Questions about "luxury" shirting

[MidwestCPA]

Hi guys, wanted to pick the brains of everyone here when it comes to "luxury" shirting and those who favor it. I've bought stuff from both PC and Divij in the past, but wanted to perhaps look into buying something on the high end of what's currently offered. For PC, that is their DJA Sea Island Cotton and for Divij that would be Carlo Riva. For a poplin shirt, are either of these options worth the premium? The DJA SIC is 120s and the Riva stuff from Divij is 160s. These shirts would be getting a fair amount of wear, probably ~once a week. I know preferences and cost benefit is all kind of relative with what we're talking about here, but is it worth it to try and find something that's 200s? I've even see people say there is 300s... I'm not sure if I'm asking the right questions here but wanted to try and start a discussion.

 

[brax]

I have CR Lino oxford and Lino Arsenal shirts that are 7+ years old. It‘s great stuff even if the Oxford is a bit delicate. DJA makes high quality stuff. If you see something you like, grab it.

 

[Ao.Xiang]

Hi, I'm a luxury shirting fabric enthusiast. I have extensive experience wearing both 200s and 300s products. In the picture 1, I'm wearing a DJA 300*3 twill fabric, and it's incredibly comfortable. I also have a DJA 330*4 poplin shirt (picture 2), which is slightly stiffer. Additionally, Alumo's 200s fabric is softer than DJA 200s, but it's a bit more challenging to iron.

 

[nevaeh]

How do you typically wash your shirts? At home or at a dry cleaners? That will make a difference, too.

 

[MidwestCPA]

How do you typically wash your shirts? At home or at a dry cleaners? That will make a difference, too.

I wash and iron them myself

 

[MidwestCPA]

Hi, I'm a luxury shirting fabric enthusiast. I have extensive experience wearing both 200s and 300s products. In the picture 1, I'm wearing a DJA 300*3 twill fabric, and it's incredibly comfortable. I also have a DJA 330*4 poplin shirt (picture 2), which is slightly stiffer. Additionally, Alumo's 200s fabric is softer than DJA 200s, but it's a bit more challenging to iron. View attachment 1980669 View attachment 1980673

Do you find that the higher thread count stuff runs warmer than say a 120?

 

[St1X]

To me construction and cut matters a lot more than the cloth itself. I want shirts with shirred shoulders, cuffs and back and sufficiently long tail more than any premium cloth

 

[Ao.Xiang]

Do you find that the higher thread count stuff runs warmer than say a 120?

No , I find that higher thread count stuff like 200s, feel cooler to wear. They are so highly breathable. During summer, if I sweat while wearing them, it takes just a few seconds for the breeze to dry the moisture.

 

[Thomas Auer]

Hi guys, wanted to pick the brains of everyone here when it comes to "luxury" shirting and those who favor it. I've bought stuff from both PC and Divij in the past, but wanted to perhaps look into buying something on the high end of what's currently offered. For PC, that is their DJA Sea Island Cotton and for Divij that would be Carlo Riva. For a poplin shirt, are either of these options worth the premium? The DJA SIC is 120s and the Riva stuff from Divij is 160s. These shirts would be getting a fair amount of wear, probably ~once a week. I know preferences and cost benefit is all kind of relative with what we're talking about here, but is it worth it to try and find something that's 200s? I've even see people say there is 300s... I'm not sure if I'm asking the right questions here but wanted to try and start a discussion.

Although most of my shirts are probably 120 or 140, occasionally I made myself some high count shirts as well (mostly 200, sometimes 170). I think its worth trying them out, because you cant really grasp the benefits or how it wears from the small sample cloth. I mostly use Grandi Rubinelli and Sictess, so I can't really comment on DJA and CR (although in general, the SIC I handled were mostly a bit underwhelming)

 

[Ao.Xiang]

To me construction and cut matters a lot more than the cloth itself. I want shirts with shirred shoulders, cuffs and back and sufficiently long tail more than any premium cloth

I agree with you. Construction and cut are always paramount.

 

[JohnMRobie]

Hi guys, wanted to pick the brains of everyone here when it comes to "luxury" shirting and those who favor it. I've bought stuff from both PC and Divij in the past, but wanted to perhaps look into buying something on the high end of what's currently offered. For PC, that is their DJA Sea Island Cotton and for Divij that would be Carlo Riva. For a poplin shirt, are either of these options worth the premium? The DJA SIC is 120s and the Riva stuff from Divij is 160s. These shirts would be getting a fair amount of wear, probably ~once a week. I know preferences and cost benefit is all kind of relative with what we're talking about here, but is it worth it to try and find something that's 200s? I've even see people say there is 300s... I'm not sure if I'm asking the right questions here but wanted to try and start a discussion.

It really depends what you’re after and how you’re defining “luxury shirting” and what it is that you’re after.

