The Necktie - From Tie History By Allan Flusser

Besides being useful against colds, stiff necks and tooth ache, a necktie enables one to know more about the person who is wearing it..
Said by Emil De L'Empese in 1818

The history of neckties dates back a mere hundred years or so, for they came into existence as the direct result of a war. In 1660, in celebration of its hard-fought victory over Turkey, a crack regiment from Croatia (then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire) visited Paris. There, the soldiers were presented as glorious heros to Louis XIV, a monarch well known for his eye toward personal adornment. It so happened that the officers of this regiment were wearing brightly colored handkerchiefs fashioned of silk around their necks. These neck cloths, which probably descended from the Roman fascalia worn by orators to warm the vocal chords, struck the fancy of the king, and he soon made them an insignia of royalty as he created a regiment of Royal Cravattes. The word "cravat," incidentally, is derived from the word "Croat."

It wasn't long before this new style crossed the channel to England. Soon no gentleman would have considered himself well dressed without sporting some sort of cloth around his neck -- the more decorative, the better. At times, cravats were worn so high that a man could not move his head without turning his whole body. There were even reports of cravats worn so thick that they stopped sword thrusts. The various styles knew no bounds, as cravats of tassled strings, plaid scarves, tuffs and bows of ribbon, lace and embroidered linen all had their staunch adherents. Nearly one hundred different knots were recognized, and as a certain M. Le Blanc, who instructed men in the fine and sometimes complex art of tying a tie, noted, "The grossest insult that can be offered to a man comme il faut is to seize him by the cravat; in this place blood only can wash out the stain upon the honor of either party."

In this country, ties were also an integral part of a man's wardrobe. However, until the time of the Civil War, most ties were imported from the Continent. gradually, though, the industry gained ground, to the point that at the beginning of the twentieth century, American neckwear finally began to rival that of Europe, despite the fact that European fabrics were still being heavily imported.
In the 1960s, in the midst of the Peacock Revolution, there was a definite lapse in the inclination of men to wear ties, as a result of the rebellion against both tradition and the formality of dress. But by the mid-70s, this trend had reversed itself to the point where now, in the 1980s, the sale of neckwear is probably as strong if not stronger than it has ever been.

How to account for the continued popularity of neckties? For years, fashion historians and sociologists predicted their demise -- the one element of a man's attire with no obvious function. Perhaps they are merely part of an inherited tradition. As long as world and business leaders continue to wear ties, the young executives will follow suit and ties will remain a key to the boardroom. On the other hand, there does seem to be some aesthetic value in wearing a tie. In addition to covering the buttons of a shirt and giving emphasis to the verticality of a man's body (in the same way that the buttons on a military uniform do), it adds a sense of luxury and richness, color and texture, to the austerity of the dress shirt and business suit.

Perhaps no other item of a man's wardrobe has altered its shape so often as the tie. It seems that the first question fashion writers always ask is, "Will men's ties be wider or narrower this year?"

In the late 1960s and early 70s, ties grew to five inches in width. At the time, the rationale was that these wide ties were in proportion to the wider jacket lapels and longer shirt collars. This was the correct approach, since these elements should always be in balance. But once these exaggerated proportions were discarded, fat ties became another victim of fashion.


The proper width of a tie, and the one that will never be out of style, is 3 1/2 inches (2 3/4 to 3 1/2 inches are also acceptable). As long as the proportions of men's clothing remain true to a man's body shape, this width will set the proper balance. Though many of the neckties today are cut in these widths, the section of the tie where the knot is made has remained thick -- a holdover from the fat, napkinlike ties of the 1960s. This makes tying a small, elegant knot more difficult. Yet the relationship of a tie's knot to the shirt collar is an important consideration. If the relationship is proper, the knot will never be so large that it spreads the collar or forces it open, nor will it be so small that it will become lost in the collar.

Standard neckties come in lengths anywhere from 52 to 58 inches long. Taller men, or those who use a Windsor Knot, may require a longer tie, which can be special ordered. After being tied, the tips of the necktie should be long enough to reach the wasteband of the trousers (the ends of the tie should either be equal, or the smaller one just a fraction shorter).


