# Is Chambray Trad?



## superpacker (Jul 16, 2008)

I just went to the J.Crew outlet this weekend and they had their $95 Chambray shirt for $20. They do new things every season and year, but this is one of the shirts they keep bringing back. I snagged it, but my question is, is chambray trad? What can you wear it with? Can I wear it with corduroys and Khakis? Also, has anyone had any experience with this shirt? My one concern is the collar is a bit skimpy, even for J.crew. Maybe chambray shirts, being work shirts, don't have full collars.

https://www.jcrew.com/AST/Browse/MensBrowse/Men_Shop_By_Category/shirts/utilityshirts/PRDOVR~84018/84018.jsp


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## Coleman (Mar 18, 2009)

I can't speak to their being Trad or not, but I like them. 

I wear them with khakis, cords, etc (casual trousers other than denim). 

Wear it as a sport shirt and don't worry about the collar too much. I would definitely recommend not wearing it as a dress shirt with a suit and tie like J. Crew illustrates in their catalogues.


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## smujd (Mar 18, 2008)

Yes, it is Trad. More importantly, does it matter?

I wear chambray with chinos and cords. Avoid with jeans.


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## superpacker (Jul 16, 2008)

Yeah, I was not planning on wearing it with a tie, or as a dress shirt. I view it as one of those great shirts to wear on those "I just don't care" days, because it still looks nice. I just didn'w want people to think "man that is a skimpy collar.


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## Corcovado (Nov 24, 2007)

smujd said:


> Yes, it is Trad. More importantly, does it matter?
> 
> I wear chambray with chinos and cords. * Avoid with jeans.*


Yes, that combination does evoke a sort of _Folsom Prison _look. Then again, it also evokes the image of _enlisted man in WWII era U.S. Navy_, which is not so bad. Anyway, they're trad.


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## Memphis88 (Sep 10, 2008)

Chambray makes me think of certain hipster Americana and workwear-obsessed blogs.


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## smujd (Mar 18, 2008)

Memphis88 said:


> Chambray makes me think of certain hipster Americana and workwear-obsessed blogs.


So, I'm guessing you skipped the Pop Up Flea Markets?


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## Memphis88 (Sep 10, 2008)

smujd said:


> So, I'm guessing you skipped the Pop Up Flea Markets?


No Pop Up Flea for me. I did participate in the discussions that took place afterwards on many of the blogs. I was pleasantly surprised to see so much backlash.


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## Cruiser (Jul 21, 2006)

Corcovado said:


> Then again, it also evokes the image of _enlisted man in WWII era U.S. Navy_, which is not so bad.


What do you mean "WWII era?" We were still wearing denim pants and chambray shirts in 1968, long after WWII. :icon_smile:










Cruiser


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## Corcovado (Nov 24, 2007)

Cruiser said:


> What do you mean "WWII era?" We were still wearing denim pants and chambray shirts in 1968. long after WWII. :icon_smile:
> 
> Cruiser


Well then, so much the better!


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## chacend (Mar 4, 2008)

Cruiser said:


> What do you mean "WWII era?" We were still wearing denim pants and chambray shirts in 1968, long after WWII. :icon_smile:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Cruiser,

We were still wearing that same uniform when i joined 1993. Unfortunately a few years later they changed it and we lost the dungarees that started out like sand paper but after several washings were incredibly soft.


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## Wrenkin (May 4, 2008)

superpacker said:


> I just went to the J.Crew outlet this weekend and they had their $95 Chambray shirt for $20. They do new things every season and year, but this is one of the shirts they keep bringing back. I snagged it, but my question is, is chambray trad?


Are you sure it's the $95 version? IIRC J.Crew makes a version especially for their outlets. There are some threads on other sites. Basically, I think the front placket on the outlet one extends all the way down the front, whereas the retail version ends after the last button.

I'm not sure it matters if you like the shirt, but companies making different/inferior garments especially for their outlets (e.g. BB 346) is something that frustrates many people, especially when it's hard to tell them apart at first glance.


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## chiamdream (Aug 7, 2009)

The full-price shirt has hidden button-down collar buttons; the outlet version doesn't. The outlet shirt's a little darker, too. Not sure one is necessarily better than the other, but they are different. Can't go wrong for $20. 

