A t-shirt may seem a simple thing. Each of us has at least ten, and they don’t vary much depending on whether you’re a man, woman or child. It’s a wardrobe staple, and one that most of us don’t think twice about. But sometimes, a t-shirt can stop you in your tracks. Ours made in collaboration with Richard James of Savile Row certainly has, because it’s got a price tag attached that has heads turning. What goes in to the making of our $110 Savile Row Tee, and why is it the most important product we sell? 

Remember Goldilocks and the three bears? In the story, there’s a simple theme- one of something isn’t enough, another is too much, and the last one happens to be just right. That checks out for the retail sector- you have the low quality high street item, the jaw droppingly priced luxury item, and then there’s something in the middle. Except the middle is never just right, and that’s the fundamental problem with retail. Mid-price products are not what they should be- quality at an acceptable price point. Middling brands like Hackett or J Crew prioritise a highly stylised aesthetic and name recognition over quality, with products far more comparable in make and material to the high street than the high tier. That more expensive price tag reflects costs like marketing, the churn of new collections, and slews of brand ambassadors and influencers. The money isn’t going where it should for consumers to be getting a product that genuinely is just right. 

We like to think our t-shirt (and everything else we make), is the elusive middle ground, the way it should be. If a $6.99 H&M white men’s t-shirt is the not enough in terms of quality and fit, and a $500 Prada t-shirt is simply too much for most consumers, we wanted to provide the just right. It’s something that our partners at Richard James understand- the idea that the best of the best need not be the preserve of the few, and that it should ultimately be about how a product is made and what material is used to make it (as opposed to who wore it best at an awards show). And a t-shirt is important in telling that story because it is simple and universal. 

It’s an entry point to recognising and valuing quality, for a generation raised on a diet of fast fashion. Solutions to the growing crisis of garment waste rarely focus on providing genuinely well-made alternative items. Crucially, high-quality essentials must be sold at a price point that is not exclusive to consumers accustomed to spending less than $10-$30 for a t-shirt made to last no more than a few washes. The Savile Row Tee is a resounding testament to the value of quality without the excessive markup that characterises most genuinely high-quality items of clothing on the market. It is hand-crafted and stitched in England from select Japanese-milled organic cotton jersey, at a family-owned factory in Leicester known only to a select few British brands, of which Richard James is one. Japanese organic cotton is world renowned for its long lasting properties, and the cotton that goes into every shirt is milled at a facility in Osaka founded in 1924 that relies on small scale, specialist production techniques. We are happy to tell you all of this and more about our t-shirt, because it’s made under factory conditions we can be proud of by true artisans, using materials we believe to be the best. Put simply; The Savile Row Tee delivers the quality and craft of a perfectly cut Richard James suit.

Richard James did something spectacular when they burst on to the scene in the nineties. They revitalised a street that was closed off and intimidating through their passion for colour and design. They introduced Saturday opening hours (much to the chagrin of the old guard), innovative collaborations (including one with Spongebob), and ultimately taught a new generation about the power of well made things. Without compromising on quality, they have time and again sought to do things differently. To us and them, the Savile Row Tee is just the start of something bigger. Together, we’re developing a line of ultra-high quality essentials, delivered through the Archibald costing model which ensures that markups are low, quality is high, and transparency is key. We think brands are at their best when they put their heads together and collaborate- that’s when you get a product, or a line of products, that is just right. 

So we’re back where we started: a t-shirt may seem a simple thing. But we know a lot goes into how something is made, and what materials are used to make it. And with the design know-how of a Savile Row tailor delivered through a pricing model designed to give you the ultimate value proposition, there’s really no comparing this particular t-shirt to any other.