# Loop on back of shirt?



## NEW_Rome (Oct 29, 2008)

On several off-the-rack white shirts with a small pleat in the back there is an horizontal loop where the pleat and the yoke meet. I have asked several people and none of them know what this is for. The most consistent answer I get is that it is for braces to go through, but based on the size and location of the loop this makes no sense. Thoughts on this loop?


----------



## Cruiser (Jul 21, 2006)

It's used to hang the shirt up on a hook when you don't have a proper hanger, such as you might do in the gym. 

When I was in high school in the mid-60's it was rare for one of those loops (I won't tell you what they were called as some might find it offensive) to last through even one day. As you walked down the hallway someone would invariably rip it off. More than a few shirts were torn in the process. Most guys would carefully cut them off with a razor blade just to avoid this fate.

Cruiser


----------



## Reddington (Nov 15, 2007)

It's known as the 'locker loop' and may be used to hang your shirt on a hook.

Merry Christmas all.


----------



## apachecadillac (Nov 15, 2008)

Back in Cruiser's Day, they were also known as fruit loops. I respect him for pulling a punch, but there was a cereal called "Fruit Loops" and at least the younger kids thought that was the reference.

And, yeah, they got routinely torn off. As I remember middle school it was just too tempting to sneak up behind some buddy and give it a yank.


----------



## Jovan (Mar 7, 2006)

Gotta say, I prefer them inside the shirt rather than out.


----------



## Jim In Sunny So Calif (May 13, 2006)

Reddington said:


> It's known as the 'locker loop' and may be used to hang your shirt on a hook.
> 
> Merry Christmas all.


There were locker loops on all of the shirts with a box pleat that I bought in the 50's and 60's. I am not sure when they faded out - during the 70's I think.


----------



## ComboOrgan (Aug 28, 2006)

Jim In Sunny So Calif said:


> There were locker loops on all of the shirts with a box pleat that I bought in the 50's and 60's. I am not sure when they faded out - during the 70's I think.


I guess they're back in then.

All my OCBDs have locker loops. Most are from Land's End, which isn't necessarily a good indicator of what's in style, but I have a couple Hickey OCBDs that have them too.


----------



## Andy (Aug 25, 2002)

NEW_Rome:

Didn't you just look in the Sport Shirt Chapter of your copy of *The Encyclopedia of Men's Clothes* and find:
*Locker Loop *is an extra fabric ring on the high center back on shirts. Usually where the pleat meets the yoke. All the original Brooks Brothers oxford button downs had this feature, which became a basic in the Ivy League style. The purpose was to hang your shirt, in a locker, by the loop so that it wouldn't wrinkle.​What?  Don't have a copy? No problem, see below! :icon_smile:


----------



## Scoundrel (Oct 30, 2007)

Yes, as obvious as it may seem, the loop is indeed meant to be used to hang the shirt when dressing/undressing. Seems kind of useless now that we have non-iron, and people go to the gym in t-shirts. Maybe there are other places to hang a shirt. Now, if only someone could tell me why formal shirts (with turn down collars) have vertical loops right below the back of the neck?


----------



## Jim In Sunny So Calif (May 13, 2006)

ComboOrgan said:


> I guess they're back in then.
> 
> All my OCBDs have locker loops. Most are from Land's End, which isn't necessarily a good indicator of what's in style, but I have a couple Hickey OCBDs that have them too.


Well, I guess maybe they never vanished completely, but became a lot less common then they once were.

Now, I wish we could get rid of the bothersome gauntlet buttons, although brooks does not have them, at least on the shirts that I buy.


----------



## Miket61 (Mar 1, 2008)

Scoundrel said:


> Yes, as obvious as it may seem, the loop is indeed meant to be used to hang the shirt when dressing/undressing. Seems kind of useless now that we have non-iron, and people go to the gym in t-shirts. Maybe there are other places to hang a shirt. Now, if only someone could tell me why formal shirts (with turn down collars) have vertical loops right below the back of the neck?


