The best things in life get better with age: wine, cast iron pans, Messrs Clooney or Beckham (take your pick). It’s a rule that’s equally true of the enduring icons of the male wardrobe.

In a world of disposable fashion and fleeting fads, it’s comforting to know that some staples are in it for the long haul.

From the buttery wrinkle of fine calf leather to the body-hugging wrap of raw denim, here are the items that will go on getting better and better as you do. Say hello to your newest old friends.

Leather Jacket

Like a human’s, cow skin warps and wears to tell the story of that which inhabits it. Good leather jackets, as well as leather pants, crinkle and mould along the joints and around the seams, becoming suppler and better fitting as they are broken in.

Even better is the subtle patina and color distortion that appears along the collar, at the elbows and around the pockets. A serious piece of hide will last you your entire adult life – and because it’ll look good in such a wide variety of situations, it’ll collect just as many stories as you do.

Flannel Check Shirts

Trace the flannel shirt’s family tree and you trace a line through cowboys, dead presidents and every off-duty movie star worth his salt. One reason for its enduring appeal is how much it matures as we do: from a bright, slightly coarse cut of fabric to a gently faded, even haggard layer.

Flannel, with its soft, dense fibres, is particularly good at conforming to your body, while its lightly absorbent nature means the dye very gradually bleeds from it, allowing it to mellow with age.

Raw Denim Jeans

Raw denim, not to be confused with selvedge, refers to a fabric that is unwashed at the manufacturing stage, meaning the dye clings to the cotton fibres in a deep indigo hue. This has two advantages for the jean connoisseur: it means that the cotton is more pliable and will mould better to your legs, and also that the dye will take on unique and natural characteristics.