Chambray Shirt

essence of cool

A classic, Timeless and of course worn by quite possibly the coolest cat ever, Steve Mcqueen.

The chambray shirt is a staple in any wardrobe, and if you can pick up a quality piece of shirting, the look can be bang on.
I personally have a light grey shirt by the company tuktuk, And had it modified to the way I wanted, 1.5" collar and a top left breast pocket, everything to do with this shirt is pure quality, the fabric, the buttons and the locker loop on the shirt, Easily the best shirt in my wardrobe and one of my favourite labels in recent times, Anyway to continue with what this article is about, The Chambray Shirt.

The material that is used in Chambray, was used as early as the 1400's and was first used in cambric in France, and possibly named after the Baptiste of Chambrai the material itself is closely woven.

The shirt itself was what conned the term " blue collar" worker in the united states, the shirt itself when teamed with a pair of dark indigo jeans is known as "prison blues" in the United States.

another fact, is that the Chambray shirt is mentioned by the infamous artist, David Bowie - "You shall own a cambric shirt, You shall work your father's land, But now you shall play in the market square, Till you'll be a man".

Tuktuk Chambray Shirt 

Albam - Made in England.

This brand has caught my eye and I am currently saving up for a few of ther bits - Notably a few pairs of Jeans and there Chinos....

Taken from there website and the section titled " Albam Philosophy"

"We are now coming into our third year of Albam, and it has been quite a journey. For those who have recently found us, we started in a small office in Nottingham just myself and Alastair and 7 styles in our first catalogue.
Our journey has been a lot of fun with its fair share of sweat and backbone to get it to where we are today. Now we are an independent clothing company with a small but perfectly formed team who all share the same vision of producing products in the eye of our starting ideal: Modern Crafted Clothing.We continue to manufacture our products in Great Britain and if this isn’t possible then we look as close to home as possible, so we now have good friends in Portugal, USA, Italy. Our aim is to bring as much product back to Britain and we have spent the last year building a business with your help and support that is enabling our British factories to grow and develop with us. There is no hidden agenda with this, but there is something that is great about making products in an area when people think you are slightly crazy “because no one does it anymore”. In some respects there is an old mindset within Albam combined with a forward outlook. I hope it can continue, and whilst we want to be your “best kept secret” we need your help and support to spread the Albam art of living and keep making great products, tell some like minded friends and you were still the first to know!

Thanks again, from myself, Alastair and the Albam team."

Thats just a little bit about the background of the company, The one thing that stands out for me is the fact that there products is made in England and this give a sort of Hertage feel to it, They do source fabrics from as far as Japan however they craft the clothing here back in good old Blighty.

I have seen some of there peices of clothing in person and have to say the quality is top notch and I can not wait to add a few bits ot my wardrobe.

Here are a few stand out peices from there current collection.

Round Pocket Shirt with a Chambray rinse wash.

Japanse Denim straight leg fitting jean - One thing that stands out for me is the stand out orange stiching within these Jeans and the fact the fabric is not washed,Distressted and is just pure Japanse selvedge fabric.