If I want a great Oxford shirt, my first stop is to thrift one
Close your eyes and imagine the perfect button-down shirt.
What do you see?
Something durable, yet stylish. Made with heavyweight cotton fabric that wrinkles perfectly. A neat button-down shirt with a devil-may-care rolled collar that was good enough for JFK, Don Draper, and everyone in between.
Yep, the Oxford Cloth Button Down.
Sadly, modern Oxfords often pale in comparison to their vintage counterparts. Unless they’re $250+ and made-to-measure, of course. Most modern Oxfords ditched the details that made vintage Oxfords so great. Their collars are too small. They don’t have locker loops or box pleats. They’re made of synthetics and not cotton.
That wasn’t the case in the past, though.
Oxford Shirts were a staple of American style, but if I want to find a good Oxford Cloth Button-Down today, my first stop is the local thrift store or eBay. In fact, most of my favorite pants, jackets, and sweaters are either thrifted or 20+ years old.
If I open my closet right now, some of my most reached-for articles of clothing include a 1980s denim Banana Republic shirt, a few 2000s J.Crew Oxford shirts and chinos, and a fantastic 1970s J.Press tweed coat.
Each of these items of clothing shares the following in common: they are all high-quality, made of natural materials, and designed to last. Period.
It’s rare these days that I’ll find an article of clothing that rivals one of my thrifted pieces. Even some of the older and more worn-in pieces. These days, newer brands churn out clothing with inferior materials, added stretch, or weak construction that lasts a season or two, but no more.
I’ll gladly deal with the wear and tear and the lack of modern retail conveniences in the search for quality clothing that will last and look great for years.
At the same time, there’s a finite amount of high-quality clothing to thrift, and that amount shrinks every year. I can easily thrift clothing from the 1980s and 1990s today, but what about in 20 years, when thrift store racks are filled with nothing but Shein?
So why am I making this site?
I’ve bought a lot of new and thrifted clothing over the years, and have put in a lot of work to become an educated and intentional consumer. I’ve studied shirtmaking and construction and have acquired and compared shirts that span decades.
This website is the culmination of that research.
This website is my quest for the perfect Oxford shirt, and what makes an Oxford shirt good or bad in the first place. I’ll review new and thrifted shirts. I’ll research the state of retail and manufacturing today versus years passed. And I’ll find out what it would take to manufacture shirts of the caliber we had decades ago.
My hope is that I can come out the other end with the ideal Oxford shirt: 100% cotton, durable fabric, traditional fit, and all the bells and whistles (locker loop, collar roll, etc.).
But if I don’t, at least this years-long experiment will result in a collection of content to help you become a more educated and intentional consumer. And point you to where the best shirts can be found these days.
Are you also looking for the perfect Oxford shirt? Join me in the quest
I'm not satisfied with the current state of retail. I'm not satisfied that to get a good Oxford Shirt you need to pay through the nose or buy something 20+ years old.
If you feel the same way, then I invite you to join me in the quest for the perfect Oxford shirt.
I'm spending the next year reviewing shirts, researching shirt production, and finding out what it would take to make shirts from the past, today.
Fill out the form below to be notified when new content is published on the site. You’ll receive my Oxford shirt reviews, brand deep dives, and more. I’ll likely end up sending one or two emails per month, as I do have a day job that allows me to do this.
Subscribing will also give you a point of contact if you have a shirt/brand that you’d like me to review!
