On the spread collar

The collar is the part of the shirt the world looks at first. The point spread, the height of the band, the angle at which the points lie under a jacket — these are the things that make a shirt look quiet rather than loud, even before anyone has come close enough to see the cloth.

Ours is a classic spread, two and three-quarter inches at the points. It is built on a horsehair canvas — never fused — which is how a collar holds a line for years rather than weeks. Fused collars wrinkle along the seam after the first laundering. Canvas does not.

The collar is finished by hand. The hand-finishing is not for show. It is what allows the points to lie flat without any visible top stitch. A machine cannot do that, no matter what the cloth.