Tips: The Ultimate Guide to Choosing a Men's Shirt

We do not recommend synthetic or artificial materials : they will keep you hot, they age poorly, and some skin types have difficulty tolerating them. In addition, it is (very) rarely beautiful, all the more reason to leave them on their racks.

A small exception can sometimes be made for elastane, which helps make fitted shirts more comfortable.

If cotton bores you (which we can completely understand), there are a multitude of very interesting alternatives for making beautiful shirts.

For example, wool is an ideal material for making a shirt : it is insulating, breathable, retains little odors... and above all offers a beautiful, quite elegant visual result.

Linen is also a real possibility. When properly woven, linen fiber is slightly more tensile than its counterparts. In addition, linen provides a unique texture to a fabric. If you are looking for materials that say something, linen is your most faithful ally .

If you are ready to invest heavily, we also find very beautiful models with silk in the composition: the touch, the comfort, the light catch... There is something to satisfy the most aesthetes among us. The only real disadvantage of the material would be its exorbitant price, which is why we hardly find 100% silk shirts. It’s also not the easiest material to maintain.

The different shirt fabrics

As you can imagine, there are a multitude of different weaves to make beautiful shirts. Let's see here which fabrics are essential.

Poplin

If you are looking for a light and thin material , you can turn to poplin . The weave of poplin weaving has a warp thread that is finer than the weft thread. Almost all of the poplins we find are made of cotton, although there are also poplins with other materials.

The weave of a poplin is ultra tight, which increases the durability of the shirt. This is also what brings this silky appearance to the touch.

There is also a variation: thread-to-fil poplin. It is a classic poplin, but where the selected threads are of different colors, which brings additional relief to the fabric.

The Oxford

Thicker than poplin, Oxford offers an interesting texture and robustness. Result of the weaving of two colored warp threads and two white weft threads, the Oxford offers a very elegant fine checkerboard appearance.

While some Oxfords fit easily into a dressy and formal style, this weave is generally more common on casual shirts.

The twill

Literally the translation of “twill” in English, twill is this weaving recognizable by its biased stripes, which we obtain by staggering the weft thread and the warp thread. It is a regular and textured fabric, which fits perfectly into a casual workwear style.

A significant bonus, twill is a fabric that is easy to iron. You will no longer have excuses to come to parties with a wrinkled shirt.

Chambray

Chambray fabric is a thicker, more textured type of poplin. Made from linen or cotton, chambray is a fabric with a soft roughness and above all a heavy secret: the threads are already dyed before being woven. When you look very closely, the different thread colors are distinct, which gives this mottled look when you see chambray “from afar”. Real esthete material.

We can cite other fabrics, less common but just as charming, such as:

Jersey

Jersey is not a fabric strictly speaking (it is actually a knit, as we see on a sweater, for example) but it is also found on certain models of shirts. The strong point of jersey? It makes the garment more elastic (and therefore comfortable) and it does not fray.

Flannel

Ideal for the cold season, flannel is a fabric whose surface has been mechanically scraped to provide this pilled and fluffy appearance. It is a soft, warm fabric, which offers a truly beautiful original texture.

The pin point

The pin-point is a dressier variation of the oxford. They are constructed in the same way, but with a finer wire, which provides a less rough finish. This is a great alternative if you're bored of oxford and poplin. Small subtlety, only the weft threads are tinted.

Spades

Recognizable thanks to its very marked relief, piqué (also called fluted, not to be confused with entremet) is an atypical fabric because the knitting is carried out irregularly: with each passage of the warp thread, two threads are skipped frame. Thus, the pique fabric is thicker, because it contains a surface thread and a ground thread.

After having discussed the cut, the material and the weaving, it is time to look at the technical specificities.

As said previously, the shirt is a top that requires special care in making, so there are certain subtleties not necessarily known to the general public. Here, we will learn to spot them, and appreciate them.

Titration

The count (also called “thread count”) is a ratio used to indicate the quality of the thread in a shirt. It determines the fineness of the wire based on the weight/length ratio.

The finer the thread used, the higher the thread count; the higher the thread count, the softer, stronger, but also more creaseable and more expensive the fabric. While the titration of shirt fabrics scales from 16 to 200, the fabrics used in making are usually 80 or 100.

However, don't fall into overthinking . Don't worry if you don't know the count of the fabric, and avoid at all costs thoughts like "Since this fabric has a thread count of 161 x 53 and the other has a thread count of 152 x 46, which one is better?

This is the best way to choose your shirt in a very cold and tasteless way, whereas for a garment that you are going to wear next to the skin, your feeling is what matters most.

Twisted and double-twisted

If you speak with a minimally qualified shirt seller, the notion of twisted or double-twisted quickly comes to the table.

What is this ?

Plying is simply "twisting" two (or more) yarns together to form a thicker, softer, stronger yarn. You may have heard of "double twisted": two single threads that are twisted together to obtain a single thread, to provide more strength and silkiness.

For example, when you see a 100/2 fabric, this means that it is a 100 count fabric (so in the usual ready-to-wear counts) double twisted (it's the "2").

A true double twist is in warp AND weft. That is to say that the vertical AND horizontal threads of the fabric are double twisted. Except that it is, most of the time, impossible to see it with the naked eye. Which makes it a purist detail!

Choosing a suitable collar

A good pass

For a slightly more elegant shirt, it is important that the collar has structure.

In this case, the collar may hide reinforcing ribs which help keep the points straight. Made of metal or lightweight plastic, they can often be removed if they bother you when worn.