After you've confirmed the appropriateness of a tie's shape, next feel the fabric. If it's made of silk and it feels rough to the touch, then it is a silk of inferior quality. Silk that is not supple is very much like hair that's been dyed too often. It's brittle and it's ends will fray easily. If care hasn't been taken in the inspection of ties, you may find misweaves and puckers.

All fine ties are cut on the bias, which means they have been cut across the fabric. This allows them to fall straight after the knot has been tied, without curling. A simple test consists of holding a tie across your hand. If it begins to twirl in the air, it was probably not cut on the bias and it should not be purchased.
Quality neckties want you to see everything: they have nothing to hide. Originally, neckties were cut from a single square of silk, which was then folded seven times in order to give the tie a rich fullness. Today the price of silk and the lack of skilled artisians prohibit this form of manufacture. Ties now derive their body and fullness by means of an additional lining.

Besides giving body to the tie, the lining helps the tie hold its shape. The finest quality ties today are lined with 100 percent wool and are generally made only in Europe. Most other quality ties use a wool mixture. The finer the tie, the higher the wool content. You can actually check. Fine linings are marked with a series of gold bars which are visible if you open up the back of the tie. The more bars, the heavier the lining. Many people assume that a quality tie must be thick, as this would suggest that the silk is heavy and therefore expensive. In fact, in most cases it is simply the insertion of a heavier lining that gives the tie this bulk. Be sure, then, that the bulk of the tie you are feeling is the silk outer fabric and not the lining.

After you have examined the lining, take a look at the tie just above the spot where the two sides come together to form an inverted V. In most quality ties, you will find a stitch joing the back flaps. This is called the bar tack, and it helps maintain the shape of the tie.

Now, if you can, open up the tie as far as possible and look for a loose black thread. This thread is called the slip stitch and was invented by a man named Joss Langsdorf in the 1920s to give added resilience to the tie. The fact that the tie can move along this thread means that it won't rip when it is being wrapped tightly around your neck, and that it will, when removed, return to its original shape. Pull the slip stitch, and the tie should gather. If you can do this, you've found a quality, handmade tie.

Finally, take the tie in your hand and run your finger down its length. You should find three separate pieces of fabric stitched together, not two, as in most commercial ties. This construction is used to help the tie conform easily to the neck.

By www.mycustomtailor.com

The Customtailored Dress Shirt

By www.mycustomtailor.com

THE DRESS SHIRT COLLAR

When purchasing a dress shirt that is, one intended to be worn with a necktie – consider its collar first. Regardless of whether the shirt appears to go perfectly with your new suits, or is meticulously crafted with vast numbers of stitches to the inch, or even woven in the Caribbean’s most lustrous sea island cotton, if its high-banded collar looks at if it might swallow up your neck or its diminutive collar make your already prominent chin appear more so, move on. You need to focus on that portion of the dress shirt responsible for exhibiting to best advantage the body part that should receive the most attention – your face.

The triangle formed by the V opening of a buttoned tailored jacket and extending up to the area just below a person’s chin is the cynosure of a man’s costume. There are several dynamics working simultaneously to directly under the face, the wearer’s most expressive body part. Second, the area is usually accentuated by contrasts between the darker jacket and lighter shirt, the jacket and tie, and the tie and dress shirt. This triangular sector offer, the wearer’s most expressive body part. Second, the area is usually accentuated by contrasts between the darker jacket and lighter shirt, the jacket and tie, and the tie and dress shirt. This triangular sector offers more visible layers of textural activity than any other part of a man’s outfit, and the point at which all these elements converge is directly under one’s chin, where the inverted V of the dress shirt collar comes to a point.

