3Sixteen Crosscut Flannel

A flannel shirt is the least demanding thing a man can put on, which is exactly why most of them are forgettable. This one is not, and the reason is visible from behind. The back yoke is crossed rather than cut square, so the check runs at opposing angles across the shoulders and the pattern breaks where the seam does. It is a small piece of drafting that nothing about the garment’s function requires. It is there because someone wanted it there, and it has been the house’s stylistic signature for roughly a decade now.

The cloth is woven with heavy slub yarns, meaning the yarn is deliberately spun with irregular thicknesses rather than to a uniform gauge. The result is a surface with visible variation in it, closer to something handmade than something machined, and it takes light unevenly in a way a flat flannel never will. Coyote is a warm mid-brown that behaves like a neutral without being a dull one. After the shirt is sewn it is washed, so it arrives already soft and already settled.

Why we selected it

We wanted one flannel in the store that could be worn for fifteen years, and this is the one that survived the comparison. Most shirts in this category are a plaid printed onto an adequate cloth. Here the cloth was designed first and the shirt second, and the details that cost money are the ones nobody sees on a hanger: the crossed yoke, the angled pocket flaps taken from vintage western shirts, the enamelled metal fisheye buttons. Those buttons will chip. That is not a defect and we would not carry it if the chipping were hidden.

The Crosscut is the shirt 3Sixteen is best known for after its denim, and it has been in the line continuously long enough to have become a fixture rather than a season.

Materials and construction

One hundred percent cotton flannel in coyote slub check, made in India. Crossed back yoke, angled flap pockets, enamel-coated metal buttons that will patina and chip with wear. Garment-washed after construction.

Fit notes

This is a shirt, not an overshirt, though it has enough body to work as either. It layers cleanly under a jacket and sits comfortably over a tee, which is how most of our customers wear it. Cotton flannel of this weight softens and relaxes considerably in the first months and then holds where it lands. If you are between sizes and intend to wear it open over a tee, the larger is the more useful garment.

Styling

Over the Pima tee and raw denim, which is the obvious answer and the correct one. Open over a knit polo in the shoulder seasons. Under the liner jacket when it turns. In Santa Fe it is a nine-month shirt, which is not true of flannel in most places.

Care

Machine wash cool, inside out, and hang to dry. Heat is what kills flannel, so keep it out of a hot dryer and the hand it arrived with will last. The buttons are meant to age; do not try to protect them. Our general care guidance covers the rest.

Related pieces

The same shirt in a high-contrast check is the Crosscut Flannel in Cream/Black. For a shirt with better manners, the Club Collar Shirt. It is cut to be worn over the CS-100x, and under the French Work Jacket once the weather turns. Everything we currently hold from 3Sixteen is listed together.