I’ve been on the hunt for some new Oxford cloth button-down (OCBD) shirts for a while, but couldn’t find any that met my requirements, until I landed on “The Ivy Shirt” line from John Simons. The description on the website promised everything I was looking for, including a traditional 1960s cut with tapered tails, 3.5” spear point collar, generous collar roll, rear collar button, box pleat, and locker loop. Perhaps best of all, was a statement that the shirts are made in London from 100% cotton woven in Lancashire, my home county!
I love how the shirt was packaged when it arrived. None of the annoying plastic clips or metal pins or cardboard inserts. No plastic bags either. All the packing materials were recyclable, and the shirt itself was neatly folded inside a branded sheet of paper held together with a little blue sticker. There was also a cool “1955” postcard, which is the year John Simons started trading.
I’ve been wearing slim or extra-slim fit shirts for years, so for me the traditional 1960s cut was a bit of a shock visually, with lots of spare material at the back and sides. After wearing it for a few hours, I began to realise this was the way forward for me. While I can still easily get into slim fitting shirts, I no longer want to. I want a more classic look, and the relaxed comfort that comes with it. The Ivy Shirt from John Simons gives me that, and the material weight and quality of the white one above is excellent, perhaps one of the best shirts I’ve ever bought.
Apart from a few rogue threads that needed snipping off in some of the buttonholes, the shirt is beautifully finished, as you can see by the stitching on the cuffs. Being new, it feels a little stiff to wear, but after a couple of washes I’m confident it will be lovely and soft, and look even better as it ages.
I was so impressed with the quality of the shirt and the level of customer service I received from John Simons, that I decided to invest in a pink one from the same line, expecting the same excellent material quality.
The features, cut, and fit of the shirt are exactly the same, but I was disappointed to discover the pink one is not made of the same material as the white one. It’s much thinner and lighter, with a slight shiny feel to the surface. I emailed John Simons about it and received a prompt reply explaining how they were unable to source the material from the same factory this year. They offered me a full refund, but I decided to keep it, as it’s still much better than my old slim-fit pink OCBD which was in serious need of replacement.
The shiny texture of the pink shirt makes it feel a bit dressy, which I didn’t really want from a casual Ivy style shirt. I don’t know a great deal about shirt making, but I think this shiny quality might be something to do with the mercerisation process used to improve dye fastness. Fingers crossed it will improve once it’s been through a wash a couple of times and roughened up a bit. I’ll post an update on both shirts after I’ve had them a while.
Update: After the first wash, the pink shirt is already starting to feel more lived in, and the shine isn’t as noticeable. The material is undoubtedly lighter, but I think the shirt will continue to improve with each wash from now on. I feel my decision to keep it was the right one.
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