There are two main ways to construct the collar: iron-on and interlining. If the canvas collar remains the noblest of the two, today we find many completely respectable heat-sealed collars, which have also become largely the majority.

The part in contact with your neck is ideally a lining: this is where the difference will be made.

If you are a purist when it comes to details, the canvas collar will suit you better. The three collar inserts are hand-sewn, providing a very light drape, a little "je ne sais quoi..." which will satisfy the most picky. However, canvas collars are only found on high-end tailored shirts, which require a huge budget.

On casual shirts, you'll find softer collars, with lighter constructions, potentially without ironing or interfacing. It is in this category that you will find buttoned shirts, whose collar is "soft" but is held in place by the buttons.

Choose the right collar

This is one of the reasons why the shirt is an exceptional top: too much collar is good for your health. A marked collar will highlight your style, and above all highlight your pretty face. Let's learn here to differentiate the different styles of collars, so that you can shine in society.

Choose the size and nature of the collar based on the size of your head and neck. The collar is there to balance everything:

If you have a rather large head in relation to your shoulders, we recommend generous collars with points that fall downwards. For example, French or American collars are perfectly suited to this type of body shape.

If your face is rather narrow, choose short, open collars: a collar that is too big would be disproportionate, and a collar that is too closed would accentuate the narrowness of the face.

If you have a rather round face, it is advisable to opt for collars that are longer than the previous ones. A smaller collar would make the head appear larger than it is.

If you are unsure about which pass to choose, we advise you... to try! If the rules of proportions seen above guide you in your choices, you must keep in mind that each body shape is different. So, whatever its nature, if a shirt with a particular collar catches your eye, go for it.

If the science of the collar fascinates you, we have written at length about it here: you will find an ultra-complete compendium, in-depth recommendations and ideas to break the monotony of collars . An entire program !

Making a good shirt

As you can imagine, the shirt is not the easiest garment for a manufacturer to make. It is therefore important to know the right details so that you can be sure of making the right choice, and not falling into the traps of bad shirt makers.

The first sign that is unmistakable is the quality of the seams. If your shirt has one side larger than the other and creases form due to crooked seams, you can already move on.

Pay attention to the seams

Observe the visible seams closely. If a few small imperfections are not to be excluded, the precision and neatness of the seams will be able to direct you to the intrinsic quality of the piece you are analyzing.

The most picky will appreciate counting the number of stitches per centimeter: a suitable shirt is often between 5 and 6 stitches per centimeter. Beyond 7 centimeters, you are in the presence of a very well made shirt.

Learn to differentiate between the two main types of sewing: double-needle sewing, which clearly shows two parallel lines of stitching, and English sewing, which is more refined, which only shows one line of stitching.

There is no major difference between the two when worn, with double needle stitching being the most common as it is easier to make. English tailoring is more often present on high-end shirts.

Have a good back

Some shirts have darts in the back (also called gussets) which further cinch the shirt at the kidneys or at the top of the back, depending on the position of the fold.

The wrists

A bit like the collar, the cuff of your shirt is an important element of the shirt: we therefore cannot neglect it. When the shirt is worn, the cuff of the shirt must cover yours without ever tightening it.

A shirt worthy of the name will have the button loop slightly topstitched, to avoid threads going in all directions.

Another detail not to be overlooked is the capuchin tab: this little addition of fabric is there for several reasons. It allows you to easily roll up the sleeves of your shirt, and you open it to iron the shirt more easily.

Let it be said, it is also a finish very appreciated by the community of shirt wearers: a beautiful capuchin placket with neat stitching automatically adds style.

In terms of length, the ideal sleeve covers the wrist, but no more

Buttons

Another detail visible on a shirt, the buttons! As with fabric, we strongly recommend opting for buttons made of natural material, more elegant than their plastic counterparts. However, buttons made of natural materials (such as mother-of-pearl, horn or wood) have less durability, so you will have to choose between: prettier but potentially breakable buttons, or less elegant but more resistant buttons.

It all depends on what you use it for. If you want to wear this shirt once a month, opt for mother-of-pearl instead. If you want to wear the shirt once a week, go for plastic.

Reinforcement swallows

Don't neglect the bottom of your shirt! Whether rounded, straight or split, pay attention to the quality of the fabric cut and the quality of the seams.

Another important point, the swallows! This small yoke protects the join of the front and back of the shirt, which helps prevent tears after multiple wears.

They are all the more important if you choose a fitted shirt: as soon as you sit down, all the tension of your movement will rest on this fragile seam.

What to keep in mind

You will have understood that buying a shirt seems simple, but buying the one that really suits you is less easy .

Don't worry too much about the fineness of the thread, the type of wrist or the weft thread... Trust your impression when trying it on :

• Does the shirt fit me well (shoulder seams/volumes
  suitable)?
• Do I find it comfortable?
• Do I like the material?

That's really the main thing. The other parameters are secondary.

Of course, studying the making of a garment allows you to recognize the quality where it is found, but buying a garment also involves your imagination.

It is over time that we manage to see what makes the “personality” of a shirt through the collar, the fabric, the cut, etc.

Little by little, you will discover that you like certain details more than others and this is how your own sartorial sensitivity emerges.

If you are looking for more advice on shirts, you can consult this article where we talk about casual shirts , this article where we talk about shirts at attractive prices , or even consult our dedicated page .

And here are our own shirts!

If you're looking for shirts cut from fabrics that tell a story, then you should sit down and take a look:

We went to find traditional chambrays in Japan, flannel in the Vosges, Oxford in Alsace, and seersucker in Italy. Smooth and sad fabrics like rain, no thank you.