French cuff stiffness

[Kent Wang]

Although I prefer medium stiffness collars I think I prefer softer French cuffs. All of my Jantzen shirts have medium stiff cuffs except for one that is inexplicably soft. I didn't specify it, but it is certainly much softer than all the others. It may lack an interlining.

 

[Toiletduck]

I believe the "right" thing is to have fused collars, and non-fused french cuffs. This has to do w/ the bubbling in an area like the cuffs when fused. My previous french cuffs were fused, and I did notice bubbling after awhile. My more recent orders were all non-fused interlining (soft). These cuffs don't have the bubbling problem, but seem to lack the smartness and clean look of a fused french cuff.

I am a bit confused as to what to order next.

 

[Manton]

I doubt your cuffs lacked an interlining. If they did, they would fall apart and fray pretty quickly. I would call that a mistake on the maker's part, not a design decision.

The stiffness of collar and cuffs comes much more from the inherent stiffness of the interlining itself, and less from whether it is fused or not. Fusing adds some stiffness, but a hard unfused interlining will be stiffer than a soft fused one. Shirtmakers that I have used tend to use the same interlining, or perhaps offer one or two choices so that the customer can specify "stiff" or "soft" as a general matter. If the same interlining is used in collar and cuff, and the former is fused and the latter is not, then the cuffs will feel bit softer.

Personally, I hate fused cuffs, but don't mind fused collars from certain makers. I would not say, however, that an unfused collar is "wrong." But it is much easier to press an unfused cuff than an unfused collar, which is why a lot of people prefer fusing in the collars.

 

[Toiletduck]

I see...ok, sounds like i have to check for "stiff" cuff interlining