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The Name
In the late 19th century, a Scottish textile mill created four fabrics named after prestigious universities — Yale, Cambridge, Harvard, and Oxford — in what was simply a marketing manoeuvre.
Three disappeared into obscurity. But Oxford stuck, because the fabric was special.
Classic Cloth
Oxford cloth is a basketweave construction where multiple weft threads are crossed over an equal number of warp threads, usually of a single colour crossed with a white thread, which creates that subtle texture and distinctive pattern you see up close.
Thoughtfully Engineered
The real genius is structural. The basketweave distributes stress across multiple intersection points, making hard and heavier-weight than finer shirting fabrics that softens and ages beautifully over time.
TLDR; it’s soft and strong.
The Collar
Like much modern menswear, its roots are in functionality. When John Brooks attended a polo match, he noticed the players’ collars were buttoned down, so as not to blow into their faces during play. He copied this idea, brought it back to New York, and by 1900 had stuck the design on Oxford cloth shirts.
That tension between sport and smart is exactly why the style works — it is built into the shirt’s DNA.
The Features
Oxford indicates the cloth rather than a style.
But the shirt typically possess some iconic details:
Versatility
The shirt's magic trick is how it sits as beautifully under a jacket with a tie as it does straight from the dryer on its own, perfectly straddling formal and casual like nothing else.
That versatility isn't accidental — it's engineered into every detail.
Get Shirt Right
We’ve done the icon justice. Ours are precision-cut in your size. And because we make each one individually, they’ll never go out of stock.
Essential shirting, virtually on tap.
Find yours, below.
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