How many shirts do you own?

I've got 43. Many are form Jos A Bank I must admit.

Some good feedback thus far. I still can't understand having the space first and foremost and after 20-25 what else is there left to wear. I'm not judging (despite sounding like that), I'm just having a hard time wrapping my head around 80-100 shirts. I had 22 and now 16 and I'm cutting 2 more out that don't have an ideal fit. Ones in the shop getting the waist suppressed a touch. Which will put me at 15. Likely will order 2 in the coming weeks from my shop for the winter, although I already have two gorgeous winter weight shirts i'll probably wear the seams off (casual shirts). A medium grey cashmere flannel ($340 cost to make) and a medium blue fine herringbone double chest pocket cotton ($300 to make). Wish I read this thread before I just unloaded about 5 perfectly good and fitted shirts. Mostly dress. I just thought it was excessive to have them and paired down.

43 isn't so bad. I'm also not a conventional board room office guy, so I can appreciate if guys have 20-25 strictly business shirts, which theoretically can last a month before dry cleaning/washing.

J A Bank stuff is fine.

I get mine made at a store called Seize Sur Vingt.

And to the other commenter, yes, I will be going a different route this fall. I recently purchased a gorgeous Piombo navy blue sport coat. Have a fall weight grey flannel Caruso and will wear both with mainly blue Oxford or white poplin with a rotation of a couple ties. Flip flopping btw a rotation of Grey wool and cord Caruso trousers and dark denim (which gets worn probably 3 business days per week).

We'll see it this works this season. Lean times.

I have about 30 ranging from Dunhill and CT Black Label dress shirts through more SW&D things from Patrick Ervel, Folk and Coming Soon to Uniqlo short-sleeves. It feels like too many and yet I still find that I don't have quite the right shirt on certain occasions.

Man, the "yet I still find that I don't have quite the right shirt on certain occasions" is so true. I was a horrible offender of this. Nothing offensive or inappropriate, but often wearing a statement shirt when everyone was wearing an Oxford or vice versa. For a while I thought there were memos going out before every function that I wasn't receiving. That or everyone would go out with two shirts (one as a back up) ha. But seriously this is in part why I am shocked over the 80-100 shirt thing. Even 40 or 50. I know me and too much choice is a very bad thing. You'll never screw up with a crisp white and a knit tie or something. I guess it's safe. Plus I'm an athletic build 5'9 so if I can't nail the fit and style its an epic mess.

Almost all my shirts are plain blue, pink, or white, and never have I thought my outfit needed a 'more exciting' shirt pattern. About the only thing that had concerned me was different collar (button down) rather than different shirt patterns.

17 business shirts in my closet at this stage, 3 plain white, 3 play blue and the remainder are mostly various striped blues.
I wear a shirt 5 days a week and still think I'm able to get a fairly decent variation in rotation out of the modest number of 17. My plan is to increase the stock of up to about 30 or so over the time.

ballmouse said:

Almost all my shirts are plain blue, pink, or white, and never have I thought my outfit needed a 'more exciting' shirt pattern. About the only thing that had concerned me was different collar (button down) rather than different shirt patterns.

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That works in a conservative business dress / office context; not necessarily in a casual or streetwear context. Like you, I'm about to reduce down my 'work' shirts to a minimum of plain colour shirts (from Kamakura). I think that simple really does work best with a suit and tie. However, I'm quite happy to have a variety of shirts of all kinds of designs, patterns and colours for elsewhere.

I got around 15 shirts, mono and stripes.

I don't really see the point of OCBD shirts when wearing jackets, reading the history about how OCBD shirts were actually made for the collars to stay down while people played polo, hence the casualness of it all.

4 OCBD casual shirts ( pink purple green oxford cloths, chambray)

3 formal Cerruti 200s (pink blue white)

2 Gingham checks (blue and purple)

I'm perfectly happy with my rotation. I find lots of people suffer from having too many shirts which they end up not wearing, and then having spent a decent amount on a shirt they guilt themselves into wearing it just to make it seem like it's worth it.

I'll just wear these 9 shirts into the ground, then rinse and repeat, albeit maybe slightly different cloths/patterns.

Xancatrius said:

I don't really see the point of OCBD shirts when wearing jackets, reading the history about how OCBD shirts were actually made for the collars to stay down while people played polo, hence the casualness of it all.

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Everyone here already knows this. But things are not defined by their origins. I don't see anyone arguing that ties should only be worn by Czech soldiers (which was the origin of the modern tie). Clothes get adapted, appropriated, reinterpreted. They evolve and people wear them differently. In short, people wear OCBD shirts because 1. they like them; and 2. they have their own histories now, and have evolved far from their origins (including the New England trad look, British mods, and much more besides).

Xancatrius said:

I don't really see the point of OCBD shirts when wearing jackets, reading the history about how OCBD shirts were actually made for the collars to stay down while people played polo, hence the casualness of it all.

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I hear this a lot, and it doesn't make sense. Is there a good reason to base how you wear a shirt on how it would have been worn by polo players (never a vast segment of the populace) roughly a hundred years ago, rather than on the way it's been worn (admittedly not in every circle) by an awful lot of men over the ensuing century? Shouldn't whether something works be more important?

EDIT: If FlyingMonkey is Batman (Christian Bale), I am Batman (Ben Affleck).

Both of you are absolutely right, this is just an opinion of mine. Everyone is free to wear what they want, definitely.

I just find that having a button down collar on some really nice silky fabric isn't doing the fabric any justice.

You esteemed gentlemen are definitely more well informed than me, with much better formed opinions due to that information.

I just like doing things in a certain way, as everyone does.



FlyingMonkey said:

I don't see anyone arguing that ties should only be worn by Czech soldiers (which was the origin of the modern tie).

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Croat.



Xancatrius said:

Both of you are absolutely right, this is just an opinion of mine. Everyone is free to wear what they want, definitely.
I just find that having a button down collar on some really nice silky fabric isn't doing the fabric any justice. 

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I do see your point. I can see how the "casualness" of the button collar lends itself to thick Oxford cloth and perhaps tweed jackets.