An Order Placed with Mercer & Sons. . .

A lovely yellow and white university stripe 100% Pima cotton oxford for the first shirt (swatch from the Mercer & Sons website).

Where in the world did January go? It still seems like we were just in the midst of Christmas Week not five minutes ago. No matter. Here we are at the start of February, and it's time to revisit The Classic Style theme for 2020, the willingness to take a hard look at things and make the necessary changes.

With that idea in mind, it's time to swap out a few dress shirts from the ol' professional wardrobe that are beginning to show their age with collars and/or cuff edges that are becoming more frayed than I'd like. And while there is no problem dressing in attire that looks lived in, comfortable, and loved (albeit clean, pressed, and well-maintained), none of us want to walk around looking threadbare.

In recent months, therefore, I've filtered out a few old Land's End shirts, purchased in the very early 200os when I took my first teaching job after graduate school, and relegated them to the 'suitable for yard and lawn-care next spring and summer' pile. I replaced the first of these with a few new shirts by Charles Tyrwhitt last November.

On Friday afternoon, I took the plunge and decided the time was right to replace a couple of other old shirts with new ones by Mercer & Sons. After two very pleasant exchanges with Mr. David Mercer himself, I emailed the particulars and phoned in my payment information.

Probably like many of you, I've been aware of the company -- founded in 1982 -- for years, and have more recently read a lot of favorable online feedback about the company and its products. Needless to say, I am excited to see what these shirts are like in the flesh once they have been made and delivered. I'll keep you posted.

-- Heinz-Ulrich

And the second shirt, made from the James Bond 4mm Tattersall in cotton Broadcloth (swatch from the Mercer & Sons website).

Comments

Mid-June Thursday Style. . .

A nother pretty typical variation on the theme for late spring, summer, and very early fall. I'm a huge fan of Madras and have several such shirts in the seasonal rotation. Lightweight, exceedingly comfortable, and even dressy when pressed and tucked in, which is the usual way of things here at Totleigh in the Wold. Now, if I had my druthers, I'd still rather be skiing the trails in the upper half of "The Mitten" (of Michigan), in the Upper Peninsula, or Ontario. But summers ain't so bad either, and I'd look pretty funny walking around in cross-country ski attire during June. -- Heinz-Ulrich

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