I belong to a businessmen's social/athletic club, so we have a lot of members who go into the locker room in suits. The members' lockers (with our names on brass plaques on the doors) have two hooks and enough space on the floor of the locker to put a pair of shoes. I think I'd find it useful for my broadcloth shirts to have such a loop.

(the term I heard for them growing up was a "[British slang for cigarette] tag.")

No guess on the formal shirt question. Maybe whoever answers it can tell me what the loop of elastic is for on the inside of my white waistcoat, as there isn't a corresponding button inside my trousers.


----------



## ToryBoy (Oct 13, 2008)

Miket61 said:


> (the term I heard for them growing up was a "[British slang for cigarette] *tag*.")


 f a g :icon_smile:

ps: the word is on the word filter


----------



## The Louche (Jan 30, 2008)

Miket61 said:


> (the term I heard for them growing up was a "[British slang for cigarette] tag.")


Thats what I always heard them called as well. Some of my OCBDs have them but I hate them anyhow. IMO they look funny...


----------



## Jovan (Mar 7, 2006)

Scoundrel said:


> Now, if only someone could tell me why formal shirts (with turn down collars) have vertical loops right below the back of the neck?


I think they're meant for backless waistcoats.



Miket61 said:


> No guess on the formal shirt question. Maybe whoever answers it can tell me what the loop of elastic is for on the inside of my white waistcoat, as there isn't a corresponding button inside my trousers.


Maybe it isn't for a button so much as threading through that little tab that buttons on the inside?


----------



## Miket61 (Mar 1, 2008)

Jovan said:


> Maybe it isn't for a button so much as threading through that little tab that buttons on the inside?


I won't be wearing my tuxedo again until Wednesday night, but while I'm getting dressed I'll see if that makes sense. I don't have a tailcoat - I wear my white waistcoat, pique shirt (with covered placket) and white tie with my peak-lapel tuxedo to create sort of a 1920s costumey look.


----------



## MarkfromMD (Nov 5, 2008)

Cruiser said:


> When I was in high school in the mid-60's it was rare for one of those loops (I won't tell you what they were called as some might find it offensive) to last through even one day. As you walked down the hallway someone would invariably rip it off. More than a few shirts were torn in the process. Most guys would carefully cut them off with a razor blade just to avoid this fate.
> 
> Cruiser


Haha! I graduated HS in 2006 and this is still commonplace. We were required to wear sport coats to class but only from October through April. During September and May anyone caught with one of these loops would most likely have it ripped off while walking down the hallway.



Miket61 said:


> (the term I heard for them growing up was a "[British slang for cigarette] tag.")


Although I can see the use for them as a "locker loop" (especially when having to change for gym class), the name you mentioned was still the common term for them at my school also.


----------



## DukeGrad (Dec 28, 2003)

*loop*

Gentlemen

This was simply called a fairy loop. Not a fruit loop. Which is a cereal.
Also, *** is the British term for a cig.

Nic eday


----------



## Jim In Sunny So Calif (May 13, 2006)

I never saw locker loops on shirts until I was in college and we never had a special name for them nor did we pay any attention to them, let alone rip them off.

Perhaps my generation was more gentlemanly :icon_smile: or it was that we were just content to forcefully remove the ring portion of Buick hood ornaments - a feature that has not been seen on automobiles for many years in the interest of pedestrian safety.


----------



## SimonTemplar (Feb 3, 2008)

when is was in school in the late 70's and 80's, the thing to do was to tear off the pocket on each others dress shirts, and also snip each others ties. Wow, this thread brought back great memories.


----------



## moss01 (Dec 6, 2008)

The tag (loop) comes from the button-down shirt's history in America for prep school uniforms. The loop made it convenient to store in the locker while playing sports. Not sure whether the English versions did the same.


----------



## cosmotoast (Oct 11, 2008)

SimonTemplar said:


> when is was in school in the late 70's and 80's, the thing to do was to tear off the pocket on each others dress shirts, and also snip each others ties. Wow, this thread brought back great memories.


