Published at: Jun 21, 2024
Last updated: Sep 14, 2024

Having some sense of the different choices you have with shirts and how they affect outlook is a great way of elevating your style sense. Let's dive into some of the most common shirt categories, fabrics, styles and hopefully you will feel more confident about what shirt to put on the next time you are planning to wear a shirt.

Fabrics and weaves

Like all other garments, shirts come in a variety of different fabrics and weaves. Here are some of the most common ones, but it's worth noting that you will often find blends of these as well.

  • Poplin - thin, smooth, and flat, making it an excellent option for a professional shirt. Generally quite light.
  • Twill - a diagonal weave that will likely have a little bit of shine. Is more resistant to wrinkles and drapes more easily than poplin.
  • Oxford - Heavier thread and looser weave. It has a rough texture, making it a non-formal shirt fabric.
  • Denim - Is actually a twill weave, but with a softer and lighter fabric than in your jeans.
  • Flannel - Often brushed twill or poplin, and while cotton is the primary fabric, they can blend in wool or cashmere for added warmth.
  • Seersucker - A very light fabric with a bumpy appearance made to promote air flow.
  • Linen - Very breathable and dry looking. Wrinkles easily, making it seem more relaxed than formal.

For more details and examples, you can read about this over at Proper Cloth.

Threads and ply

Shirts, like your suit, can vary in their thread count. A righer thread count means a smoother, silkier and more expensive fabric.

When talking about ply, we are describing how many yarns are twisted together to make a single thread. If you buy a two-ply shirt, it means that the threads are made out of two yarns. Two-ply is generally considered superior to single-ply fabrics, but there is also a three-ply you can consider.

Shirt anatomy

Shirts have a variety of different styles, and they can result in your shirt's level of formality and versatility.

Description of the front of a shirt
Description of the back of a shirt

The most prominent design choice will most likely be the collar of your shirt. There are a lot of options to this, and I have seen that many stores will call them by different names.

Different shirt collars; the spread, point, cutaway and club collar.
Different shirt collars; the button-down, tab, wingtip and band collar

In Norway (and maybe the rest of Scandinavia?) the most common collars are the cutaway and the button-down. I have also noted an increase in button-under collars, which places an invisible button underneath the collar fabric. The button-down collar is maybe most commonly put together with an oxford shirt. It's a less formal look than many of the other collars, which might be why many tend to trust this shirt as their go-to office pick.