My Favorite Shirt Company Killed the Placket
When a company you like makes a product you love, and then changes the product, it's a boner killer.
In Praise of the Unfused Dress Shirt Collar
One of my pet peeves with the average dress shirt is the fused collar. A fused collar is one that undergoes a high heat process that fuses multiple layers of fabric together, producing a collar that looks and feels perpetually starched, whether it’s been ironed or not. It’s fine, and I tolerate it. But I’ve grown to appreciate (and even favor) a non-fused collar. It’s not so stiff looking, lending a more relaxed, confident and cooler nonchalance to an otherwise crisp look.
My Dress Shirt Solutions
Until years ago, my dress shirts were almost exclusively from Brooks Brothers. Aside from their long (and now lost) heritage with dress shirts, they had a great fit and wonderful fabric until they went down the no-iron/wrinkle-free rabbit hole. Wrinkle-free is the crystal meth of menswear. Since my distaste for the substandard, formaldehyde-soaked, toxic, no-iron phenomenon is no secret, even earning me a quote in the Wall Street Journal, Brooks Brothers completely lost my business.
My preferred collar and cuff combination for dress shirts is a semi-spread collar with French cuffs. Same with my formal shirts. For handsome, well-made, affordable dress shirts, where to go?
A Shout-Out to Real Cotton Dress Shirts
https://youtu.be/KzxtfTKaXvE On this super hot day today, I was noticing how good a nice real cotton dress shirt felt, even in the blistering heat. Wrinkle-free/no-iron dress shirts do not breathe like this. Demand real, untreated, 100% cotton. It's the only…
How Kamakura Shirts Saved My Life
Last week, I wrote a post about how I solve my dress shirt problem, specifically accommodating the list of “musts” I have with dress shirts. It turns out that my problem wasn’t totally solved to my complete liking.