Today we’re going to be talking about men’s dress shirts.
In particular, we’re going to be talking about men’s dress shirt fabrics.
Dress shirt fabrics
1. Solid fabrics
Solid are the most common fabrics on the planet. Solid fabrics are what you’re going to see on most dress shirts and there’s a reason for that. Solid fabrics are incredibly easy to match and they are the most formal.
A white shirt incredibly versatile; you can wear that with a black tie if it’s the right style or you can wear that with a pair of jeans. A very wide range of clothing that can be with it.
In addition, they can match almost anything so this light blue over here in the bottom right hand corner, this will go with the charcoal gray suit, this will go with a pair of raw denim. This will go with – how you could wear it with even a pair of shorts assuming that you got the style right.
Once we start getting into darker, solid colors, the formality of the shirt falls. Dark maroons, all of a sudden, the shirt is no longer as versatile. It becomes more of a casual wear color.
Lavender, it’s really underutilized and I put it there because it is a great choice and one that because of its light shade, it’s still a very versatile fabric.
2. Semi-solid
The most underutilized fabrics in a man’s wardrobe if you even have them. You’ll see we’ve got a couple herringbones here. Now, over here to the right, we’ve got a more complicated pattern, it’s a Glen Check.
This is something I love about this semi-solid is from a distance, they’re going to look solid. They have the same versatility of the solids but when you get up close, you can see the pattern, this white here in the bottom right hand corner.
Most of you won’t be able to see that it does have a check pattern and unless you’re viewing this in HQ, you probably don’t actually see that.
3. Stripe Patterns
This is very clear that there is a pattern to this. The vertical stripe as it and you don’t see them going because the reason you see a vertical striped often on a shirt is it gives the illusion of slimming the figure. This shirt if it’s cut right and if it fits a man well, will usually make a man look a bit thinner.
It helps the color bleed into the trousers and why that’s important because it gives you a monochromatic look. These two bottom blue shirts, you could easily wear these with a nice pair of blue jeans, some raw denim or a pair of dark slacks and it’s going to look good.
If you wear this one over here on the top left, it will still look fine but they’ll be more contrast between the top and the bottom because white is the dominant color up here.
The great thing about white being the dominant color up here on this top left hand corner when it’s going to be a bit more versatile. You could actually wear this shirt in a business setting. This bottom two, you could but they’re going to be more casual.
Over here to the top right, this gets a bit more complicated. If you look at the shirt, it’s got actually five colors in it. We’ve got the light blue, a medium blue, we’ve got a very dark blue and then we’ve got – looks like an oranges – orange brown.
Because of the complexity of this fabric, I wouldn’t be hesitant if you’re in finance in New York to wear the shirt. However, if you’re working over at Google, you’re working over down, you know, at a – in a creative field down Los Angeles, you’re down in Austin, Texas. This would be a great fabric to pull off in any but the most formal vacations. It’s really going to standout and be a unique pattern.
3. Check patterns
These are the least formal of all of the patterns that we’ve talked about. Over here to the top right, this, you know, would be something that you could wear in a business environment. It’s simple, only two colors, white dominates. Bottom left hand corner, we can see that the blue dominates.
These two bottom fabrics would actually be fine to wear. If you’re going to be wearing the shirt by itself without a jacket. Over here to the top right, unless you’re wearing a light pair of trousers, you’re going to have too much contrast and it’s going to look best with the jacket.
Over here to the left, because we introduce the color red, all of a sudden this becomes a bit less formal and – because mix with the complexity of the pattern, I’m going to say that this one is -you wouldn’t really want to wear this with a suit.
You could if you’re not wearing a tie with it and if you’re in a very informal environment or well, I think overall, this would actually look great, again, with just a pair of trousers. And the reason being is because of that red, it’s going to be a fabric that you don’t see very often. It’s going to help you standout.
4. Weaves
Imagine these are individual yarns in a fabric. If you go north and south, that’s the warp, up and down. Across from left to right, we see the left. And the – how these are woven together depends on not only the strength of the fabric but usually some of the patterns we’ve seen as well.
These are the four most common shirt fabrics. Actually, I take that back – the pile weave you rarely ever see in the shirt fabric but the twill, the satin and the plane particularly the twill and the plane they’re going to be a 90% of dress shirts. The plane is something you see – you see all the time, very simple. As you can see the warp goes right over the left, one two, one two.
5. Twill
It is a bit more complicated and what’s interesting about the twill is you actually get a denser weave. Now the twill if you remember, that’s going to be herringbone fabrics and it does create a very unique pattern. I really like twills because they’re usually stronger; they’re a little bit more heavy weight.
6. Satin
This is where you’re going to get a bit of a shine. As you can see the warp in the left, there’s not a one two, there is a jumps over four different yarns here. And this is going to give you a bit of shine in the fabric.
7. Pile Weave
This is going to give a fabric kind of a three dimensional feel, a very textured, heavy feel. So, if you think about a corduroy, that’s an example of a pile weave.
Are you looking for a dress shirt for a sharper look? Click here to buy Men’s Dress Shirts