Don’t have experience with super high thread count stuff like 200/2, 300/3. Personally put Alumo, Riva, DJA on the same tier as far as mills go and am biased toward Alumo. I find the poplins to all feel a little different some more buttery, some more dry/crisp, some more satiny.

My daily wear shirts are Soyella which I find to have a really nice hand and good balance for my use of easy enough to press and doesn’t get super wrinkled since I launder at home. I also don’t think the upcharge with Divij is that bad on Alumo but that’s just based on his site from memory when I was contemplating makers.

As @brax mentioned Riva’s linens are fantastic but if I recall Divij has a wild upcharge on those. Waiting on a delivery of some Alumo Zephirlino’s in my summer batch to test those out. Wouldn’t rank Bonfanti or G&R far behind.

 

[MidwestCPA]

It really depends what you’re after and how you’re defining “luxury shirting” and what it is that you’re after.

Don’t have experience with super high thread count stuff like 200/2, 300/3. Personally put Alumo, Riva, DJA on the same tier as far as mills go and am biased toward Alumo. I find the poplins to all feel a little different some more buttery, some more dry/crisp, some more satiny.

My daily wear shirts are Soyella which I find to have a really nice hand and good balance for my use of easy enough to press and doesn’t get super wrinkled since I launder at home. I also don’t think the upcharge with Divij is that bad on Alumo but that’s just based on his site from memory when I was contemplating makers.

As @brax mentioned Riva’s linens are fantastic but if I recall Divij has a wild upcharge on those. Waiting on a delivery of some Alumo Zephirlino’s in my summer batch to test those out. Wouldn’t rank Bonfanti or G&R far behind.

Thanks for chiming in, I appreciate it. When it comes say Riva vs Alumo, at the 160s is there any kind of quality difference between the two or is it more of what you're saying which is a difference in feel, drape etc

 

[Thomas Auer]

It really depends what you’re after and how you’re defining “luxury shirting” and what it is that you’re after.

Don’t have experience with super high thread count stuff like 200/2, 300/3. Personally put Alumo, Riva, DJA on the same tier as far as mills go and am biased toward Alumo. I find the poplins to all feel a little different some more buttery, some more dry/crisp, some more satiny.

My daily wear shirts are Soyella which I find to have a really nice hand and good balance for my use of easy enough to press and doesn’t get super wrinkled since I launder at home. I also don’t think the upcharge with Divij is that bad on Alumo but that’s just based on his site from memory when I was contemplating makers.

As @brax mentioned Riva’s linens are fantastic but if I recall Divij has a wild upcharge on those. Waiting on a delivery of some Alumo Zephirlino’s in my summer batch to test those out. Wouldn’t rank Bonfanti or G&R far behind.

Wow, I just looked it up. The upcharge for Alumo is astonishingly low, pretty much the same as for Thomas Mason and Canclini. That is actually wild, given the different price points.

Thanks for chiming in, I appreciate it. When it comes say Riva vs Alumo, at the 160s is there any kind of quality difference between the two or is it more of what you're saying which is a difference in feel, drape etc

I think Riva is rather special in its offering. Its uses old looms and therefore it got a very special feel to it. Also its offering starts with high count fabrics whereas Alumo has great 120/2 and the like as well. Is Riva worth the upcharge? It really depends on what you want... most of the shirting I looked at were way too light for my liking, but than again, I think one should only judge after wearing a shirt with the fabric.

 

[JohnMRobie]

Wow, I just looked it up. The upcharge for Alumo is astonishingly low, pretty much the same as for Thomas Mason and Canclini. That is actually wild, given the different price points.


I think Riva is rather special in its offering. Its uses old looms and therefore it got a very special feel to it. Also its offering starts with high count fabrics whereas Alumo has great 120/2 and the like as well. Is Riva worth the upcharge? It really depends on what you want... most of the shirting I looked at were way too light for my liking, but than again, I think one should only judge after wearing a shirt with the fabric.

The upcharge honestly doesn’t make much sense to me for the Riva there knowing what the price per meter is on Alumo vs Riva since I do CMT with one of my shirt makers and have this years price sheets from both of them. Riva might actually come out slightly less expensive per shirt even needing the extra length to account for the 90cm width.

Re: vintage looms I suppose have some charm but from a practical standpoint I don’t notice much in the way of a difference from my vintage loomed 90cm stuff vs the standard 150cm modern stuff. If you’re after charm of 90cm vintage stuff Bonfanti is super easy to order from. I like both Belfast and Dallas.

Thanks for chiming in, I appreciate it. When it comes say Riva vs Alumo, at the 160s is there any kind of quality difference between the two or is it more of what you're saying which is a difference in feel, drape etc

Alumo Soyella 170/2 vs Riva Popeline Tela I don’t notice a difference in performance or drape. It’s basically down to hand feel and preference.

 

[gimpwiz]

@Jmr928, think maybe they just have a good relationship with Alumo and get much better pricing than you do? Or something else related to how much they like doing business with one vs the other, issues they've had, etc.