A bugbear of mine is the ongoing requirement for workwear. I don’t find the search as invigorating as the casual menswear hunt, nor do I have the corner office that would drive me to desire the epitome of sartorial style for the work place. However, I do like to look good at work, as this channels into me feeling positive and assertive. It is also important for me to project a professional image at work. I can rotate in chinos or lighter suit trousers in the summer, with heavier cotton twill and wool suit trousers in the colder months. What doesn’t change is the need for good quality, smart shirts 5 days a week.
My search and copious Instagram activity led me to The Savile Row Company and their shirts.
A large online range that gave me options for the kind of look I was after. I want to project a clean cut professional image that inspires confidence. I also want a comfortable shirt that feels good. An average day (from shirt on to shirt off) is around the 11 hour mark. So, it follows that comfort is vital.
I tried a couple of the shirts from https://savilerowco.com/
First impression is the softness. They feel fresh and it is the kind of feel that led me to believe that these are going to be comfortable shirts.
Next up is the fit. My ideal shirt is probably a shirt that is relatively slim fitting. I really do hate shirts that spill out over trousers and look obviously too big. The amount of shirts that had these James Haskell like dimensions over the years has driven me to distraction. The manufacturers are not catering for the average man with these crazy proportions. No amount of tucking in will solve the extra fabric problem, as it will surely reveal itself again at a bad time. Excess material around the shoulders is also a shirting sin. The shirt should sit nicely on the shoulder with the join with the shirt arm around or just past the end of the shoulder.
Maybe a small insight here as to how women feel with dress sizes perhaps?
In fairness most good shirt manufacturers offer different fits in their shirts. Thankfully, Savile Row Company also offer us guys a choice of fits.
The Savile Row Company shirts err nicely between fitted and comfortably allowing movement across my back (which is where I get caught with shirts sometimes). No gym bro tightness though, which would be unbecoming at my age, never mind cramping my movement.
As I had anticipated the shirts are very comfortable and this was literally road tested last weekend, when I drove a round trip of 400km on the Sunday for a family occasion. Outwith a lot of coffee, the next important thing on that day was comfort.
Time for a drive
Good to go
We’ve all driven to weddings or the like when our shirt is more of a garrote than a garment. You just can’t help getting hot under the collar due to its ill fit. None of that last Sunday which was the acid test for a shirt. It was cool, kept its shape and provided great comfort for the whole (long) day. So, The Savile Row Company shirts get the fortysomethingman stamp of approval!
You can check them out on-
https://savilerowco.com/shirts
Thanks for reading,
Graeme
After discovering them on Instagram, the guys at Savile Row Company kindly sent me 2 shirts to review and I’m glad they did! The striped shirt is from their standard range and the shirt in the last couple of shots is from the Premium Collection https://savilerowco.com/shirts/formal-shirts
Until next time!
