End of a trend

Patagonia's decision. More seriously, of course, the verdict in Minnesota. Also, 7 other things worth your time.

A couple of years ago, my wife got me a Patagonia vest for Christmas.

It was kind of a shared joke, because I like these vests, but I’d also written about how they had gained a reputation for being the "unofficial uniform" of Manhattan "finance bros" —especially co-branded versions of the vests with investment bank or tech company logos opposite the Patagonia logo. 

There was an Instagram page. @MidtownUniform. Quite amusing.

midtownuniform

A post shared by @midtownuniform

In 2019, Esquire described the uniform as to include the vest, along with, "the crisp oxford shirt: almost always white or blue, though sometimes pink ... [and] slacks. [I]nvariably navy or khaki."

I’m not really sure how they became popular in that world, but there are a few theories:

• The Esquire story went on to quote a Wall Street analyst who said he first saw the uniform in 2014, and another who started wearing the vests to copy his boss.

• Another theory: The guy behind @MidtownUniform credited the Showtime series, Billions (debut: 2016) with the trend, since the…