The Secrets of a Good Shirt

High Quality Shirts in India (use of techniques from bespoke tailoring)

PRIVEE PARIS is a contemporary fashion brand based in India, inspired by

Parisian culture of Art. We offer quality with ethics.

Men’s Shirt

1. Stitches per inch Recommended SPI for Shirt is 14-20 The number of stitches per inch can have a direct influence on the following: 1) the seam strength; 2) the stitch appearance; and 3) the seam elasticity on stretch fabrics. Low-end shirts tend to be made with fewer stitches-per-inch than high-end shirts. That’s because the speed of a sewing machine is measured in stitches- per-minute. The fewer stitches a machine has to sew per inch, the faster it can go. Since poorly made shirts are banged out as fast as possible, they have lower stitch counts. These rougher looking stitches detract from the shirt’s durability and elegance. More stitches per inch will also consume for thread per inch of seam. This will contribute to higher seam strength and more elastic seams, but will also increase the consumption of thread required to sew the garment.

2. Single Needle Seams Another way to tell a high quality dress shirt is to check if it has single needle

side seam stitching along the sides of the shirt and bottom of the sleeves.

This will produce an incredibly tight seam that is very narrow and elegant.

Only one line of thread will be visible on the outside of the shirt and the

tightness of the seam will make it such that no puckering can show when the

shirt is washed and dried.

The way to check for single needle stitching is to look at the front and back of

this seam along the sides of the shirt and check if you can see one or two

lines of sewing. Sewing the side seams in this tight way is more difficult for

the shirtmaker. It’s also less forgiving if a mistake is made and

correspondingly more expensive. If two lines of stitching are visible here it

makes for a less elegant shirt and a side seam that shows more puckering

after washing.

Conclusion It results in a much stronger seam that is difficult to rip and also gives a cleaner look to the shirt as there is only a single visible seam on the outside and single needle stitching is less prone to puckering. A time-consuming and expensive method that uses one needle to sew one side of the garment at a time. The more stitches that are used per inch, the more durable a men's dress shirt is. Most mass brands will use a double needle seam that is less labor intensive but more prone to puckering and tearing.

3. Split Yoke The yoke is an area of the shirt that receives a good deal of stress, since it is

the part that gets the most weight and friction from your blazer, jacket, or

shoulder straps of your bag. For this reason, a shirt yoke is usually made from

two layers of fabric. Just like shirt placket in the front, shirt yoke is built for

durability to make sure that your shirt will look perfect for years to come. A

double layer of fabric will make sure that you and your shirt are well

protected from all these external strains.

Split Yoke A sure fire sign of a high quality shirt construction is the split yoke. The shirt

yoke is the panel of fabric that runs across the shoulders, just behind the

collar. A “split” yoke is where the yoke is made of two different pieces of

fabrics. A true split yoke will have the two pieces of fabric cut at an angle.

When a fabric is cut at this angle, the fabric stretches more length wise. This

means you’ll have a greater range of motion when you’re reaching forward.

To understand the real reason, you first need to understand how woven cottons stretch. If you have a dress shirt made from 100% cotton (most dress shirt fabric), you’ll notice that the fabric has threads running both vertically (warp) and horizontally (weft).F or most high quality woven cottons, the fabric will not stretch very much at all if you try to stretch it vertically, or if you try to stretch it horizontally. However, if you try to stretch it diagonally it stretches pretty easily. Thus, the real benefit of the split yoke is that by rotating the fabrics to the angled orientation, we are basically adding stretch to the yoke across it’s width! I can see how this could make a real difference in comfort. When you’re tying your shoes, or driving a car, or lots of other every day activities, you put pressure on the yoke and if it is a split yoke it will stretch to accommodate your movement better.

4. Pattern Matching

A high quality shirt will certainly have perfect pattern matching at the center

back of the split yoke, as well as along the front of the shirt and at the pocket

(if the shirt has a pocket). If the pattern matching is not precise, the stripes or

checks will not align down the front of the shirt and look sloppy. Horizontal

lines should run seamlessly from the left to right side of the shirt and vertical

stripes should be spaced such that there is no stripe missing at either sides of

the shirt placket. The stripes on one side of a collar should be identical in

elevation to the stripes on the opposite side of the collar. A really good sign

of a high quality dress shirt is when the pattern at the end of the yoke

matches perfectly with the pattern at the top of the sleeves. This is a really

great detail that is difficult to accomplish consistently.

Pattern Matching

5. Lily Stitch: Hand Stitched Buttons The buttons should be firmly attached to the shirt without too much

looseness.

We attach buttons with Lily Stitch which is a sign of high quality shirts.

Attaching a button with a ‘lily stitch’ can only be done by hand. There is no

machine which can attach buttons using this stitch. Making this a very

identifiable handmade detail with stronger attachment.

Our finishing is very neat and without any knot at back.

We tie knot underneath buttons instead of back of fabric. In this way, knot is

Hidden underneath buttons .

Lily stitch cannot be used in 2 hole buttons.

All garments available in the market are poorly knotted and concept of lily

stitch Itself is new in Indian market.

Lily Stitch: Hand Stitched Buttons

6. Mother of Pearl Buttons Mother-of-Pearl is the industry gold standard.

We prefer high-quality Mother of Pearl buttons for their depth of

color and shine. Mother of Pearl buttons are also very resilient to

degradation caused by cleaners and heat, and as such can last a long

time. Thicker or “Tall Mother of Pearl” buttons are quite expensive and are a

sure sign of a high quality dress shirt. That said, mother of pearl buttons are

not the only nice buttons there are. Some plastic/resin buttons can be very

attractive and last a long time.

However, theses buttons are only available with our higher range shirts,

which will be available pretty soon.

Dress shirts can come with a variety of button sizes and the size and shape of

the buttons is more a matter of style or design, than it is quality.

7. Gussets Reinforced Side Seam Gussets:

Another sign of a high quality dress shirt can be found at the bottom of the

side seams. Premium shirts will have some sort of reinforcing here that is

called a gusset. This extra piece of fabric will prevent the shirt from ripping at

the seam that can be caused by aggressive tucking/untucking or an

overzealous cleaner. It also adds just a bit of minimal, practical design to the

shirt. The extra time and effort that it takes to add details like this is a good

sign of a high quality dress shirt.

Gussets

8. Fabric Fabric selection is a deep subject, which depends on various factors like mills,

country of origin ,thread count, ply, type of weave, yarn treatment and

materials.

Worlds best shirt fabric comes from mills of Italy, England and Switzerland.

Few are Loro Piana, Ermenegildo Zegna , Albini and Thomas Mason.

Higher the quality, higher the price of fabric.

We are based in India, and we source our shirt fabric from best Indian shirts

mills, that is Raymond, Siyaram etc.

For our all shirts we implement below bespoke tailoring techniques 1. Number of stitches per inch= 14-20 2. Single needle seams 3. Split yoke 4. Pattern Matching 5. Lily Stitch: Hand Stitch button 8. Fabric However, 6. Mother of pearl buttons 7. Gusset Are only available with higher ranges as they are expensive and time taking process. We have very easy policy on returns, We say “goods once sold is always refundable” Visit our online store and have a try also join us on facebook for updates. Online store: http://store.priveeparis.com/ Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/priveeparis

Thanks

http://priveeparis.com/