Apparel | Friday, April 09, 2010

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SUPIMA IN THE NEWS: ‘The ultimate men’s style guide’ in The Times of London

By Greg Wang

LONDON—Being raised on Savile Row and the very best bespoke, the Brits know quality when they see it.

In TOP TO TOE: THE ULTIMATE MEN’S STYLE GUIDE TO DRESSING STYLISHLY BOTH DAY AND NIGHT, writer Chris Sullivan from the Times of London pointed out the best shirt on the market.

And it wasn’t a locally made Jermyn Street product.

It was a Supima buttondown from Brooks Brothers.

In fact, here’s what the Times had to say: Brooks Brothers Sports Shirt

I’ve always favoured the look that Michael Douglas donned in the film Falling Down in 1993. You know the side parted greased hair, the optical Ray Bans Clubmaster RB3016 specs and the perennial Brooks Brothers button down short sleeve white shirt worn with a plain black tie. A great American institution, Brooks Brothers was founded by notorious dandy Henry Sands Brooks in New York City in 1818 and sold goods to seafarers, traders and adventurous entrepreneurs. One of the first companies ever to proffer ready to wear clothing, they introduced the button down collar to the US in 1900 after John Brooks (grandson of Henry) while taking in a Polo match in London, noticed that the players wore shirts whose soft collars were buttoned down to stop them flapping around during play. He promptly took one back, copied it and thus fashioned an American perennial that became a Ivy League mainstay and was a favourite of JFK, Paul Newman and Miles Davis and was subsequently copied by our very own Ben Sherman. Recently, BB has crafted the shirt in non-iron Supima 100 per cent cotton that, entirely unheard of before (as all non iron fabrics are mostly polyester and itch like chicken pox) comes out of the wash largely crease free - which as any true style monger will attest makes a chap’s life a darn sight easier.

RRP £79

www.brooksbrothers.com