Eton Dress Shirts and Ties

Eton is a shirt company with a very specific family story. It was founded in 1928 in Gånghester, near Borås in Sweden, by the cousins Annie Pettersson and Febe Lidar, under the name Lidar and Pettersson, and Annie and her husband David Pettersson took over in 1931. Annie's philosophy was never to hand over a shirt until you are completely satisfied, and from 1946 the company focused only on shirts. The name came from a 1948 trip to the English town of Eton by Rune and Arne Davidson, and the company adopted it in 1950. The first group here is the shirt the brand built its name on. In 1990 Eton introduced a wrinkle-resistant dress shirt in Signature Twill, and the Slim Fit and Contemporary Fit versions, plus the Classic Fit Solid, are all here. The Geometric Brocade and the Floral Slim-Fit Cotton Twill shirts are the louder choices, and the Contrast Buttons twill shirt and the Cotton Twill Stripe are quieter. The Jacquard and Cotton-Piqué polos are the short-sleeve ones. For the choice of fabric, the Oxford shirt is a good primer.

The second group moves toward the weekend. In 1992 Eton pioneered the first wrinkle-resistant cotton shirt, and in 2018 it launched the world's first crease-resistant flannel, so the Solid Flannel Casual-Fit shirt and the Flannel Zip Wool Vest come from that thread of work. The Dobby and Diamond Weave shirts add a texture, the French Cuff and Cutaway-Collar versions are for a jacket, and the Signature Slim-Fit Cotton Oxford and the two denim shirts are for the weekend. The Merino quarter-zip jumper, the Chevron-Knit polo sweater and the Linen Blend Knit Polo shirt are the knits. A simple test for any dress shirt: button the collar and check that you can slide two fingers in. What I would skip is wearing a French cuff shirt under a casual jacket, because the cuff only makes sense with a suit or a blazer. For a choice between poplin and a heavier weave, poplin or Oxford has the answer.

The ties are a quiet strength. Eton is headquartered in the same Gånghester property it acquired in 1933, and the silk here follows the shirt: the Geometric, Micro-Geometric and Dot ties are the easy ones, the Floral Woven and Interlocking Chain Silk-Linen tie are the livelier ones. The Silk Ready-Tied Bow Tie and the Pre-Tied Bow Tie are for evenings. The Paisley, Portrait, Oxford and Logo-embroidered pocket squares finish a jacket, and the Brushed Wool Cap with Knitted Back is the casual one. If the shirt has a pattern, pick a solid tie, and reverse that if the shirt is plain. For more on dressing formally without the stiffness, formalwear for men is worth a look.

The last group is outerwear. The Brushed-Plaid Wool-Silk Jacket and the Dream Wool and Cashmere Two Pocket Button Jacket are for the office, and the Lana Tech Gilet and Lana Tech Soft Travel Jacket are for the road. They sit over the shirts above without crowding the collar. Picture him on an early train in the plaid jacket over a Slim Fit Signature Twill shirt, with the tie loosened by the time he reaches the platform. The tech gilet is the layer for the middle of the day, when the jacket comes off and the shirt needs one more thing between it and the weather. Check that the shoulder seam of any jacket sits where your own shoulder ends, and that the sleeve leaves a little shirt cuff showing. If you want a waxed, rugged layer for weekends, a waxed cotton jacket guide shows how that works.

My Eton wardrobe would start with a Slim Fit Signature Twill shirt in white, a quiet silk tie and a Lana jacket for travel. Eton now has flagships in London, Stockholm, Malmö and New York and is present in over 50 markets. For the tailoring around it, how tailoring loosens its tie is a good guide. The brand's founding idea has not changed since Annie's day: a shirt should be right before it leaves the shop, and he should be able to forget about it all day.