Think of your face as portrait and your shirt collar as its frame. The collar’s height on your neck as well as the length and spread of its points should compliment the shape and size of your face. Within the infinite permutations of angle, scale, and mass, no single article of apparel better enhances a man’s countenance than the well-designed dress shirt collar. Since a person’s bone structure is fixed, although it will be affected by a weight gain or loss, the choice of collar should be guided by the individual’s particular physical requirements rather than the vicissitudes of fashion. Unlike other less visible accoutrements such as hosiery or shirt cuffs, this focal point constitutes one of a man’s most revealing gestures of personal style. All sophisticated dressers have arrives at one or more collar styles that best highlight their unique features while managing to add a bit of dash along the way.

Choosing the appropriate shirt collar requires experimentation and common sense. A smallish man with delicate features would be lost in a high-set collar with points longer than 3 ผ”. Conversely, a heavyset or big-boned man would loom even larger and overshadow a small collar. Collars should counterbalance the facial structure by either softening its strong lines or strengthening its soft ones. Long straight point collars – those 3” or more – will extend and narrow a wide face just as the broad-spaced points of spread collars will offset the line of long narrow one.

Tab collars or other pinned collars have the necessary height to shorten long necks. Strong-chinned men require fuller proportioned collars, just as large tabletops clamor for ample pedestals to achieve aesthetic balance. Though, admittedly, button-downs can look casually stylish, they are too often favored by exactly the kind of men who should avoid them – the double chinned set. Softer-chinned men need slightly higher and firmer collars to compensate for the lack of a strong line under their face.

Throughout the eighties and up through the mid-nineties, most dress shirts-no matter how expensive-generally had collars that were to small for the average wearer’s face. In an effort to convey that were too small for the average wearer’s face. In an effort t convey a more casual and less structured formality, men’s fashion has explored many approaches to neutralizing the collar’s conventional starched and ordered format. Consequently, collars have been lowered, shortened, and softened to such degrees that the original precepts for their correct proportioning have either been distorted or lost completely. Button-downs have little or on roll, straight point collars are so short even the smallest tie knot prevents their point from touching the shirt’s chest, while speared collars are so low on the neck they have been sapped of all their strength and flair. Except for those produced by a few high-end American, English, or Italian shirt makers, most dress shirt give the impression they are apologizing for their collars. The explosive growth of the made-to-measure dress shirt business owes much of its prosperity to the dramatize a man’s features. By the end of this decade, there will be more properly scaled collars on dress shirts than there were at its commencement.

I cannot help but wonder whether the long-understood sartorial contract between a man and the conventional format of a buttoned-up dress shirt and drawn-up necktie – which, in effect, exchanged superior stature for a measure of restriction – is no longer able to be negotiated. Since many of the contemporary, more diminutive collar styles fail to heighten the wearer’s appearance, they offer little compensation for their inherent discomfort. As a result, many alternatives have been put forth in an effort to replace the classic dress shirt collar composition.

However, as Oscar Schoeffler, longtime fashion editor of Esquire, once warned, “Never underestimate the power of what you wear. After all, there is just a small bit of you sticking out at the collar and cuff. The rest of what the world sees is what you drape on your frame.” Therefore, the most important factor to weigh when buying a dress shirt isn’t its color, fit, or price. It is the collar and its smartness for the wearer’s face.

FIT

Other than the Italians, who are almost fetishistically meticulous about the fit of their dress shirts, most men wear theirs too short in the sleeve, too small in the collar, and too full around the wrist. The explanation for this is relatively straightforward: successive washings shrink collar size and sleeve length, while most shirting manufacturers allow enough breadth in a man’s cuff to accommodate a large wrist girded by a Rolex-type watch.

The best dress shirt is useless if its collar does not fit comfortably. With the top button closed, you should be able to slide two fingers between your neck and the collar of the dress shirt. Most better dress shirt makers add an extra ฝ” to the stated collar size to allow for shrinkage within the first several washings. I would never wear a new dress shirt unless it fits perfectly around the neck in the store or when first tried on at home, return it or risk being strangled by a smaller collar before too very long.

