Mens Fashion Tips

The best choice for mens dress shirt fabric would always be cotton. This is the ultimate fabric choice for comfort and style. Cotton is a natural fibre that allows the skin to breath and is cool to the skin. It does not feel warm and prevents perspiration retention so there is a lesser chance of odour in your dress shirt.

Longer cotton fibres are preferred over finer cotton as cotton fibre is not tied in knots to bind the fibres. They should be considered long for 1.5 to 2 inches.

Another pick for dress shirts is linen which is a great pick for summer casuals. Both these fabrics wrinkle easily compared to synthetic fibres. Some fabrics are a mixture of cotton and synthetic fibres like polyester, nylon and rayon for a lesser wrinkling.

When synthetic fibre is combined with cotton, the fabric becomes less breathable and will not be able to hold colour so it lacks vividness and lushness in colour. But mens dress shirts made from cotton and synthetic blends are ideal for frequent travellers because they wrinkle less. But it will be a nice pick if its more than 50 percent cotton for you to enjoy its advantages.

Cotton fibres have two kinds: the two ply and the one ply. Two ply cottons are prepared by intertwining two lengths of cotton yarn into one. Fabric made from this is tightly woven and smooth as well as stronger than those made from one ply which is made from a single length of cotton yarn. It is not a uniform in its pattern and weave compared to two ply.

Poplin

This is a 100 percent cotton fabric with fine horizontal ribbed effect on the surface. The finest and grandest poplin quality is the Sea Island poplin. Sea island poplin is the best choice for summer dress shirts fabrics as it gives a fine, soft and translucent cotton fibre. Poplin is more expensive than other fabrics.

Pima

This is another high quality dress shirt fabric. Similar to poplin, it is made from extra ling cotton yarn of 1 .75 to 2.5 inches. This is spun from fine yarns and thus creates a smooth feel. This allows a more luxurious feel and hold colour well providing a good lustre to the fabric.

Cotton Batiste

This is one of the most delicate of mens dress shirts due to its lightweight, sheer and fine weaves. It gives off a graceful drape and lustre to dress shirts.

Chambray

This is a lightweight and plainly woven fabric using a white cotton yarn vertically and a coloured yarn running crosswise.

Broadcloth

These are weaved tightly and plainly from fine yarns. It gives a silky look with great lustre in dress shirts. Broadcloth looks very much like poplin because of their similar weaves, but this has a coarser yarn.

Royal Oxford

This has a heavier yarn with chunky and durable fabric. Royal oxford creates a rugged texture in dress shirts especially solid coloured ones because of its bold basket weaves.

Pin-point Oxford

This is a broadcloth weaved with yarns thicker than the plain broadcloth. It has a thicker and coarser nap, but it has a finer weave and weights lighter than standard oxford fabric.

Twill

This fabric has prominent diagonal weaves that creates diagonal lines on the surface. Similar to oxfords basket weaves, twill gives a nice texture on solid coloured dress shirts.

The smoother your cotton dress shirts are, the more formal you shirt would be. Usually, poplin and broadcloths are considered the formal fabrics whether its white or blue. Next are Royal Oxfords followed by end-on-ends and pinpoint oxfords.

Having a bit of information on these fabrics gives you an idea on what is the right choice of fabric for your dress shirts. Oxfords are best for rugged men since they are more durable. More stylish men can opt for poplin and pima fabrics.