custom shirting

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A dress shirt is the first item most people see when they look at you. It creates a baseline of who you are and how you are judged by the world. It must be respected as such, and understood as an essential piece in creating a proper wardrobe.

Shirting isn't only a matter of color or even design, but of quality. Quality shirts are most often made of cotton, although linen and occasionally silk can be properly blended or used. Like wool-based tailored clothing, shirts can be both seasonal and year-round in style and use. The best quality cottons available today are woven into many styles and weights ranging from poplin, oxford, broadcloth, twill, plain, satin, dobby, fine, superfine, and other specialty weaves. Each weave represents a different weight and texture of shirt.  The cottons used in custom shirting are "long-staple cottons", most notably Pima, Supima, Egyptian, and Sea Island. These fabrics are grown in arid conditions and are renowned for their strength and durability. Similar quality fabrics in linen and silk can be considered as well, and even occasionally blended.

House of Hawkes offers custom shirting in thread count range from 80/2-140/2, in single and double ply. These numbers refer to the number of "hanks" in the yarn size. This means the higher the number the softer, smooth, and ultimately more ornate (and expensive) the cotton. Single ply yarn shirting represents 80-100/2 hanks in thread count, whereas double ply yarn shirting represents 120-140/2 hanks in thread count.

Since the 1990's, Non-Iron or "wrinkle-free" shirting has become available which allow for commercial washing and drying of dress shirts. Such shirting is very popular among some clients who prefer to "wash and wear" instead of dry-cleaning. Single ply cotton is recommended for Non-Iron shirting as opposed to double ply cotton as the latter is much softer, delicate, and lightweight.

Once the proper fabric is chosen, designing the collar and cuff are most important, however a wide array of other design options are also important to consider. These include placketing, venting, pleating, stitching, pocketing, buttons, buttonholes, and monogramming.  A true custom shirting program takes all these options into consideration.

House of Hawkes offers Made-To-Measure and Bespoke shirting.  Our MTM program offers a wide array of design options and fabrics designed for both dress and casual. Our Bespoke shirting programs offers a smaller number of luxury European cottons also designed for dress and casual, however carefully curated and chosen by season and weight. Both programs offer our clients superb quality and orders deliver in 4-6 weeks.