Start at the shoulder
Most shirts put the shoulder seam on the bone, and when your shoulders or your back change, that seam is the first thing to pull. You feel it reaching for the overhead locker. This shirt drops the seam down the arm, so there is nothing to pull against. The body is boxy, cut straight from armhole to hem, and it hangs from the shoulders instead of gripping anything below them.
I lifted both arms over my head and the hem barely moved. The shirttail is long enough to wear untucked, which is how I wear it five days out of seven, and to knot at the waist when I want shape. I am 61, I take an XL, and it sits the way the lawyers' shirts I used to press sat on them: with air in it.
I bought it for the beach and now I wear it to the office with black trousers. Nobody has said a word about the creases. Three people have asked where it's from.Lyn M., Glenelg SA, verified buyer
The pleat does the work
Turn it around first. Between the shoulder blades there is a pleat held with a button, the detail the store calls its signature. I have unpicked a great many shirts and a back pleat is not decoration. It gives the fabric somewhere to go when you sit, so it falls back into line when you stand, and it gives a boxy shirt a spine. Without one, an oversized shirt reads as a smock. With one, there is a clean line down the back and real shape.
The front is just as plain: a collar that sits open or buttons against the wind, one chest pocket the right size for reading glasses, full-length sleeves with button cuffs, and that curved hem. Nothing on it needs managing. Tap the dots below to look closer.
Anatomy of a shirt that looks after itself
- The collarStands when you want it up, lies flat when you don't. Never needs a press.
- Dropped shoulderThe seam sits down the arm, not on the bone, so nothing pulls when you reach.
- Chest pocketOne pocket, for reading glasses or a boarding pass.
- Button cuffsFull-length sleeves, worn down in the evening or rolled by ten.
- Shirttail hemLong enough untucked over trousers or knotted at the waist.
On wrinkles, professionally speaking
Pure linen creases sharp; the folds have corners. Pure cotton creases soft but goes limp, and a limp shirt is the one that looks slept in. A blend sits between. This one is 45% linen, 55% cotton, close to what I would have chosen myself: enough linen to keep the body and texture, enough cotton to round the creases off.
So it crumples. It is meant to. The crumple reads as texture, like a good linen sheet, not neglect. The store says no ironing needed and I agree, with one caveat: if you want a shirt that looks pressed, this is not it. If you want one that looks as good at 4pm as at 8am, it is. Mine has had nine hand washes since September and the collar is softer than the day it arrived.
Mine goes from the washing line to my back. I haven't touched an iron since March and I used to iron pillowcases.Dawn P., Hobart TAS, verified buyer
The editor's score
| Drape from the shoulder | 9.4 | |
| How the creases read | 9.6 | |
| Softness after washing | 9.2 | |
| Four days from one bag | 9.5 | |
| Cost per wear | 9.3 | |
| Overall | 9.4 |
The first shirt in three years that kept the promise I made to my ironing board.
Day two, Kangaroo Island
We flew to Kingscote on a Thursday, the shirt folded in a soft bag under a jumper. Friday morning I shook it out, hung it on the bathroom door while the shower ran, and put it on. Creased, yes. Over wide linen trousers, sleeves rolled, collar open, it looked like a decision. I wore it open over a navy tank at Vivonne Bay, buttoned against the wind at Admirals Arch, and to dinner in Penneshaw with the cuffs down.
Four days, one shirt, two sink washes, dry by morning on the verandah rail. I packed two other tops and never wore them. In my sister's photos I look like me: not fussed over, not let go.
Thirteen colours. Start with white.
White first. It does the beach and the office. Then sky blue, a soft washed blue that goes with every pair of jeans you own. Dark turquoise if you want colour that isn't shouting, black for evenings, army green for the woman who wears khaki and is tired of being told to try pink. Eight more, from coral to navy to peach, all plain solids. No prints.
Sizes run S to 5XL. The fit is oversized on purpose, so take your usual size; if you would rather it skim than swing, go one down. Exchanges are free, which is how I ended up in the XL after first trying the 2XL.
Four ways to wear it
The details
- Price
- $56.00
$112.00Reader price - Fabric
- 45% linen, 55% cotton
- Fit
- Boxy and relaxed, dropped shoulders, buttoned back pleat
- Hem
- Shirttail, long enough untucked or knotted
- Sizes
- S to 5XL, take your usual size
- Care
- Hand wash cold (30°C), hang to dry, no tumble dryer, no bleach
- Colours
- Thirteen plain solids, from white to navy
The Signature Relaxed Button-Up Shirt is $56 at the moment instead of $112, a real 50%. Thirteen colours, sizes S to 5XL, ships within 24 hours, and exchanges are free if the size is wrong.
Letters
“I'm 58 and I'd stopped buying linen because I'd stopped ironing. This came out of the parcel creased, I wore it straight to lunch, and my daughter said I looked relaxed in a good way. Size M, sky blue.”
“3XL, and it fits with room everywhere. The dropped shoulder means nothing pulls across my back when I drive. Black one, worn to a funeral and to the beach in the same fortnight.”
“Took the army green on a ten-day trip with one carry-on. Rolled it, wore it six of the ten days. Nobody looked at me like I'd slept in it. XL, and I'd order the same again.”
Thirteen colours. White goes first.
Questions readers ask
Will it wrinkle?
Yes, and it is supposed to. It is 45% linen, so it creases, but the 55% cotton keeps those creases soft rather than sharp. I have not ironed mine once. Hang it after washing and the worst drops out on its own.
What size should I take?
Your usual one. The cut is oversized and boxy by design. Sizes run S to 5XL. If you would rather it skim than swing, go one size down. Exchanges are free.
How do I wash it?
Gently hand wash in cold water (30°C) with a mild detergent. No bleach. Hang to dry and keep it out of the tumble dryer. It gets softer with every wash.
How fast does it ship, and what if it doesn't suit?
Orders ship within 24 hours. Exchanges are free, so if the colour or the size is wrong you swap it. The blend is breathable and year-round, though on a July morning in Adelaide it is a layer, not a coat.
The bottom line
I spent 26 years making other people's shirts look like they had never been worn. The shirt I wear now looks lived in, and that turns out to be the better look. A dropped shoulder, a back pleat and the right blend do more for you at 4pm than a hot iron ever did at 7am.
Start with the white. Take your usual size. When it comes off the line softer than it went out, you will understand why my friend now owns four.
P.S. I did keep the ironing board. It holds the puzzle my grandchildren are doing.