FWIW, I was very eager to get this shirt, and like the OP, have had a hard time figuring out how to wear it. I think I like it best under sweaters.


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## superpacker (Jul 16, 2008)

I think the one at the outlets now is the one offered online. I don't think J.crew stores do different products for the outlets like Brooks does with 346. From what I can remember when I initially looked at the shirt, there were not hidden collar buttons, the hidden button collar is a new feature. I think they just redid the shirt and added the hidden collar buttons, and so those that did not have them went to the outlets. My shirt looks just as dark as the one online. Either way, as said, still a good deal. But, I don't think there is any product change with J.crew from online to outlet. Can anyone confirm this? Either about the shirt update, or a change in product from online to outlet?


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## windsor (Dec 12, 2006)

The blue chambray shirt was standard issue as a work shirt by the Navy in 1957. Bell bottom denim jeans too. I have given up on jeans, but still like the shirts.


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## Thom Browne's Schooldays (Jul 29, 2007)

J Crew does indeed make outlet-exclusive products (they used to be recognizable by the "oarsman" logo).

I like chambray shirts, workwear/hipster types _and_ backlash be damned.

It's tough though, I have a hard time justifying some of the high prices people want to charge for them (new) on the other hand feel like a well made product is worth paying a premium.

So I just buy them from thrift stores.


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## Dr.Watson (Sep 25, 2008)

^TBS is right. I've noticed that while J Crew ties are typically made in the USA (Britain too perhaps?) those found in the outlets are made in China.


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## chiamdream (Aug 7, 2009)

superpacker said:


> I don't think J.crew stores do different products for the outlets like Brooks does with 346.


They absolutely do. As I was rebuilding my wardrobe over the past year and a half, I kept a very close eye on J.Crew's product lines.


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## Valkyrie (Aug 27, 2009)

*Chambray with a tie*

I think Chambray is trad, not that it matters.

There used to be (maybe still are) some shirt brands that made button-down collar chambray shirts (PRL, LE, B.D. Baggies, Britches) that looked great with a wool emblematic or knit tie with a tweed jacket in the fall and winter or with a madras tie in the spring and summer. It was the texture and color that worked. They were a less formal substitute for a blue OCBD. Kind of a work wear blue collar look, jazzed up.

Anybody know of any current sources for those?


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## C. Sharp (Dec 18, 2008)

I remember having a RL Polo Chambray button down shirt circa 1987. It was a beautiful shirt in a very simple sort of way. I have keep my eyes open but have never seen another I liked as much as that one.



Valkyrie said:


> I think Chambray is trad, not that it matters.
> 
> There used to be (maybe still are) some shirt brands that made button-down collar chambray shirts (PRL, LE, B.D. Baggies, Britches) that looked great with a wool emblematic or knit tie with a tweed jacket in the fall and winter or with a madras tie in the spring and summer. It was the texture and color that worked. They were a less formal substitute for a blue OCBD. Kind of a work wear blue collar look, jazzed up.
> 
> Anybody know of any current sources for those?


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## katon (Dec 25, 2006)

Yep. It was one of the postwar precursors to the Ivy style that Tom Wolfe describes.


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## The Rambler (Feb 18, 2010)

I've always loved a chambray shirt, with khakis and jeans, under a sweater, or straight up. Good for fishing a Montana trout stream. LL Bean has recently added a dandy, I think the call it Union Bay or wharf or something--and they're 30 bucks!


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## Topsider (Jul 9, 2005)

I've had a chambray and/or denim shirt in my closet as long as I can remember. Trad? Dunno. Don't care. It looks fine with the other stuff I wear, and I like it. That's all that really matters.

I don't usually wear them with jeans, however.


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## Mazama (May 21, 2009)

Cruiser said:


> What do you mean "WWII era?" We were still wearing denim pants and chambray shirts in 1968, long after WWII. :icon_smile:
> Cruiser


Cruiser, did you switch out your issue dungaree pants for the more stylish "Salty Dog" brand denim bell bottoms that Navy Exchanges carried in our era? I'd like to get some of those but can find no mention of them anywhere.