The back of the shirt collar should be high enough to show ฝ” above the rear portion of the jacket’s collar. Its points should be able to touch the shirt’s body and rest smoothly on its front. When a tie is fitted up into the collar, its points should be long enough to remain in contact with the shirt’s body, regardless of how sharply the wearer turns his head. No part of the collar’s band should be able to be seen peeking over the tie’s knot. Semi spread to cutaway collars should have no tie space above the tie’s knot. In other words, both sides of the collar’s inverted V should meet or touch each other while the edges of their point should be covered both jacket’s neck.

DRESSING THE HAND

The band of linen between coat sleeve and hand is another one of those stylistic gestures associated with the better-dressed man. It has been so ever since the first aristocrat wore his lace ruffles spilled out from beneath his jacket cuffs. Some fashion historians mark the decline in modern men’s style from the point at which ready-made buttoned cuffs replaced cuff-linked ones and men found their wrists swathed in excess fabric, which either fell down their wrists or pulled up too short.

Whether you choose a button cuff or a French cuff, the shirt cuff should fit snugly around the wrist so that the additional length required to keep it from moving as the arm stretches does not fall down over the hand. If you can slide your hand though the cuff opening without first unfastening it, it is too large. If the sleeve is long enough and the cuff fits correctly, you should be able to move your arm in any direction without influencing how the cuff sits on top of your hand. The shirt cuff and hand should be able to move as a unit.

THE BODY

During the 1960s peacock era, when dress shirts had the fit of a second skin and were worn to flaunt the chest and arm muscles, the wearer had to pay particular attention to gaping shirtfronts if he inhaled too deeply or Sat down. Today, with comfort driving the fit of men’s clothes, issues such as these are no longer of much concern.

The shirt should certainly be full enough to allow its wearer to sit without concern. Normal shrinkage or a slight weight gain should not render it uncomfortable across the chest or waist. Since shirts with blousier fits tend to have lower arm holes, one should pay attention that the jacket’s armhole does not pull up the shirtsleeve, making it too short to rest on the top of the hand. A shirt’s armhole should fit comfortably up into the armpit for easier movement and consistent length. The shirt’s overall length should be such that you can raise your arms without pulling the garment out of the trouser top.

IN CONSIDERATION OF QUALITY

The most expensive component of any dress shirt is its fabric. As the layer in closest contact with the wearer’s skin, the most comfortable and luxurious fiber to wear is unquestionably 100 percent cotton. Anyone doubting this need only examine the fiber content of almost all men’s undergarments.

Better dress shirts are made in two-ply cotton or two-fold yarns, less expensive ones in single-ply. Cotton-poly blends are never two-ply, therefore these fabric tend to be found only in cheaper shirts. In a true two-ply fabric, the yarns used in the vertical warp and horizontal weft are made from two fibers long enough to twist around each other to produce the incremental strength, silkiness, and luster associated with the two-fold luxury fabric. The finer the yarn, the higher its threads per-inch count. Two-ply fabrics start at 80/2 (the 2 representing two-ply) and progress to as fine as 220/2 (which feels more like silk than cotton and is so expensive it is use only in custom-made shirts). Since two-ply dress shirt are costlier, most manufacturers will include this designation on the label. If it is not so designated, it usually means the shirt is of a single-ply fabric and its cost should reflect this.


Most two-ply dress shirts begin retailing at $75 for those privately labeled in large department stores and go to well over $200 for those more highly crafted with finer-count two-ply fabrics. This is not to suggest that single-ply dress shirts are necessarily inferior to or automatically less desirable than two-ply versions. Since we know how a poorly designed collar can scuttle the most expensive dress shirt, the two-ply designation reflects a garment’s intrinsic quality and not its relative value.

The better dress shirt is one of the few products whose craft has been relatively uncompromised by modern manufacturing technology. Due to the many pieces that must be put together and the exacting sewing procedures required, there is no substitute for the skilled, highly trained labor needed to produce a fine dress shirt. As it is not covered over by linings and such, a dress shirt’s construction, with the exception of collar and cuff, can be more easily evaluated than that of tailored clothing or neckties. All of its stitching, seams, and finishing are plainly exposed to the inquiring eye, especially if one knows what to look for and why.

