A few days ago, Benge and Lao Tie went to pick out shirts. Lao Tie immediately said that Oxford shirts are better than pure cotton ones. Do you see the problem with this sentence?
Oxford spinning is actually a textile technique, and most Oxford spinning materials are still cotton. Therefore, Oxford fabric may also fall into the category of pure cotton. So Lao Tie pretended to be 13 crooked because he didn’t understand the difference between weave and fabric.
As a man who has been working for several years, shirts are indispensable equipment. Tom Ford once said: “A high-quality white shirt is a must-have item in every man’s wardrobe. The e-commerce company classifies it as Essentials, meaning essentials, core.
The mainstream men’s shirts on the market are divided into four types according to their materials: pure cotton, blended fabrics, chemical fiber, and linen (silk, wool, etc. The daily wear rate is low and not considered mainstream). Pure cotton shirts are the most widely used and widely used. Today I will focus on pure cotton shirts.
100% cotton shirt
First of all, correct a misunderstanding. Most men (and even women) classify Oxford spinning, poplin, and pure cotton as three shirt materials, but the fact is that Oxford spinning and poplin can be regarded as pure cotton shirts, and Oxford spinning and poplin There are just two textile techniques (see the washing water label of the shirt). The pure cotton shirt has many advantages such as good breathability, strong sweat absorption ability, and comfortable upper body, making it suitable for playing time in all seasons.
Note : Both Oxford spinning and poplin are blended, that is, they are not 100% pure cotton. However, in order to be comfortable and skin-friendly, Oxford spinning and poplin shirts are mostly made of pure cotton.
◆ Pure Cotton Oxford Oxford Shirt
When it comes to Oxford Shirt, it is inevitable to mention Oxford University.
In the United Kingdom at the beginning of the 20th century, a group of students at Oxford University adopted the Carded cotton fabrics were designed and processed, and the fabrics produced were mild in color and good in breathability. Later, they were used in Oxford University uniforms. This kind of fabric is also known as Oxford spinning. The surface of the Oxford fabric has a strong texture, with a soft yet hard touch, and a rough texture that is comfortable and skin-friendly.
Oxford shirts usually have one button at each corner of the collar. This kind of Oxford shirt with snap buttons was originally a formal shirt invented by the American brand Brooks Brothers. It is between casual and formal. Please be sure to button it up when wearing a tie. Of course, there are also a small number of Oxford shirts without tie buttons. .
Because the buttons at the collar corners have casual attributes, the application scenarios of Oxford shirts are mainly business casual and pure casual. At the same time, there is no rule that Oxford shirts must be tucked into pants. You can decide according to the occasion and matching.
Oxford spinning has numerous advantages, such as comfort and wear resistance, sweat-absorbent and quick-drying, and wide range of scene applications. It is definitely not an empty statement when it is called “the panacea of shirts”. I can honestly say that I have never seen a man without an Oxford shirt in his wardrobe!
Nearly all the advantages you can think of are concentrated in Oxford shirts. But does it really have no shortcomings?
No, the shortcomings of Oxford shirts are also obvious.
First of all, the wrinkle resistance is slightly insufficient. Wearing it for a long time will indeed leave obvious wrinkles, and it will take a long time to recover naturally.
Secondly, Oxford spinning is casual and difficult to adapt to extremely formal occasions.
Recommended brand: Uniqlo Oxford spun slim shirt Price: 199 yuan
Recommended reason: Uniqlo has always been willing to work hard on materials, and this Oxford spun original style has unlimited returns I bought one when I was too lazy to wash it, and bought one when it was dirty and wrinkled. It is really a high-quality interior, and the price-performance ratio is first-class. Due to the pre-shrinking process, there is no change except for being slightly hard after washing.
◆ Pure cotton poplin shirt (Poplin Shirt)
If the Oxford shirt is soft and strong, then poplin is soft and strong.
Poplin shirts, as the name suggests, feel like silk, but better than silk.Including, shirts chosen for very formal occasions need to be tucked into pants in 99% of cases. Poplin itself is a fine fabric with high yarn count and high density. It is lighter, softer and more formal than Oxford shirts. It is breathable and sweat-absorbent.
Benge bought a poplin shirt in his early years. His first impression was that it was too thin and see-through, and it easily stained with dust, making it unsuitable for daily casual wear.
At the same time, more patience and care are required for washing and care. Many poplin shirts have not been treated with anti-wrinkle. If no cleaning and care products with a smoothing effect are added during washing, the wrinkles will be strengthened after drying. , there is a feeling that the shirt becomes wrinkled and hard after washing. Only later did I realize that the transparency and thinness of poplin shirts are due to the count and weight. Simply put, the higher the count, the higher the gloss and the better the feel, which is what we call “more advanced”, while the weight represents the thickness of the shirt.
Therefore, it is best to send poplin shirts to a laundromat for cleaning.
Many of my friends in this book went astray when buying shirts and became “fabricists”. They would not even look at the count below 80, and it was not long-staple cotton or fine-staple cotton. It is absolutely wrong not to touch it. When choosing a poplin shirt, more emphasis is placed on fit and fit. Generally speaking, when choosing to buy high-end poplin or formal shirts, I suggest you listen carefully to the opinions of professional shopping guides. As I mentioned before, fashion or dressing itself is a matter of trade-offs. The more expensive the better, the better. Good (but not expensive). If you have high requirements for fabrics, please choose customization decisively. If your body shape and ready-made clothes are not well matched, please choose customization decisively. But if the size is OK and the fabric is suitable, you can buy ready-made clothes with confidence.
Recommended brand: Brook Brothers Price: around 1,000 yuan
Reason for recommendation: 2B brothers’ specialty is formal shirts, with high-quality fabrics and moderate prices (and often Discount). The 2B brothers are known as the “presidential robes” of the United States, such as former US presidents Kennedy, Ford, Bush and Clinton. If Chinese people are thin, they can choose Extra slim.
◆ Pure cotton anti-wrinkle shirt
In fact, pure cotton shirts are also divided into twill (Twill), herringbone and ordinary plain weave (Broadcloth) according to different weaving methods, among which the most common It belongs to plain weave fabric, while twill fabric is slightly less prone to wrinkles. However, pure cotton shirts are prone to wrinkles after all, so both Brooks Brothers and Uniqlo have launched non-iron/anti-wrinkle pure cotton shirts.
Anti-wrinkle cotton shirts have the comfortable skin-friendly feel of pure cotton clothing and do not require special care. They are more suitable for white-collar youths who need to wear shirts to work every day.
Many people are worried that the anti-wrinkle-free ironing technology contains unnatural additives that will affect skin health (such as trace amounts of formaldehyde). However, after personal testing, I found that in addition to being slightly grainy to the touch (compared to Oxford The fabric is more finely spun, but not as good as poplin), and there is no difference except that the upper body is more crisp.
But there is a world of difference in terms of washing. You can even throw it into the washing machine, wash it with cold water and even dry it, and every day, you still have the feeling of wearing new clothes, which is very wonderful.
Recommended brand: 90-point anti-wrinkle, no-iron shirt for men Price: 199 RMB
Reason for recommendation: The price within 200 RMB is indeed very cost-effective, 100% Xinjiang long-staple cotton, 80-count double-ply yarn adopts a standard higher than the 3.5 level of the national no-iron technology, and “is a fully non-iron garment.” Except for the slightly long sleeve length, I’m quite satisfied with everything else and it’s very cost-effective.
