Blackbird Spyplane is your No. 1 reader-supported electronic-mail masterpiece.
Thank you to our Classified Tier subscribers for keeping us unbeatable.
Our interviews with Nathan Fielder, Brendan from Turnstile, Adam Sandler, Issy Wood, MJ Lenderman, Kim Gordon, Steven Yeun, Maya Hawke, Bon Iver, André 3000, Michael Stipe, Matty Matheson, Laraaji, Eckhaus Latta, Tyler, The Creator, John C. Reilly, Rashida Jones, Camiel Fortgens, Father John Misty, Conner O’Malley, Clairo and more are here.
Every issue of Concorde, our women’s vertical that the fellas love too, is here.
Times are harder than ever for the kinds of cool small shops we love here at Blackbird Spyplane — shops the Cool Clothes Ecosystem depends on. Rents are crazy. Price competition online is brutal. The resources required to do e-commerce right are so enormous it’s like operating a second store. And that was before all the chaos and confusion around tariffs and de minimis exemptions set in.
But over the last few years we’ve also seen lots of promising developments. Fantastic new shops are opening up and killing it. Others we’ve long admired are not only doing their damn thing but opening new locations, picking up new lines, taking bigger swings. And just the other day, Ssense — an e-comm behemoth whose infamous discounting and algorithm-driven buying put a severe strain on smaller shops and had complicated consequences for small designers, too — filed for bankruptcy protection. Maybe there is such a thing as “too big,” and blitzscaling on their Am*zon s--t got the best of them in the end.
All of which brings us to today’s post. Two years ago, we published our blockbuster guide to “The 35 Slappiest Clothing Shops across the Spyplane Universe.” It was a vital resource, but so much has happened since then — so much is happening right now — we knew it was time to create an updated, expanded, revamped and frankly monumental list. So that’s what we’ve got for you today.
We’ve upped the recon, saluting the 50 best shops around the world. Many of these stores are, like Spyplane HQ, in the U.S., but lots of them are in other countries, too. What all have in common is they’re run by people with excellent taste, distinct visions, and a blessed core mission of connecting Cool People Who Want to Wear Cool Clothes Made with Skill, Sauce and Ingenuity with Cool People Who Make Those Kinds of Clothes.
Per our sacred vow to you, our guide contains zero affiliate links.
Lots of these stores are having their summer sales now, with fall clothes incoming. As always, visit them in person, if you can, on some C.I.R.L.O.C. s--t, because copping slappers in person >>> copping slappers online. But almost all of them have webshops, too, and owning slappers you got online >>> not owning any slappers at all.
The list is unranked and alphabetical — except for the No. 1 Clothing Store in the World, kicking things off.
Enjoy!
— Jonah & Erin
The B.L.I.S.S. List — a handy rundown of Beautiful Life-Improving Spyplane Staples, from natural deodorant to socks to incense to bath towels — is here.
Classified-Tier Spyfriends request, share and receive Mach 3+ recommendations in our SpyTalk Chat Room.
We don’t run ads, we refuse gifts, and we don’t use affiliate links when we cover new clothes. We do use them for one-off secondhand finds on eBay and Etsy, plus books on the independent bookseller Bookshop. We laid out our position on affiliate links and spon here.