There can be some details of workmanship that, should even one be found present, signal your investigation is at an end and the shirt’s dearer price has been confirmed. Most of these benchmarks are holdovers from a less mechanized age when the standards for deluxe quality were set by bespoke shirt makers. No manufacturer would willingly invest in the labor required to make such a shirt without ensuring the fabric was of a quality that justified the product’s retail price. He would be hard-pressed to recoup the cost of such craftsmanship if it was wasted on a shirt composed of inferior cloth.

The handmade buttonhole is a detail rarely found in shirt made outside of France or Italy. If you have a shirt with handmade buttonholes it represents a piece of workmanship that literally comes from the old country. Now, some custom shirt makers will argue in favor of a fine machine-made buttonhole over a handmade one, but handmade buttonholes are a mark of top-drawer threads. Ironically, their imperfect and visible portion can only identify them. As with legitimate custom tailored clothes, buttonholes are to be handmade, nothing less.

When dress shirts were worn closely fitted to the torso, their side seams were much in evidence and their width and finishing were considered two of the most important criteria for judging their shirt making craft. I can recall visiting Italy during the sixties and observing the Romans wrapped in their skintight, darted blue voile shirt with side seams that seemed to disappear into minute lines that traced the body. These side seams were of a single-needle construction. If the shirt you are considering has this feather, you are no doubt holding a garment that will command a better price.

Single-needle side seams are sewn twice, once up and once down the shirt’s seam, using only one needle and leaving just a single row of stitches visible on the outside. This is time-consuming and requires greater skill on the part of the operator than other seams. Most shirts’ side seams are sewn on a double-needle machine, which is much faster and produces two rows of visible stitching. Unfortunately, the double-needle side seam can, depending on the quality of its execution, pucker over time due to the thread and fabric’s different reactions to washing. However, since most modern shoppers are not that informed, the single-needle side seam is rarely found on ready-made shirts, and is almost exclusively reserved for those dress shirts found in the world of the bespoke.

Another telltale sign of an expensively made dress shirt can be found in the bottom tail’s design and finishing. Charvet, the famed French chemisier, designs its shirts with a square bottom and side slits or vents, which they feel produce less bulk under the trouser. They also believe their deeper sides keep the shirt better anchored. Turnbull and Asser, the Jermyn Street shirt maker, prefers the rounded bottom but reinforces its side seam at the bottom with a small triangular gusset. Either of these designs demands greater labor and expertise than the typical hemmed bottom. Prior to World War II, the gusset was a common feature on better shirts, but production costs forced many manufacturers to abandon this old-fashioned finishing technique.

The next nuance of detail that signals a dress shirt’s loftier pedigree is the direction of its sleeve placket’s buttonhole. All better shirts come with a small placket button and buttonhole to close the opening running up the inside sleeve from its cuff. However, a horizontally sewn buttonhole is evidence of meticulous crafting, since the button must be lined up perfectly with the buttonhole, unlike a vertical placement, which allows a greater margin for error. Since this detail is easily detectable, it can make any examination a short one.

The last sure giveaway of rarefied shirt making can only be detected in a shirt made of a striped fabric. Should the stripe of its sleeve line up exactly with the horizontal line of the yoke’s stripe when they meet at the shoulder seams, you are in the presence of shirt making art. Generally, this kind of work is reserved for the custom-made dress shirt, but should you find it in one ready-made, be prepared to pay at least $150.

The next passel of workmanship details should be present on all deluxe-priced ($125 and up) dress shirts whether they are representing themselves as better ready-to-wear, made-to-measure, or even custom-made. While it is more difficult for the beginner to identify these details once learned, less well-made dress shirts become much easier to spot.

