Cheap Commodities

Readers may have read Tin Tin's recent post on the new old stock Brooks Brothers button downs available over at the venerable O'Connell's. A treasure trove of American style purity indeed, but at $90 a whack they are still, as are most sought after American made goods these days, priced well out of reach of many men, myself included. What can you do?

Land's End has the "Original Oxford" in white, blue and pink for $19.50 through 27 April, and the shipping is free if you use promo code MADRAS and pin#2199. I can't find them on the website, only in the print catalogue. Try 1.800.800.5800.

I bought one of these in blue on sale a while back. I dig it. The fits nice, like an old eighties shirt, but a little trimmer in the sleeves, which I like. The collar roll is pretty damn good, the cloth is that nice old fashioned oxford weave, real big threads, and so far the thing has held up to the washing machine and iron.

Oh yeah, that's the best part. They wrinkle, they require ironing. I've never been a fan of 'non-iron' shirts, and I know many of you feel the same. Apparently, the folks over at Lands End realize and appreciate this. From the recent catalogue:

The 100% cotton doesn't have a No Iron finish...so heads up, cotton purists (And No Iron fans may now rethink giving up ironing!)

and, in description of another shirt:

Like a classic pinpoint, this isn't No Iron...but the fabric feels so good, you may just look forward to breaking out your iron again.

So, not only are they saying that they still offer regular cloth for men who know what a proper shirt is, but they're also suggesting that owning one will turn fans of No Iron back on to the good stuff. You've got to hand it to them there.

Also, among their other shirt offerings are pinpoints in pink, navy and "iris" (read: purple) gingham check, and university stripes in the standard blue, but also the now hard-to-come-by pink, green and yellow.

Clearly, there is no comparison between a shirt like this and a real old Brooks Brothers. I would never even suggest such a thing. But for twenty bucks, these shirts are all wrinkly cotton, they fit well, they hold up and they look nice.

In closing, I don't normally like to do things like shill posts for catalogue retailers like Lands End, but I can't find the camera and after the last post I felt a change of subject was in order.