I’ve had many people, especially my work colleagues, ask me why my suits are all cut above my ankles. They ask me if I bought them that way or tailored them. A lot of people also wonder why I don’t do the clean-shaven look, and choose to don a beard.
My normal response is; I like showing off my cool socks, yes I did get them tailored to be cut above my ankles and no I don’t want to have a baby face. Most accept that and move on.
Anyways, considering my aim is to inspire some of you I figured I’d dive into more detail so you guys can get a better understanding of who I am and why I do what I do.
So why above the ankles? There are actually probably five to ten reasons why but I’ll do my best to explain my two main reasons.
So firstly as I am from the Islamic faith, Muslims believe that God told us not to wear our clothes below the ankle or dragging along the floor. Funnily enough, as a rowdy teenager I wore my trousers below my bum and dragged them along the floor so I could fit into my council state surroundings. So to follow the practices of my faith, I began rolling up my trousers.
As I progressed in my sales career, earning more and more I decided my appearance didn’t match my ambition. I needed to look like the young entrepreneur I aspired to be. So I started following all these men’s fashion Instagram accounts as well as constantly checking online for what celebs and wealthy businessmen were wearing.
At the time, very few of them had their trousers above their ankles but there were enough to get me excited. So I went and got my suits cut above my ankles. Then gave all my jeans and chinos away to charity and bought myself a whole new range of chinos and jeans that were above my ankles.
Seeing the confidence in the men who wore their suits like this was the main thing that appealed to me and made me go from rolling them up to having them cut expertly above my ankles. To be able to sit on a busy train or bus with your black suit cut nicely and your bright blue and yellow polka dot socks takes a lot of confidence. You know when you walk on the bus, or into work, people will be staring. You might even find that you will be getting tons of people talking to you about it.
The confidence I feel wearing my trousers above my ankles makes me feel like I am closer to my goal of becoming a successful entrepreneur.
If you haven’t already started wearing your trousers above your ankles, start now.