The stitching on a shirt’s collar and cuffs should be so fine as to be nearly invisible. If you can clearly see each individual stitch sitting on top of the fabric, its manufacturer is less costly. All better dress shirt collars have removable stays. The shape or pattern on either side of a shirt’s collar parts or cuffs should match exactly. Pockets should be lined up so that they virtually vanish from sight. Buttonholes should be finished so that it is difficult to see their individual stitches. Buttons should be cross-stitched for extra strength, an operation that cannot be performed by machine.

Real pearl buttons are to fine shirt what authentic horn buttons are to expensive sports jackets. If a sewing machine needle hits a plastic button, the button shatters; should that same needle strike a pearl button, the needle shatters. Authentic mother-of-pearl buttons, especially thicker ones, are incredibly sensual to the hand and eye, as well as costing ten times the price of the typical plastic button.

DRESS SHIRT AESTHETICS

While the dress shirt functions as a backdrop for necktie, braces, jacket, and pocket square, there are two options in furnishing this stage. The first and by far the more popularly practiced method employ the dress shirt as a neutral foundation. As such, the elements are either harmonized upon it or one is emphasized over the others, such as the bold print tie against a solid white shirt. In this presentation, the shirt acts purely in a supporting role.

The alternative approach casts the dress shirt as leading man at center stage. This style emanated from England and is reasonably easy to execute if the principles governing its execution are well understood. In socially conscious London, an upper-class man would signal his membership in a particular club, regiment, or school through his choice of tie. Since these neckties’ designs were fairly standard and limited in number (there being, after all, only so many organizations the wearer could claim as his own), he tended to punctuate his somber and predictable business ensembles with more strongly patterned dress shirt, the very lesson London’s Jermyn Street became so renowned for gentlemen’s dress shirts. In this approach, the tie, shirt, and pocket square act as subordinate players to the shirt. A well-endowed collar was essential to convey the shirt’s leading role and the wearer’s loftier station, which is why English-bred dress shirt tend to have more prominent collars than their European or American counterparts.

As either of these approaches can project considerable sophistication, one last issue remains in guiding a man toward an informed dress shirt purchase. This concerns the stylistic consistency of the shirt’s parts. For example, regardless of how beautiful its fabric or fit, a double-breasted jacket with a center vent remains a half-breed, a mixed metaphor, a sartorial mutt. A garment’s detailing must be in character with its fabric, or else, like a pinstriped suit with patch pockets or flap pockets on a tuxedo, the wearable’s integrity and classiness is compromised

Here are some general guidelines specific to the styling of men’s dress shirts:

ท The smoother and more lustrous the fabric, the dressier the shirt. On the scale of relative formality, blue broadcloth ranks above blue end-on-end broadcloth which, in turn, ranks above blue pinpoint oxford, which in finer and dressier than regular blue oxford. But royal or queen’s oxford, which is made of a two-ply yarn that gives the oxford weave greater sheen and a finer texture, is comparable to end-on-end broadcloth in its formality. The more white that shows in the ground of a check or stripe, the dressier the shirting.

ท Different collar styles also connote varying degrees of dress-up. Spread collars are generally dressier than straight point collar and become even more so with each degree of openness. White contrast collars dress up any shirt no matter its pattern or color, and should only be worn with a French cuff in either self fabric or contrasting white. However, a straight point contrast collar in white is as much a sartorial oxymoron as button cuffs on a dress shirt with is as much a sartorial oxymoron as button buffs on a dress shirt look less authentically classy in collar models less open than a semi-spread, because their to-attach stiff progenitors could only accommodate a four-in-hand if there was enough width to the collar opening. Tab, pinned, or eyelet collars can also give a fabric a more decorous look. If you see a blue oxford shirt decorated with a white spread collar or a button-down collar loitering on a dressy white ground English striping, avoid these mongrel offerings, for their questionable propriety will do nothing for yours.

Most of the criteria for purchasing a classically styled dress shirt have little to do with price or even the quality of the fabric. If a relatively shirt made with a mediocre fabric has a collar that is flattering to your face and affords you the right fit, it will render greater value to you than a more expensively made shirt with neither of these attributes. Value has to do with longevity of wear, as ultimately, the most expensive clothes a man can buy are those that rarely come out of the closet.

