As a maker of collar-stays, would like to add a few points here:
Steel Collar-stays: Most steel stays in the market are made of very thin sheet of steel, 0.4 to 0.6 mm. The polishing to reduce the roughness is often not done very nicely resulting in they having sharp edges, which harm the shirt. We did a lot of study on the subject and tried different thickness and finishes. When making them too thick, they would not fit into some collars and too thin would make them like blades. We thus settled with 1mm thickness. The edges were finished to be rounded. In our testing and feedback from our customers over the last 1 year, never heard of a shirt getting a hole in the collar stay pocket.
The only problem we faced was the smooth surface making the stay slip off and fall. We have now solved the problem through a non-slip surface finish that should stay put. These would feature in our stays next month onwards. We make them in 5 sizes 2", 2.25", 2.5", 2.75", 3"
These stays require some physical strength to give it a desired curve, but it wont bend easily or on its own.
Brass: We make brass stays too for some of our clients, but never took it to the mass market as I see no real value it would have over steel. The oxidation or chemical based treatments are both undesirable.
Plastic: These would break easily, bend under the iron or in the washing machine where they end up often. We did some research in the area and made stays with different types of plastic. We will be launching plastic stays in September '12 that won't be damaged in the washing machine and can withstand the occasional ironing. These would not break in the shirt, ever.
Mother-of-pearl: Breaks a lot. Need to be made too thick to have a long life. I see no reason for buying these though we do sell them as people like to give those as gifts.
Precious Metals: Good for gifting when the price tag on the gift matters.
My Favorite: Stays, made of 0.3mm steel, with thin layer of treated leather sewn over it's surface. A little difficult and expensive to produce but has no real disadvantages unless washed and ironed too often.
Should collar-stays be used:
Ideally, the collar should have a bit of a drape around the part of the tie that is conceals. When worn without a tie, a straighter collar looks better than a curved one.
Most mass market shirts need them, be it Brooks Brothers or Thomas Pink or Charles Tyrwhitt or Hugo Boss or whatever. Without collar-stays, they would curve up, curve down and in all other directions. Hence yes, they are needed.
On Luxire Shirts:
Very few shirtmakers are able to make a collar that that does not really need them. It took us a lot of research to get to that level.
Our fused collars have that slight natural downward curve that looks elegant and remains that way throughout the day and throughout the long life of the shirt.
For the unfused collars, we researched and tried many different interlinings before commissioning a custom weave that finally gave the desired look and body to the collar.
Should shirts have Collar-stay pockets:
We still provide for collar-stay pockets in our shirts because, there is no reason to deny the buyer the option to use them if he so desires. It gives him the flexibility to choose the right look when wearing a tie and when not wearing one.
Please do not read this as an advertisement as we don't sell collar-stays on our site.
Edited by luxire - 8/11/12 at 8:19pm
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