Great cap BTW.


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## dport86 (Jan 24, 2009)

J. Crew's current outlet-made specials are indicated by two diamonds on the label (at least as of a few months ago). In the outlet couldn't really see the difference in the essential chinos but after bringing them home and wearing them, found the outlet ones to be a lighter cotton that doesn't hang as well or launder as nicely--and the pocket lining and inner linings are not as nice either. they sell for $45 at the outlet (often reduced by 20-35%) and I believe $59 at the store. I'm giving my outlet ones away. OTOH, $98 for a made in China J. Crew shirt still strikes me as expensive. Would rather pay more for a made in US vintage or a made in Japan current one. But for $20 undoubtably a bargain.


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## dport86 (Jan 24, 2009)

oh, and a heads up about the red chambray J. Crew shirt. SAw it at the South Coast Plaza store on Saturday--a nice shirt but nowhere near as red as advertised so be forewarned.


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## P Hudson (Jul 19, 2008)

Another heads up. I just received the LE chambray which was recently on clearance. It is fine except that it has two breast pockets (one on each side). I don't like it. I guess it adds a workwear element to it.


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## About Town (Nov 17, 2004)

*Does a popover help its bonafides?*

https://www.gap.com/browse/product.do?pid=719552002&tid=gofr1r


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## Charles Dana (Nov 20, 2006)

P Hudson said:


> Another heads up. I just received the LE chambray which was recently on clearance. It is fine except that it has two breast pockets (one on each side). I don't like it. I guess it adds a workwear element to it.


A classic chambray shirt is *supposed* to have two breast pockets. (And to be really classic, each pocket should have a flap.) Because chambray shirts are quintessentially workwear, the dual pockets are not an affectation but, rather, a feature completely in line with the shirts' blue-collar origins.


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## J. Andrew (Nov 19, 2009)

I guess the origin as workwear is why I think chambray goes so well with canvas reds. Utilitarian preppy.


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## P Hudson (Jul 19, 2008)

Charles Dana said:


> A classic chambray shirt is *supposed* to have two breast pockets. (And to be really classic, each pocket should have a flap.) Because chambray shirts are quintessentially workwear, the dual pockets are not an affectation but, rather, a feature completely in line with the shirts' blue-collar origins.


I get that, but I'd prefer it to have no pockets, and the LE's pockets can't be easily removed because they are double stitched--again, no doubt, as a nod to workwear.


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## Charles Dana (Nov 20, 2006)

P Hudson said:


> I get that, but I'd prefer it to have no pockets, and the LE's pockets can't be easily removed because they are double stitched--again, no doubt, as a nod to workwear.


You won't find a ready-made chambray shirt that has no pockets, except perhaps from Polo Ralph Lauren--but then that shirt will have the pony logo. You'll have to go the made-to-order route to get what you desrie. Mercer and Sons Shirts will make you a logo-free, pocket-free chambray shirt, for example.


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## Saltydog (Nov 3, 2007)

Light Blue Chambrey is definately trad. I prefer LL Bean or Lands' End. Look great with a twead or cord sport coat with or w/o a tie. IMHO.


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## pkprd869 (Jul 7, 2009)

chambray is very trad, and very much workwear. Chambray workshirts are part of the etymology of the word "blue collar." And I have several with two flapped chest pockets.


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## Bog (May 13, 2007)

Charles Dana said:


> You won't find a ready-made chambray shirt that has no pockets, except perhaps from Polo Ralph Lauren--but then that shirt will have the pony logo. You'll have to go the made-to-order route to get what you desrie. Mercer and Sons Shirts will make you a logo-free, pocket-free chambray shirt, for example.


That's ridiculous. As was noted above, they are working clothes.


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## Charles Dana (Nov 20, 2006)

Bog said:


> That's ridiculous. As was noted above, they are working clothes.


Yes, I know. I'm one of the ones who mentioned that. A chambray shirt without two chest pockets seems a bit off kilter to me. However, the forum member explicitly stated that his preference was for a shirt that had no pockets at all, so I pointed him in a useful direction, even though it was a direction I would not personally go. He has the right to his preference. I don't understand what in the world is so "ridiculous" about my earlier post.


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