Custom Shirting

Besides the individualization of its styling, the advantages of the custom-made dress shirt over one that is ready-to-wear can be found in its precise fit as well as the superior quality and taste of its fabrics. The most visible and important component of the dress shirt is its collar, and the bespoke process allows for one that is designed to best present the wearer’s face. The fit of the dress shirt’s cuff to the wearer’s hand, its second most noticeable detail, is another area where the custom route is decidedly the higher of the two roads.
In choosing a shirt maker, you must inquire about what process he will use to produce your shirt. The maker should begin by creating an individual pattern from which he makes a sample shirt. having been worn and washed several times at home, the shirt should be examined on your body for final approval or further altering. After those washings, the collar should fit comfortably while still allowing for some shrinkage. The shirtsleeve should still be long enough to show ฝ” of cuff from under the jacket sleeve and also have enough length to offset further shrinkage.
If cut from a stock pattern rather than an individual pattern, the shirt is not custom-made. In some cases, if you are a standard fit, the shirt might require little adjustment, but it would be inaccurate to call it bespoke. Shirts deserving to be called custom-made cost $150 and up and should be made from thirty-six-inch-width, 100 percent cotton, two-ply cloth. This is easy enough to determine. Ask the salesman to show you a bolt of the fabric and ask him to measure its width. Since fabric woven in this old-world width is always two-ply, this is a fail-safe checkpoint. Thirty-six-inch narrow-width shirting fabrics are made on Europe’s older, slower looms, which produce a luxurious cloth of richer colors and hand than the fabric will feel even silkier with wear. As long as the shirt’s fabric is woven in either Switzerland or Italy, you are assured of a finished product of deluxe caliber.
To confirm a shirt’s pedigree, you must establish the shirt’s level of sewing artistry and manufacturing skill. The entire shirt, including its side seams, should be sewn with a single needle. This construction allows for the smallest stitches, the narrowest seam, and the most meticulous finishing. The shirt’s side seam should be precisely narrow and the individual stitches on its collar so small as to be almost invisible. The collar so small as to be almost invisible. The collar and cuff lining should be cotton (not fused) and from Europe. Switzerland makes the best. The yoke on the back of a custom shirt should be made of two separate pieces joined in the center and the button should be genuine mother-of-pearl and attached by hand. If there is a monogram, it too should be hand-embroidered as opposed to machine-made.

If the answers to these areas of investigation are satisfactory, you can be assured of receiving a top-quality product and should be prepared to pay $150 to $300, depending on the country where it is bought and any extras and collars. Choose to have the shirt’s excess fabric set aside rather than made into a finished collar. If you lost or put on weight, it’s better to have fabric on hand. The costs can also vary according to the quality of two-ply cotton fabric used, which can range from 100s up to the very expensive, silk like 220s.
Of course, all thing being equal, the cost of the bespoke dress shirt ultimately rests on the genius of its pattern and the nuances of its fit. However, there are some aspects of shirt making that do separate the masters from the top makers. These details include special gussets to reinforce the shirt’s side seams where they meet at the hem bottom, pattern matching on the back yoke to the sleeve, hand-sewn buttonholes (found only in Europe), horizontal sleeve placket buttonholes, and extra-thick mother-of-pearl buttons.
All of the above quality the product as custom-made. Below this, there are a variety of methods of individualized shirt making that are often called custom-made. Obviously, this term stands for a specific process of creating a particular shirt with an attendant quality of shirting fabric and shirt making. Make-to-order, individually cut, and made-to-measure are all terms that indicate something less than custom-made, and that is why they need to be understood if one is to compare apples with apples. If you pay less than $150 for a dress shirt and it is represented as being comparable to the top-of-the-heap bespoke ones, something is amiss. That is not to say that a custom-made shirt will always look better than a less expensive garment. A well-designed ready-to-wear shirt can look more flattering than a bespoke one with a poorly designed collar. As with all wearing apparel, design, not quality, is the ultimate arbiter of stylish longevity.

