Light Blue Chambray Button-Down Shirt

If you asked us for one shirt that earns its keep every week of the year, this is the one we would hand you. A light blue chambray with a proper rolling button-down collar, soft enough to wear open over a tee, clean enough to sit under a tweed jacket with a knit tie. It looks better the longer you own it.

Every one is sewn by Drake's in Chard, Somerset, in the works the house took over in 2013, now generally reckoned to be the last independent shirt factory in England. Around forty people, single-needle seams throughout, eighteen pieces to the pattern. The collar is the part worth the money: the interlining floats loose inside instead of being glued flat, so the points roll over the button and keep rolling wash after wash. Box pleat at the back, a mitred flap pocket, whipped mother of pearl buttons.

Cut on a regular silhouette with real room through the chest. Take your true collar size and hold it; this is not a shirt to size down in. The sleeve runs a touch long by design, which is what you want under a jacket cuff. Expect the cotton to soften and relax a little after the first few washes.

We stock it because it replaces three shirts in most closets: the casual one, the weekend one, and the one you wear with a blazer when a dress shirt feels like too much.