The way we dress has changed immeasurably in the past two decades. That’s a good thing. Liberated from old sartorial expectations at work and social events, we have more freedom than ever in how we express ourselves through our clothes. But that creates its own challenges. The casualization process has also somehow re-mystified certain pieces that once had a clear role and function in our wardrobes.
Take the dress shirt. Once a staple, it’s now a source of anxiety for guys who need to wear one but only on occasion. From collars and cuffs to fabrics and fits, questions about what to look out for—and ultimately bring into your own wardrobe—abound. Never fear: We’re here to dig into what makes a good shirt, well, good.
To do so, we decided to use an example from a brand that’s getting it right: 100Hands. In a clothing industry in which corners are cut but prices frequently aren’t, 100Hands is a bright spot that proves proper shirts can still be done the proper way.
The Firm
Based in Amsterdam, 100Hands was set up 12 years ago to represent the polar opposite of mass production. The brand makes all its shirts in India, where the significant amount of handwork involved is carefully nurtured. Its name came from the fact that, at the time of its founding, 50 shirtmakers were involved in the making of a single shirt. Now it has 450 full-time artisans. In November, 100Hands opens its first-ever retail space on London’s Savile Row to serve a growing band of customers fond of its no-nonsense approach. In the Americas, the brand is available at Bergdorf Goodman and the Armoury in New York, Harry Rosen in Canada, and Silver Deer in Mexico. And, of course, you can buy it online.
The Fit
From a distance, most shirts look the same. So you can really recognize a good one only by trying it on and getting a feel for it. When you do at 100Hands, the difference is instantly noticeable. Nailing the fit requires a lot of time. Much of the work at 100Hands involves traditional techniques long lost to economies of scale elsewhere. The sleeves of each shirt, for instance, are deliberately rotated before they’re set into the body, akin to the way an upscale tailor will attach a jacket sleeve to allow for the natural rotation of the wearer’s shoulder. Conveniently, this also provides a cleaner front and silhouette, though surprisingly few luxury brands do it these days. In addition, again much like a Savile Row tailor, 100Hands cuts a relatively high armhole in its shirts, which makes for less bunching cloth at the armpit, allowing the wearer greater movement and comfort.
The Cloth
Dress shirts are traditionally made from cotton, linen, silk, or blends of the three. Cotton is your everyday staple, but better cotton has longer fibers, making threads finer and cloths sleeker.
The Collar Roll
The most telling hallmark of a superior dress shirt is the collar. For 100Hands, it is the soul of the shirt, and getting it right often takes 30 to 40 percent of a shirt’s production time. Sewing flat pieces of cloth into a curved ergonomic shape around the neck requires skill to ensure it will sit upright and withstand repeated wear and wash cycles.
The Pattern
Many dress-shirt makers don’t bother with pattern matching, the process of lining up the checks or stripes on the cloth so that they appear continuous where seams meet. At 100Hands, it’s something of an obsession. All the various parts of a 100Hands shirt are cut by hand, which means patterns can be matched perfectly. It may not add greatly to the value of a shirt, but it does add time to the process. And for 100Hands, it’s a proof of commitment, a detail that a few years back earned a standing ovation from the buyers at Isetan, one of Japan’s best and biggest department stores.
The Assembly
100Hands shirts generally have 23 separate parts that are largely assembled by hand, with hems sewn to 0.1mm tolerances. This means it takes 36 to 40 hours to make a single shirt. One key area that gets a lot of attention is the bottom hem, which is hand-rolled and sewn to a 2mm width—much like an Hermès scarf but more robust because it must withstand multiple washes. Occasionally threads break in the assembly. Where other makers sew over a broken thread, 100Hands removes it and resews the seam entirely.
Shirt Care
1.
WEARING
One wear, one wash. That’s the rule. A good dress shirt should always be crisp. Otherwise, what’s the point?
2.
WASHING
Invest in a good-quality washing machine, ideally with a simple wool or shirting program that will protect your shirts from damage. Wash at medium speed in warm water for 45 minutes to an hour. A good laundry will do the same, but avoid dry cleaning, as the chemicals break down the fibers of your shirt with time, shortening its life span.
3.
DRYING
Like dry cleaning, tumble drying will damage fibers—in this case because of heat and friction. Air drying on a hanger, line, or rack will preserve your shirts longer.
4.
STORAGE
Hang your shirts (ideally on wooden hangers) instead of folding, and iron them thoroughly prior to wearing, with plenty of steam. If necessary before ironing, freshen them up in a tumble dryer—but only for a few minutes.
5.
IRONING
Get a good steam iron and always press your shirts inside out. When it comes to the collar and cuffs, press the backside and work your way from the center outward toward the corners or collar points.
6.
BUTTONS
100Hands sews its buttons with a “crow’s-foot” pattern instead of the more common “X” shape. It’s a hallmark of quality shirts and subtly underlines that it was handsewn. But there’s a good reason for it too. The stitch creates a stronger grip and makes losing a button less likely. That said, buttons do pop off occasionally, and learning how to sew on a button is a serious rite of passage for a man. Use the pathetic sewing kits provided by hotels only in extremis. The threads just aren’t up to it.
. . . AND A BONUS FACT
People generally these days refer to any dress shirt as a “button-down” because it has buttons down the front. This is wrong. In fact, a button-down shirt is exclusively one whose collar is buttoned at the tips to the body of the shirt in the preppy style.
Shirt ($678) by 100Hands.