 I am shocked and saddened to hear that there was a high school just like mine. If anyone dared wear a sportcoat to school some drunken ******* would run up behind them and tear it apart at the center vent!
Cosmo:drunken_smilie:


----------



## SimonTemplar (Feb 3, 2008)

cosmotoast said:


> I am shocked and saddened to hear that there was a high school just like mine. If anyone dared wear a sportcoat to school some drunken ******* would run up behind them and tear it apart at the center vent!
> Cosmo:drunken_smilie:


 I went to private school, so it was chalked up to being boys being boys.


----------



## Miket61 (Mar 1, 2008)

SimonTemplar said:


> I went to private school, so it was chalked up to being boys being boys.


Some neighborhood kids broke into my grandparents' house; didn't cause much damage or get much of value, but it was unsettling. My grandmother confronted the father of one of the suspects and he said, "oh, that's just boys being boys."

Boys being boys does not mean boys being vandals or thieves. At my private school (which celebrated its 300th anniversary shortly after I left), such behaviour would have been severely punished.


----------



## SimonTemplar (Feb 3, 2008)

Miket61 said:


> Some neighborhood kids broke into my grandparents' house; didn't cause much damage or get much of value, but it was unsettling. My grandmother confronted the father of one of the suspects and he said, "oh, that's just boys being boys."
> 
> Boys being boys does not mean boys being vandals or thieves. At my private school (which celebrated its 300th anniversary shortly after I left), such behaviour would have been severely punished.


I didnt say it was ok to being vandals and thieves. Pocket ripping and tie snipping is harmless. A little freshman hazing never hurt anybody. It helps build character.


----------



## Jim In Sunny So Calif (May 13, 2006)

SimonTemplar said:


> I didnt say it was ok to being vandals and thieves. Pocket ripping and tie snipping is harmless. A little freshman hazing never hurt anybody. It helps build character.


One might argue that basic training in the military helps build character, but I don't think destroying another person's clothing does. If that type of behavior is permitted, it sends the wrong message.


----------



## Jim In Sunny So Calif (May 13, 2006)

Moving up a bit from locker loops, does anyone remember when OCBD shirts had a button at the back of the collar? It seemed like a good idea IF one had ties thin enough to fit - many did not fit too well as I recall.


----------



## Jovan (Mar 7, 2006)

I have a shirt with a back button on the collar. My narrower ties fit fine, but the wider ones do not. A lot of my stepfather's chino work shirts had this as standard.


----------



## My Pet. A Pantsuit (Dec 25, 2008)

One of my Polo sport shirts has a button at the back of the collar. I figured it was there to disallow ties and further distinguish it as a sport shirt instead of a dress shirt.


----------



## Jovan (Mar 7, 2006)

That would seem to be the order of the day for the most part (I too own a Polo sport shirt), though Thom Browne's button down shirts all have the back button on the collar -- dress or sport.


----------



## Miket61 (Mar 1, 2008)

Jim In Sunny So Calif said:


> One might argue that basic training in the military helps build character, but I don't think destroying another person's clothing does. If that type of behavior is permitted, it sends the wrong message.


On the rare occasion when such things happened, the offender was usually someone whose father was CEO of a Fortune 500 company, and the victim was someone who was only at an expensive private school through luck and connections. Not everyone can trot off to Brooks Brothers for another half-dozen OCBDs because "boys will be boys."


----------



## Bog (May 13, 2007)

apachecadillac said:


> Back in Cruiser's Day, they were also known as fruit loops. I respect him for pulling a punch, but there was a cereal called "Fruit Loops" and at least the younger kids thought that was the reference.
> 
> And, yeah, they got routinely torn off. As I remember middle school it was just too tempting to sneak up behind some buddy and give it a yank.


This is why it pays to go to a school with a jacket-and-tie dress code, rather than a collared-shirt dress code.


----------

