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“Charvet does not fuck around,” Grossman says bluntly. There’s no shortage of reasons why it remains the first name in old-world dress shirts—and its centuries of pedigree barely cracks the top five. Sure, the brand has outfitted kings, presidents, and titans of industry in equal number, but its core value proposition comes down to one exceedingly simple principle: uncompromising quality. Every dress shirt is still made by hand in Charvet’s wood-paneled Parisian townhouse, which is worth the cost of a flight to visit, Grossman notes.
If you’re not quite ready to drop half a grand on a dress shirt your grandkids will fight over, he also recommends a more wallet-friendly hack: These days, Charvet’s shirts are all over the vintage market, and “you can reliably score one for a lot less than retail”.
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What to Look for in a Great Dress Shirt
As with any garment, “good” is subjective—but as a general rule of thumb, it comes down to three crucial factors: fabric, construction, and fit. Men’s dress shirts are no different. Michael Hill, Creative Director of Drake’s says, “Versatility is important. Customers need to understand fabric and context. For instance, Oxford cotton is going to be more versatile than poplin, which is typically a bit more formal.” The fabric will help dictate the occasion (or the other way around?). There are so many at your disposal from herringbone to end-on-end to pinpoint, not to mention stripes to plaids. So if you’re not sure, ask the sales staff.
Hill also emphasizes that fit is essential to a good dress shirt and to pay attention to the details like “The way the collar sits on your neck and against the body of the shirt. Does it stay tucked in throughout the day? How do the cuffs sit against the wrist?”
He goes on to give this absolute, “Great dress shirts are never made from synthetic or stretch fabrics.” The majority of good dress shirts eschew synthetic materials in favor of natural long-staple cotton, woven tightly for extra durability. Cotton, of course, is not a prerequisite—but almost every single great dress shirt we’ve swaddled our torsos in has been made from some riff on the fabric, from poplin to pinpoint Oxford cloth.
Don’t Skimp on the Details
Other reliable indicators of quality shirts? Telltale details like French or felled seams, which are sleeker and more durable; mother of pearl buttons; and a denser or finer stitch count, usually commensurate with the amount of craftsmanship involved. Seph Skerritt, CEO of Proper Cloth also notes to look out for less common details like reinforced shirt tail gussets, a split yoke, tight and straight stitching, and emphasizes the importance of buttons. “Are the buttons shanked so they won’t come loose? Are the buttons a durable enough material that can withstand your cleaners repeatedly?” These small details reveal whether a shirtmaker is paying close attention.
Pay Special Attention to the Collar
One unique difference between dress shirts and other garments comes down to the collar. Skerritt says the collar “often has the largest impact on how the shirt makes you look.” That’s because it frames your face and interacts with directly with your suit jacket and its lapels—no small job for a garment. While Skerritt advises to look for fusing (the way that the collar is attached or glued to its interlining) that’s crisp, and a collar that stands up well around the neck, ultimately it “should look natural and effortless. The end result should be [that] you like how it makes you feel in the way that you like to dress.”
Dress Shirt Anatomy 101
As any menswear wonk will tell you, dress shirts boast no shortage of nuances. So in the name of brevity (and general wonk-avoidance), we compiled a handy-dandy glossary to the terms you’ll encounter most often. As a rule of thumb, the less adornment a dress shirt has, the more formal it is.
Like all of menswear, collars are susceptible to the whims of the trend cycle, swelling and shrinking with any given era’s silhouettes du jour. Collar sizes are prone to change, too (see: the massive collars of the power-suited ‘80s; the ultra-shrunken collars of the indie-sleaze 2010s). These are the three you should know.