Photo: MICC
When money gets tight, shirtmakers find themselves replacing a lot of collars and cuffs. You see, the visible edges of a shirt are the first things to show wear, and they can be replaced for a relatively nominal cost that's generally less than half that of a new version of the same shirt. And voilà! For me that's another ten years of wear.
This savings is one of the many reasons why any suit-wearing man should have his shirts made for him. As a rationale it's not in the same class as having shirts that fit, or choosing from a wide selection of cloth at a cost that's no more than that of department store shirts, but it's still a respectable part of the total argument.
Of course, unlike the white shirts worn by Luca di Montezemolo of Ferrari and the men around him in the photo, colored shirtings may fade and the dyes become impossible to match. In that case, the maker will usually replace those colored collars and cuffs with white cloth. Certainly in my neighborhood this is the source of most of the shirts you see with white collars and colored shirt bodies, a look that some men are reluctant to try. To which I say that anyone over the age of thirty will never hear an uncomplimentary word unless he spends time in the wrong sort of drinking establishments and in that case I can be no help to him.
In conclusion, lest a reader be tempted to think that this practice is somehow beneath him, I can state that many of the world's wealthiest men have worn collars and cuffs replaced to help preserve their fortunes. Particularly in times like these.
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5 comments:
Ten years?!? Do explain.
It's just a matter of having enough shirts isn't it?
I'm about to bring in several shirts to my shirtmaker. I have some collar and cuff replacements that were provided when I had the shirts originally made. They are thus made from the same bolt of cloth.
If I were to replace the collars with white, what is the general rule for cuffs? I tend to wear out collars more than cuffs, so the replacement need only be the collar. Is it generally better to have the same cuffs as the collar, or can you use the original colors (if you have the replacement cuffs). Is it inelegant to have button cuffs with a white collar on a blue shirt for example?
What about barrel cuffs converted to cuff-linked cuff that close just like the folding French cuffs? I've seen it, I believe, in old movies from the 20's, but I am not sure.
Ah! True, very true.
Initials, sometimes I get lost in my own assumptions.
White collars should only be accompanied by linked cuffs, which can be ditto or white. I convert the few button cuff shirts I keep to linked when they need replacement collars.
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