, you will thank yourself in 15 years for not getting a pair of walmart brahmas every 6 months. Besides, when you buy 6 $50 pairs of boots or shoes a year, you could just save and buy one decent $300 pair for life. Old military surplus boots are good, too. And usually cheap.
Look for Altama, Rothco, Wellco, etch.....High end boot brands look for Whites, Nicks, Good Red Wings. Vintage is usually easy to buy, and high quality.
Watches: The old faithfuls. Timex, Seiko, Citizen, Hamilton, Omega, Rolex, Casio, etc.....Look for at least 100m water resistance, and a sapphire crystal. This means the watch will not get fucked up by you forgetting to take it off in the hot tub, and the sapphire crystal is literal lab grown sapphire, so can only be scratched by diamonds and harder materials, and is absurdly smash resistant. I built a Casio World Timer in a custom steel and sapphire case, and fell out of a tree while hunting. About 10-15 feet, and smashed the watch directly onto a rock. Not so much as a smudge. One of my party tricks is to take a box knife or a flathead and scratch the shit out of it in front of people, then watch them marvel when I wipe the scratches off with my sleeve.
Knives: these are a little more personal. Less than brands (though the old reliable Old Timers, Buck, Spiderco come to mind) more of the steel. D2 or comparable. The better steels are more costly, harder to sharpen. But they do not break or dull anything like the standard 440 steels do. I butchered a deer from shot to freezer entirely with a D2 steel IPAK 5 inch blade, and even after digging through bone, it was still sharp enough to effortlessly filet a fish.
Guns: Old is good. New is good. Some guns are shitty, some are not. This one is harder because the old standards (Smith and Wesson, Colt, Remington, Winchester) have all gotten way shitty after being bought and sold a hundred times, and coasting off their name. Research and ask questions if you're established. If you're brand new, buy a used police trade in glock, a mossberg 500, a ruger 10-22, or a vintage 80's or older S&W 38 special revolver.
Jeans/Pants: Grow up. Quit buying fashion clothes, retard. They're like 40 percent plastic and wear out after a year. If it uses polyester or rayon, you don't need it. Save the money you'd spend on 6 pairs of fashion jeans, get 1 pair of selvedge, raw denim jeans. And then have them for 30 years. Brands to look for are Wrangler's Cowboy Cut if you want cheap you can buy at walmart. Avoid Levi's 501s. They are not the jeans they used to be. If you want a laugh, check ebay for prices on vintage 501s when they used to be made well.
If looking online, Kicking Mule Workshop, Naked and Famous, basically any from Japan. They make what American denim used to be. But you can't just be lazy and toss em in the washer and dryer.
Same for dress clothes. Most of them are poly shit. Save up or learn to sew, get a nice 100% wool or cotton broadcloth high end name brand piece off ebay that's selling for $6 because the crotch is blown out and sew the holes. You can build a fine, lifetime wardrobe from ebay and thrift stores with $50 and some needle and thread. Shirts are the same. For jackets, get good non-fashion leather or milsurp jackets.
Socks/Underwear: Wool. Wool everything. Merino wool boxers keep you cold when it's hot, and hot when it's cold. Wool socks NEVER wear out, and when they do, well. It's easy to patch because the whole thing isn't shit elastic. Wool is one of the only fabrics that retains it's ability to thermoregulate even when soaked. Standing out in a field in winter, dripping to the bone, in a wool outfit will keep you just as warm as if it were dry. Try that with cotton.
Tools: Older, the better. Ask your grandparents if they have any extra lying around. I bet your grandpa does. Hit up estate sales or garage sales. You can find full, old, american made ratchet sets that will outlast you with a piece of blue masking tape with $5 written on it because someone wants it out of the house. Every time you go out and see something weird you don't have, get it. You may spend $12 on a wrench you use twice, but boy howdy, when you save the $400 it would have cost to get a guy who has one out, you're gonna feel real smart.
Cookware: You can cook everything in the world for your whole life with a sturdy cast iron 15" pan, a vintage carbon steel chinese cleaver, and a carbon steel wok.
EDC: This is tailored. But I firmly believe (and have put in practice) you can survive everything in this world with a zippo, a sturdy pocket knife, a multitool (I use a leatherman skeletool), a pocket flashlight (maglite solitaire mini with an LED conversion), a watch, a reliable pistol, a cotton hanky, and some good boots and jeans.
And start thinking about how you dress. I always say to people they should dress for the ghost they want to be. If you just left the house and got clapped, do you want to get caught on Ghost Hunters wearing a cum-stained Nirvana T-Shirt and some holey sweatpants for all eternity?
