Assessing shirt quality

[j]

I thought part of the point of a split yoke was that the fabric is able to stretch better in one direction than any other and the angle of the yoke fabric allows more arm movement by allowing the fabric to stretch as opposed to simply making the shirt looser. Or maybe that's just something I made up in my head as to why they might do that- sometimes I can't remember.

 

[Shirtmaven]

A split yoke is not important. In fact many RTW shirts with a split yoke are fake. Just a pin tuck.

The reason to the best of my knowledge is that when most fabric was woven 36" wide. By splitting the yoke, the cutter could save a little more fabric.

By cutting on the bias, the fabric has a little more give. Shirts are not cut so snuggly anymore that the slight give will have any effect on the wearer.

 

[shoreman1782]

Well alright. I defer to Shirtmaven. I am consistently amazed by the expertise/knowledge on this forum...

 

[TCN]

TCN said:
Quote:

That said, I think other people that pay attention can definately tell the difference. Â It's amazing how my Charvet shirts seem to draw more compliments. Â Then again, if an observer is drawn more to a typical English collar, they might be more taken with a simple Tyrwhitt (which I think is a very fine shirt for the money).
TCN, I've often wondered about this french collar. In my mind it's somewhat smaller and softer than the english one and a bit wider than the regular semi-spread one. Very flattering, but seldom seen. Is this correct ? As for the proper topic, in my mind it's: 1:Fit  2:Collar style and fabric  3:Shell buttons and pattern matching  4:All the other frills (gusset, horizontal buttonholes, split yoke etc). The last category is more of a statement from the shirtmaker about the other important details. If these things are done according to the book, chances are that corners have not been cut with more important aspects of the shirt. Carl, do you have any experience as to what contributes to puckering of the seams ? I've heard many theories, such as those above and also that if the properties of the thread are different from the fabric it will react differently to washing. It stands to reason that if the thread shinks more than the fabric, you'll get the dreaded puckering. B
The collar I describe is both Charvet's read-made shirt collar, as well as the one the store considered its "house style" when I asked. It is as you describe, smaller and softer, but I would say the spread is equal to or narrower than the typical English collar (e.g., T&A, Pink). Although perhaps its smaller size just makes it look narrower . . . it's certainly no straight collar Brooks Brothers, nor is it a spread. Curiously enough, despite the relatively small collars, Charvets accept rather long collar stays. I have a pet peave about shirts that only take very short or narrow collar stays.

 

[JDMcDaniel]

Carl --

Can you explain what exactly goes into making a superb collar? I love my Fray spread collars. They seem to have a tremendously elegant roll to them.

My hunch is that it is a combination of materials (a high quality fusible) and sewing technique, but I have to admit I haven't the slightest clue if this is correct.

 

[banksmiranda]

Fray's collars are very nice. The edge-stitching is extremely well-done. Part of what makes Fray's collars so nice is the cut - Fray and Marol(both Bolognese, is this a Bologna thing?) seem to make collars with longer-than-standard points.

 

[gregory]

I love my Fray spread collars.  They seem to have a tremendously elegant roll to them.

I noticed that my Jantzen shirts have very elegant rolls too. Not true with my H&Ms. The collar roll makes such a difference in how good a shirt looks.