support local this tax refund season

Welcome to clipboard, a weekly newsletter about clothes, hospo and Tāmaki Makaurau by Reilly Hodson. If you enjoy this newsletter, share it with your friends, and consider supporting the newsletter financially by clicking the button below. This week: some ethical suggestions for spending your tax refund, and Mitchell Tan on blazers.

tax refund robin hood

It’s tax refund season. The benevolent IRD has decided that they’ll mostly file your taxes for you, so potentially you just got an email saying that the government owes you money.

Here at clipboard, we’re big proponents of paying your fair share, but if you’re an honest, non-tax-avoiding citizen who just qualifies for the IETC, for example, or donated to a charity, or invested some money in your business this year, you might be finding yourself with a bit of spare cash at the moment.

Consider this a PSA. There are only two good ways to spend your tax refund, in my opinion (this is not financial advice). The first, of course, is to pay that bill that’s hanging over your head. I, for example, put mine towards replacing the tyres on my car, which were in desperate need. The second, if you’re feeling financially stable, is to support local.

Don’t send your new, free money overseas! Spend it on keeping the local economy, which has been on rather a ride in the past year, running. I wrote a piece a few weeks back about how I spend in a considered way, and I’d recommend revisiting it if you’re interested.

In short, though, now is your chance to spend a little frivolously, and do something good with money you may not have been counting on! A few suggestions:

• Buy anything from Thom Morison, maybe those raw denim jeans you’ve been looking at because you want to restart your lumberjack vibe.

• Invest in some fancy outerwear, like this delicious blue coat from Twenty Seven Names.

• Head to your local boutique and support local while buying international.

• Go to your indie bookstore of choice and load up on literature.

• Go out for a baller meal out! Try Cazador, or Mr Morris, or Celeste, or somewhere else that’s one step bougier than your usual vibe.

If you’ve spent your tax refund on something fun, I’d love to hear about it!

clips

• Lorde’s new single is out! The music video for ‘Solar Power,’ a song which is growing on me, features a who’s who of the Auckland fashion scene (and of people I have made coffee for at fancy cafes), and Ensemble has the breakdown of who they all are. 

• Regular readers will know that I am a sucker for cotton knitwear, as a person who has sensitive skin that gets ruined by scratchy wool. Checks Downtown has come through with excellent vests and beanies in cotton for the seasonless and sensitive among us - count me in!

• Good as Gold just got a great drop of graphics geniuses Brain Dead. I’m particularly into these bleached cord hats.

• After my short clip about Paul Goldsmith being dumb about colonisation last week, here’s a real piece by Leonie Hayden about why he’s so, so dumb.

• The best place to eat and drink in Auckland, Ockhee, launched more great merch this week: an engraved key ring and bottle opener. Very sick.

TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT: grow up!

Reilly’s note: I have never been a blazer wearer: too many bad private school memories. I do love a suit, though, and this quick piece from Mitchell Tan, the first true edition of TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT, has me reconsidering my approach to the humble blazer. Hopefully it does that for you, too.

what’s stopping you from wearing a blazer? i’ve had a recent revelation that blazers aren’t restricted to the wedding, funeral, and corporate cubical slave. there’s so much more to it! if, like me, you’ve wanted to slot in alongside people who are more successful than you are (dress for the job you want, not the job you have), the suit jacket, sport coat or blazer is the best way to do so. these top layers don’t need to be the best fitted and i'm definitely not pushing the skinny suit. it’s okay if it’s a tad big. it’s okay if it’s a touch small. ultimately, it’s a warm top layer that's great for layering with any number of garments. the hoodie under a blazer look is a timeless staple of grown-up-streetwear a la Mister Mort. honestly, the best places to go to grab 'em are op-shops. the suiting section is usually less sifted through than the others and the likes of Savemart can yield some absolutely fantastic finds. go for a tweed houndstooth if you're feeling something that can also be used to dress up like Thomas f*kn Shelby, or maybe a lil charcoal pinstripe number that is about as cross-generational as it gets.

exhibit a: the homie George wearing a Kapital Blazer with socks and sandals

exhibit b: Tudreu going far and beyond on the other end of the spectrum, wearing a Dries Suit Jacket for graduation.

[both purchased from me :)]

blazers are a criminally underutilised piece of outerwear that can spice up your rotation this winter if you're sick of arc'teryx shells and carhartt detroit work jackets. as always, that's my opinion, you can

TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT.

That’s all for clipboard this week, I hope you enjoyed it! I love hearing from readers, so if you enjoy the newsletter, send it to your friends, but also get in touch, either by replying or clicking here. It’s on my list at the moment to figure out what to do with the clipboard instagram, so stay tuned for that too. See you next Sunday!