What makes a great polo? We agree with An Affordable Wardrobe -- a hardier, more traditional Beggar for the Boston area -- that it's mostly fit and (lack of) features... though we'd argue that fabric is important, too. The fact that most labels -- Polo by Ralph Lauren, Fred Perry, Lacoste, ... -- suffer from logo overload graciously narrows down the field. For their simplicity, variety, and disposability, AAW endorses the wide selection from Land's End. But, while a little e-commerce experimenting never killed anyone, we prefer to guarantee good fit and quality in store. For a few more bucks (which inevitable markdowns make negligible) we therefore prefer J. Crew. Our hearts, however, still lie with a flawless shirt that Banana Republic produced for one season back in, say, '01 -- "athletic" fit, unstructured, in solid navy or gray, a stretch without sheen made possible by what we guess was a 95% cotton/5% polyester blend, no logos, no patters, no pockets... Simple perfection -- a path from which BR tends to stray.
Monday, April 6, 2009
A Shirt Named Polo
What makes a great polo? We agree with An Affordable Wardrobe -- a hardier, more traditional Beggar for the Boston area -- that it's mostly fit and (lack of) features... though we'd argue that fabric is important, too. The fact that most labels -- Polo by Ralph Lauren, Fred Perry, Lacoste, ... -- suffer from logo overload graciously narrows down the field. For their simplicity, variety, and disposability, AAW endorses the wide selection from Land's End. But, while a little e-commerce experimenting never killed anyone, we prefer to guarantee good fit and quality in store. For a few more bucks (which inevitable markdowns make negligible) we therefore prefer J. Crew. Our hearts, however, still lie with a flawless shirt that Banana Republic produced for one season back in, say, '01 -- "athletic" fit, unstructured, in solid navy or gray, a stretch without sheen made possible by what we guess was a 95% cotton/5% polyester blend, no logos, no patters, no pockets... Simple perfection -- a path from which BR tends to stray.
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I found some black Fred Perry polos, with a black logo, at Bloomingdale's for about $25 on clearance after the holidays. It's the best of both worlds...a nice fitting Fred Perry shirt, with a logo that's practically invisible.
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