By www.mycustomtailor.com

A General History Of Detachable Collars On Custom Made Business And Formal Shirts

You may remember the television commercial of old that shows a women yelling - "ring around the collar" - in which she uses a detergent to wash out the grime from her husband´s shirt and collar.

Ring around the collar isn´t simply a Madison Avenue executive´s clever ploy to sell washing detergent. It´s a centuries old problem and more than 150 years ago a Troy women set out to do something about it. However, she had not planned on creating a whole new industry.

Hannah Lord was the daughter of William A. Lord, a Revolutionary War officer and author of Lord´s Military Tactics. She married Orlando Montague, a shoe maker (or blacksmith), on August 14, 1817, and both settled in Troy originally on Second Street.

Mrs. Montague, tired of washing her husband´s shirts because only the collars were dirty decided one day to snip off a collar, wash it, and sew it back on. Mr. Montague, it´s written, agreed to the experiment, and in 1827, the first detachable collar was made at their home at 139 Third Street.

Notice of the event spread through the city and the Rev. Ebenezer Brown took notice. Brown, who was formerly a Methodist Minister, then the owner of a small shop at 285 River Street, was asked several times for the new product that was buzzing around the streets of the city.

Brown saw the need and rushed to fill it. His wife and daughter began cutting, stitching, and laundering the first detachable collars, consisting of 2 ply material, which had to be taped and tied around the neck. These early collars were called "string collars" and cost 25 cents a piece, of two dollars per dozen. Brown would sell and deliver the collars door to door.

His popularity forced him to set up a workshop in the back of his store where he hired several women to do the job, and also outsourced the work. Payment for their labor was in the form of "trade" in his store, and set by his own price. This may have been the first "sweat shop." Brown eventually moved to New York City in 1834.

Orlando Montague, the first person to wear a detachable collar, soon began his own collar factory with business partner Austin Granger in 1834. The Montague & Granger collar factory began at 222 River Street. Besides improving on the string collar, they developed the "Bishop" collar, an upright modification of the turn down collar. Besides collars, they manufactured "dickeys" (detached shirt bosoms), and separate cuffs.


Detachable collars had the problem of leaving gaps between the shirt and collar and this led to the invention of the use of buttons to snap the collars in place. This also led to the development of several new designs of collars.

The original reason that Mrs. Montaque created the detachable collar was to clean it separately from the shirt. With the increase production of collars came the need to wash the thousands of collars being produced. In 1835, Independence Starks, entered the collar making business, and also created the first Troy Laundry at 66 North Second Street (Fifth Avenue today) where he washed not only his own collars but those of competitors as well. Many years later the laundry industry would spark the creation of the first female union in the country.

For the next 50 years many inventions were developed to aid the collar, cuff, and shirt industry and Troy production boomed. By the late 1880´s, detachable collars were being manufactured around the nation.

By the early 20th century, 15,000 people worked in the collar industry in Troy and more than 85% were native born women. Ninety out of every 100 collars worn in America were made here and Troy became world famous as the "Collar City."

In 1901, there were 26 collar and cuff makers and 38 laundries in the city. Wearing a detached white collar gave rise to a new working social class, the "white collar" worker who differentiated themselves from the no or "blue" collar factory worker.

By 1962, only six companies were still making collars and cuffs in Troy and by the 1970´s most had gone out of business or moved South.

Marvin Neitzel Corp, a firm that currently manufacturers nurses uniforms, is the last existing firm which has collar roots. Marvin Neitzel Corporation goes back to 1886 when E. W. Marvin joined the collar firm Gunnison & Son, making it Gunnison & Marvin, later incorporating in 1908 as E. W. Marvin Company. Raymond P. Neitzel joined the firm in 1917 to develop a full line of hospital products and the firm became Marvin Neitzel Corporation in 1931. Marvin Neitzel Corp is the last company to make collars in Troy, ceasing production only a few years ago.

By www.mycustomtailor.com