The OneShirt: A Phoenix from the Ashes [4/24/13 UPDATE: A SHIRTMAKER, AN ENGLISHMAN, CHAMBRAY, AND F

[TheFoo]



FME, new new chambray is slubbier than end-on-end, and the color has more depth, but this is only true if you don't burn it.

I remember seeing fabrics just like this with the "hair" and nap at a fabric trade show a few years ago from a mill in China. They called them "Brushed End on End". No idea what they were called, but their offerings were cheap as dirt if you bought over 3000 yards.

Well, let's put this way: the "new" chambray is much more obviously a sub-species of end-on-end. If you put it next to a typical blue end-on-end, you'd have to inspect for more than a few moments to be sure which is which. In contrast, the "old" chambray appears to have come from a different planet. However, it is a form of end-on-end, just like every other chambray. That is, there is nothing special about the weave. It's about the yarns, which are much rougher and bigger in diameter than you'd normally see in nice shirting. The fuzziness and hairiness are due to individual fibers coming loose from the yarn structure. The color variegation also has to do with the nature of the yarns. They don't dye evenly, so you get a lot of different saturation levels, imparting the shirting as a whole with cloudy coloration.

Understanding all this now, I can see why one would be unimpressed with the "old" chambray. Its character would easily be considered serious flaws in any other nice shirting. Big yarns with loose fibers that don't dye evenly? Dubious.

 

[Ricini]

For what little it's worth, when I brought a length of Will's peach chambray to my shirtmaker in 2011, the first thing the head cutter said to me was, "this has poly in it." I knew at the time that it was not the so-called old-loomed stuff because my shirtmaker stocks it in blue and the differences are pronounced, but I didn't press him to elaborate. Two years later I'm beginning to suspect that he was right. The shirt hardly wrinkles and has pilled quite a bit (in a manner consistent with Carl's comments about separation, I'm afraid) despite light wear. I still wear the shirt, but mostly because I like the shade of pink.

 

[dieworkwear]



For what little it's worth, when I brought a length of Will's peach chambray to my shirtmaker in 2011, the first thing the head cutter said to me was, "this has poly in it."

In Moscow, this can get you into certain nightclubs.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/27/style/tmagazine/27moscoww.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

 

[TheFoo]



For what little it's worth, when I brought a length of Will's peach chambray to my shirtmaker in 2011, the first thing the head cutter said to me was, "this has poly in it." I knew at the time that it was not the so-called old-loomed stuff because my shirtmaker stocks it in blue and the differences are pronounced, but I didn't press him to elaborate. Two years later I'm beginning to suspect that he was right. The shirt hardly wrinkles and has pilled quite a bit (in a manner consistent with Carl's comments about separation, I'm afraid) despite light wear. I still wear the shirt, but mostly because I like the shade of pink.

Interesting. The pilling is certain effed up and can hardly be ascribed to "character." Yet, it seems common on the examples of the old-loomed chambray we've seen here. Now I'm even more curious about how SG makes their stuff, and how much they contract out. I mean, there is clearly far more variability here than previously thought.

 

[Ricini]

Derek,

That article, though a horror in every way(even for NYT), made me realize I've not seen a grown man with a gold chain around his neck in years. The thought made me so happy I set fire to my shirt.

 

[T4phage]



.....
SG Old-loomed Chambray

that old photo
of my shirt
is still making teh
rounds.....


it is not:
fuzzy
piling
or polymix

i got it 8 or 9 years ago
from benjamin simmonet
back when there were
6-7 different hues
of blue

it is:
single width
slubby - which may be mistaken
for pilling
is a casual shirting
durable

bonfanti offers a
version of chambray
but is a finer weave
likely similar to this
'new' chambray fabric

here is a new photo
of that same shirt
made with the
'old chambray'
along with a bengal stripe
chambray from bonfanti:

i have something similiar that I also think of a "fresco" given its very open weave.

anyone know the actual name?

if it has a very crisp dry hand
i have the same
it is wonderful stuff
acorn's cambridge
is not in the same
ballpark

 

[dieworkwear]



Derek, 

That article, though a horror in every way(even for NYT), made me realize I've not seen a grown man with a gold chain around his neck in years. The thought made me so happy I set fire to my shirt.

I've been denied access into a few restaurants and bars in Moscow, precisely because I failed face control (or as Russians say it, feis kontrol). Once, it took some friends of mine inside the bar to explain to the owners and bouncer that I was not a laborer, I was just American.

 

[TheFoo]

Thanks, T4. To further confuse, here is iammatt's Matuozzo shirt made from SG "old" chambray:

Clearly, there is little consistency in what SG makes--which is not surprising given that shirting is not their main business and they are a small producer.

The stuff I have has a very dry hand.

 

[T4phage]



The stuff I have has a very dry hand.

kuro's shirting
is not a chambray
rather
a high twist
open weave cotton
dress shirt fabric
excellent stuff

 

[TheFoo]



kuro's shirting
is not a chambray
rather
a high twist
open weave cotton
dress shirt fabric
excellent stuff

I was commenting on my own stuff. Very dry. More crisp than the "old" SG chambray.

 

[A Y]



I dare anyone to make a blunt out of S&G chambray

I miss the innocent days when people would just make kites out of shirts.

 

[Ricini]

Mine is very dry, too, Foo. At some point tomorrow I'm going to dig up the remaindered shirting of the peach Chambray and if see there is big difference in the pilling. That is to say, I am fairly certain that it is not slubbiness, but I'll check.

 

[Ricini]

I've been denied access into a few restaurants and bars in Moscow, precisely because I failed face control (or as Russians say it, feis kontrol). Once, it took some friends of mine inside the bar to explain to the owners and bouncer that I was not a laborer, I was just American.

Here in Spain, you go around convincing others you are American if you want to get kicked out of a bar or restaurant.

 

[TheFoo]

Yeah, you should be able to tell pretty easily. Slubbiness shouldn't result in little balls of fiber separating from the fabric.

Pilling, not slubs, on Cantabrigian's SG chambray shirt:

 

[TheFoo]



Here in Spain, you go around convincing others you are American if you want to get kicked out of a bar or restaurant. 

In truth, aren't the English far worse than us?