Brooks Brothers
Brooks Brothers reinvented a classic, and it seems to be paying off.
The private manufacturer and retailer of East Coast Americana just reintroduced its Polo Button-Down Oxford, an icon of menswear if there ever were one.
First introduced in 1896, the shirt basically invented the style we now know as the Oxford Cloth Button-Down: a versatile, sporty shirt that can be dressed up or down.
Though it never really went away, now it's really back. Like the brand's original Oxford shirt, this new version features side gussets to strengthen the seams, a longer tail to ensure it stays tucked, mother-of-pearl buttons, and, most important, the holy grail of the OCBD: a collar that enables a glorious, perfect roll.
The roll had been missing from the shirt since it was redesigned in 1989 with a lined collar. The collar's lining has now been thrown out (along with the shirt's breast pocket), which allows for that gracious roll that fans of the original shirt loved so much.
"This is the sort of detail in which God is said to exist," Troy Patterson wrote breathlessly in The New York Times. "Philosophers of the Ivy League Look liken particularly dramatic collar rolls to the silhouettes of angels' wings."
The new shirt seems to be a hit with fans. The company is now selling 15 to 20% more of them compared with the previous version, Brooks Brothers vice president Guy Voglino told The Times.
It also features a new price: $140, a nearly $50 increase over the previous version, which cost $92. It is made out of Supima cotton in Brooks Brothers' factory in Garland, North Carolina.
Brooks Brothers
Note: A previous version of this story stated that Garland is in South Carolina. It is actually in North Carolina.
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