Kamakura Shirts - Madison Ave Store

[Eustace Tilley]

Saw this new store as I was walking to J. Press and decided to stop in as a reprieve from the cold. A great little shop - they have some beautiful, well priced buttondown shirts ($78) - they've mimicked the classic Brooks BD collar from the 50s/60s to great effect. They should start a MTM program sometime over the summer.

Bought myself a couple of nice wool ties.

http://www.kamakurashirts.com/shirt.php

 

[TheFoo]

Huh. MTM vintage BB-style OCBDs for a reasonable price sounds to good to be true! It only make sense that such a thing would come from Japan, though. If anybody can be trusted to do it, leave it to the Japanese.

 

[Shirtmaven]

I was in the shop a few weeks ago.
the quality was very good.
the knit shirt was very well done. (not a polo)

their prices are very fair. almost too low for a product made in Japan from high quality materials.
I have seen crap from China selling for a whole lot more!

can't comment on fit, I will assume that they had to adjust the patterns for an American customer.
the Same way my old Sulka for Japan patterns are shorter with shorter sleeve lengths

 

[Eustace Tilley]

FYI - a great article on Kamakura: http://www.ivy-style.com/index.php?s=kamakura

 

[TheFoo]

Oh man--salivating for the arrival of MTM.

 

[FlaneurNYC]

Great tip, Eustace, thanks.

I'm currently looking to expand my collection of OCBDs and will check out Kamakura.

 

[Bastion of]



FYI - a great article on Kamakura: http://www.ivy-style.com/index.php?s=kamakura

Nice article. These look nice. Has anyone tried yet who can comment on the fit?

 

[TC11201]

Went in there the other day and picked up one slim fit shirt to try out (FWIW, that collar roll really is excellent). The slim fit is relatively slim. I don't have too much experience with many RTW shirts, but for reference, the 16.5 / 36 equivalent (something like 36 1/3 there) is only marginally less fitted than my now well tweaked (customer since 1999) and well fitting Chan custom shirts I use as my everyday dress shirts (arm hole and arm generally is about 0.5 inch larger, most of the body measurements are between 3/4 and an inch larger than the Chan equivalent). Versus some recent Borrelli shirts, the shoulder feels marginally larger, the body about the same, and those are EU market Borrellis. I run and exercise pretty regularly, so am lucky enough not to be carrying much extra poundage and like my shirts to look pretty trim - these fit that description quite nicely. Again, I don't have a large amount of recent RTW experience, but certainly the fit surprised me a bit (was expecting something much blousier).

I did not try the regular fit, but was told that it adds between 1.5 and 2 inches to the body.

Worth a look if you're in the neighborhood. Also looking forward to an MTM option there, just to get that roll...

 

[JackFlash]

Finally stopped by the other day. Sales associate was very polite and knowledgable. They have slim and regular fits based on US and Japanese cuts. As others have said, the quality of fabric and construction is really quite excellent for the price. Sales associate mentioned impending MTM; really excited about that, particularly if pricing remains agressive. I was equally impressed by the ties; patters were quite tasteful staples.

 

[upintheair]

I've bought two shirts from Kamakura in slim fit and love them. After a couple washes, the shirts have broken in nicely and the fit is really great. The SA told me they do small batches of shirts in different patterns and cloths which come in around once a month so i've made a habit of stopping by just to see what they have whenever i'm in the area.

 

[Loathing]

 

[comrade]

Can anyone comment on their non-OCBD shirts?
My personal experience with the quality of Japanese
workmanship in tailored clothing is that it is superb
for the price point.

 

[upintheair]

Yea both my shirts are semi-spread collar, non-ocbd. Really nice collar roll, mother of pearl buttons, tight single needle stitching. im very impressed by the workmanship overall

 

[JackFlash]

http://www.ivy-style.com/rolling-along-kamakura-shirts-e-commerce-coming-soon.html

Global e-commerce coming in April!

 

[msulinski]

I had a hard time finding a shirt that fit. For the "Japanese" fit, they have regular and slim. Flim fit size 16 neck comes with 33.5 sleeves. Regular fit comes with 32.5 sleeves. I don't get why they have different lengths. I found the 16 slim too tight in the chest but too loose in the body. I usually wear a BB or CT ESF in 16. The only way I am going to be able to buy more shirts from them is if they offer a MTM program.