Arriving in the Big Smoke back in ‘82 at the tender age of 17, I headed straight down the Kings Road. My first port of call was American Classics – although it should have been Vivienne Westwood’s World’s End, but I could only muster the courage to ‘peek’ through the window into the candlelit interior before moving on to a shop I was more emotionally ready for.
Maybe it’s just me but I always follow my nose when I travel down memory lane. The motley aroma that tantalised my nostrils, a combination of wool, leather and cotton left me transfixed and intoxicated as I surveyed a smorgasbord of quality clothing. Breaking the spell (or should that be smell?) I quickly bought a pair of baggy wool trousers with a silver pinstripe thread running through… and immediately felt the sense I’d finally arrived on the scene.
A double stitch in time
Flushed with pride at my first purchase, I left American Classics with my senses overloaded and I was off stumbling past an assortment of Art School punks, CFC boot boys and the odd Japanese tourist and made my way to FLIP, located on Long Acre in Covent Garden. It was piled-high and festooned with amazing pieces of shabby chic at its best. I came across a chambray work shirt – which had seen better days – BUT it was its unusual construction which caught my eye.
Bewitched by its scalloped back and shoulder yokes which were all double stitched… I fell instantly in love and paid a heady £8.20 for this beautifully pulled together masterpiece. Sadly (as is always the bloody case) this shirt was lost or probably fell apart during one of my riotous nights out in the heart of 80’s Soho – when losing the shirt off your back was par for the course.
The lineage of the work shirt
The work shirt was favoured and made popular by the 20th Century grafters… the blue-collar guys who usually worked with their hands putting things together or taking things apart.
Throughout the 1900's up to the 1960's, the work shirt was the attire of choice of farmers, mechanics, groundsmen, railroad workers, delivery drivers, who left the dress shirt to the gents. A sturdy pair of work boots and a hat finished the look. But for me the work shirt is the key that holds the look together.
The art of construction
Made of heavy-duty cotton twill, denim, covert: a steeply woven twill cloth made from a tightly spun yarn or Chambray – a cotton plain-weave fabric that resembles denim but is lighter and has a softer texture and thinner in construction.
Then there’s the yoke of a shirt... The yoke is a panel or panels of fabric located either just below the neck and above the shoulder blades on the back of the shirt, or at the upper chest on the front of the shirt. provides shape to the shirt and adds a decorative touch.
The Sachi work shirt
The Sachi comes in a striped chambray or a dark indigo blue on premium cotton twill. A tailored fitted cut featuring triple stitched panels with a unique cut pocket design, finished off with front button fastening, long sleeves and button cuffs.
A real Rockers Delight.