WHAT IS A QUALITY SHIRT?

Offering you quality clothing and accessories, such is our motto! It goes without saying that for our shirts, our ambition remains unchanged. Our expert eyes allow us to assess at a glance the care taken in manufacturing a shirt. How to recognize a quality shirt and above all, how to choose with certainty the one that will last over time?

First of all, it's about recognizing those details that really make a difference. Discover with us the elements that make up a quality shirt!

A quality shirt is characterized primarily by its fabric: it's the main element that gives a shirt its character. Whether solid color, striped, polka dot, or with micro-patterns, the best fabrics undoubtedly come from great Italian houses like Albini, Monti, or Albiate. Most are double-twisted, providing durability and comfort. Attention is then paid to the shirt's opacity, its fineness of weave, and its durability, which is made possible by the double-twisted weaving.

Natural fabrics are to be preferred as they offer incomparable benefits: cotton, linen, lyocell... it's an essential criterion that can improve your comfort of use! The construction itself must be carefully checked as it must be meticulously measured. This is why it's preferable to prioritize European manufacturing with trusted partners whenever possible, where it's easier to control each step of the production process.

Our manufacturing workshop for our shirts - and polos! - is located in Eastern Europe, between Romania and Moldova. It pays particular attention to choosing the best Italian but also British fabrics such as Thomas Mason fabric, as well as to the finishes applied to the garments. Our partner manufacturing workshop emphasizes precious know-how and increased quality control in order to offer you shirts with indisputable quality attributes.

It would be a real shame if your favorite shirt were to tear on its first use. And yet, simple details, albeit important ones, can strengthen the durability of a shirt that is nonetheless fine and refined. This is the case with "English seams", also called "invisible seams", which leave no visible fabric edge, showing only one thread – since the second is inside the shirt. To create an English seam, a first row of stitching is done on the inside and a second row on the outside. The assembly is therefore finer, characterized by a slight texture at the edge of the fabric. Rarely used, this process is a sign of great quality in shirt manufacturing. It notably gives garments a more refined and less raw appearance.

The English seams with 6 stitches per centimeter on our shirts are made in a single, flawless line of stitching and allow for more elegance and durability. They are more difficult to create but they are an undeniable mark of quality and longevity.

A small piece of fabric won't escape the expert eyes of fine shirt enthusiasts... We're of course talking about reinforcement gussets, present on many quality shirts to provide additional strength. Located on both sides at the ends of our shirts, reinforcement gussets help strengthen the joint between the front and back panels of the shirt. They are characterized by a pentagonal shape and are directly sewn on each side. It's possible to find triangular-shaped reinforcement gussets, however, the pentagonal shape allows for a more subtle finish and results in a cleaner cut.

Rest assured, collar stays are invisible! Contrary to what one might think, they are not shirt shaping accessories like pins or the cardboard in a new shirt, but rather crucial elements for the impeccable hold of your collar.

It's a small stainless steel rod that allows for good support and a proper hold of the shirt collar. Without them, the collar can become unstructured and thus lose all the benefits of a beautiful shirt.

Our shirts are equipped with stainless steel collar stays, a durable and rigid material. We advise you to carefully remove them before machine washing your shirt to avoid damaging them. Also note that not all shirts may have collar stays: sometimes the shape of the collar alone is sufficient for a good hold.

Fusing is a technique that allows reinforcements ("interfacings") to be heat-bonded to certain parts of a garment (front, collar, cuff, etc.). The fusible interfacing is generally not the same depending on the type of fabric it's bonding to, in order not to damage it. They come in different thicknesses depending on the materials or needs. On one side, it's a fabric canvas, and on the other side, it's an adhesive base that reacts to the heat of an iron.

To ensure a long-lasting and impeccable fit, our shirt collars and cuffs, especially on French cuff shirts, are fused. The 5mm stitching on our collars is also very precise and complements the fusing process. Finally, the two pleats that top the outside of the French cuff allow you to be elegant and impeccable from all angles.

As mentioned earlier, natural materials are ideal: the same goes for buttons! When possible, choose mother-of-pearl buttons for example, which offer great durability and an elegant finish that perfects a beautiful shirt. For the last buttonhole of a quality shirt, it will be sewn horizontally to reduce tension on the seams when the shirt is tucked into the pants: no more fear of it unbuttoning!

We have chosen Troca mother-of-pearl buttons, a shell that mainly lives off the coast of New Caledonia. Its very pure mother-of-pearl may nevertheless present some irregularities and imperfections. With our attention always focused on the smallest details, these buttons are cross-stitched with the help of a secure fastening called "Ascolite". Cross-stitching is a technique where the thread is turned several times around the button to make it more resistant, tight, and tenacious. Our buttons are mounted on shanks with a very solid stem and slightly raised to allow you to button your shirt more easily. One last small detail, the last buttonhole is obviously sewn horizontally to avoid unwanted openings of your shirt!

Shirt weaves

The price of a quality shirt

Glossary

Choosing your shirt collar