Q. I understand that I may not buy, during the Nine Days, a new, complete pair of tzitzis, i.e. with the strings already attached.
However, may I buy the four-cornered garment and the strings separately, such that I will tie the strings on after the Nine Days? My reasoning is, even though the four-cornered garment is clothing per se, since for me as a Torah-abiding individual, what I am buying is not really usable clothing, it should not be forbidden to purchase on the Nine Days.

A. Horav Shlomo Miller’s Shlit’a opinion is that you may purchase the tzitzis strings by themselves, but avoid the four-cornered garment, since even if it cannot be used as is for men,(it could be used as a kesus laila), it still qualifies as clothing for other purposes, and is also being sold as a begged.

Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by Horav Shlomo Miller Shlit’a