Purple Moleskin Pearlsnap Shirt

Moleskin is one of the great working cloths. It is cotton woven dense, then shorn on one face until it feels like suede. Victorian workmen and gamekeepers wore it because it stopped the wind and shrugged off thorns. Cut as a pearlsnap shirt, it is the cloth we hand to anyone who thinks a cotton shirt has to be thin.

This one is custom-milled and feels broken in the second it leaves the bag, soft and brushed with real weight behind it. Peter Middleton, who started Wythe after years in fabric research at Ralph Lauren, builds his cloths from the yarn up. The cream pearl snaps are copied from 1950s enamel ones that have yellowed with age.

The colour is a saturated violet that leans blue. It sits well with indigo denim, grey flannel and cream. The body is cut with room, more overshirt than dress shirt: the MM measures 22.5 inches across the chest laid flat, so go down a size for something closer. Front and back length are balanced on this batch, so check the chart against a favourite shirt before you order. Wash cold and line dry or tumble on low to keep shrinkage minimal.

Wear it buttoned as a shirt, or open over a tee as a light jacket.