Five tips for finding a high-quality piece, from shirting expert Drake’s.

In 1913, Egyptologist Sir Flinders Petrie was excavating a tomb in Tarkhan, Egypt, when he stumbled across a dusty bundle of rags. Closer inspection revealed it to be a shirt, which has since been confirmed by radiocarbon dating as the oldest woven garment in the world, at 5,400 years old. Analysis showed it had been worn many times before being interred with its owner. Clearly, it was an old favourite. A really old one. It seems almost unbelievable that several millennia on, in the 21st century, shirts still remain a cornerstone of our wardrobes, but there you are. Of course, some shirts are superior to others, but how can you tell?

Modern manufacturing methods have put paid to many traditional shirt-making techniques, but there is a handful of labels that remain committed to doing things in a different way. One of those brands is Drake’s, which still makes all its shirts by hand in Chard, Somerset, a county once famed for the craft. We caught up with Mr Michael Hill, the brand’s dapper creative director and self-professed chemise addict, to ask him exactly what goes into a good shirt.

“We use Australian mother-of-pearl buttons on our shirts, alongside horn for sturdier, utilitarian styles, like overshirts,” he says. “Synthetic buttons don’t perform well in a washing machine. They get bashed around and damaged, whereas mother-of-pearl buttons are so tough, they can break a sewing machine needle. With their iridescent lustre, they also look more aesthetically pleasing. The way to tell if a button is made from natural material is to hold it against your lip. It should feel cool, while an imitation material will feel warm. An eight-button front is also an indicator of quality. The standard is seven buttons, but with an extra one, you won’t be coming out of your shirt when you sit down and the material stretches at the fastenings. It’s more discreet for a gentleman.”

“When you look at the collar of a well-made shirt, you’ll see the fabric bunches slightly because it’s made from two separate layers of cloth. Most mass-produced shirts have a fused collar, where the lining of the collar is glued to the outer fabric. They look unnaturally flat because everything has literally been smashed together with glue. When you iron a collar like this, you’ll start to see little grooves and bubbles come through the surface, which won’t go away. When a collar is laid by hand – as we do – the canvas lining is floating and it moulds to the shape of your neck over time, which makes it far more comfortable for long days at the office. When ironing, you need to be conscious to start at the tip of the collar and work upwards, so you don’t end up with a crease at the point.”

“It’s all about the feel when it comes to fabric. Oxford cotton should be a little chunky and have some texture to it – you want to be able to see the weave. With chambray, it’s so much about the colour. It’s got to have that tone that your best pair of jeans have after they’ve been washed 100 times. We advocate a two-fold yarn cotton, which is thicker and more durable and feels more robust. That doesn’t mean that good-quality fabric can’t feel fine, but an inferior cloth will feel limp and lifeless to the touch. Good-quality material should also feel cool against the skin when you first put it on.”

“Another sign of quality is matching patterns. They should be symmetrical from one side of the shirt to another and the same with the arms. It’s quite easy to spot. You only get this with high-quality shirts. It takes a lot of skill, knowledge and time for a shirt maker to be able to do this, which is why our craftspeople can take up to three years to learn all the required tricks of the trade. It’s also worth noting the crispness of prints. If you’re looking at a poplin-cotton stripe style, for example, the stripe should have a density of colour to it, a solid clarity, so the pattern will not fade or distort over time.”

“Single-needle stitching is the hallmark of a well-made shirt. Lower-grade shirts are produced on a machine that stitches with two needles at once, which does parallel seams in minimal time. The advantage of single-needle stitching is that it looks discreet and is more precise, and the material won’t distort or warp when it’s washed. A good rule of thumb for stitching is there should be about 20 stitches per inch, or eight per centimetre. You should also look out for gussets. They’re triangular pieces of material sewn to the sides of the shirt, at the bottom, that join the front and back together. They reinforce the shirt and are another indicator of fine craftsmanship.”

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