Engineered Garments Polo Shirt- White

The garment is named after the wrong sport. Polo's actual contribution to shirting was the button-down collar, buttoned at the points so it would not fly up into a rider's face, which Brooks Brothers copied in 1896 and has sold ever since. What we now call the polo shirt came from tennis. René Lacoste wore a short-sleeved knitted shirt on court in 1926 because the long-sleeved woven one was absurd in the heat, and put it on sale in 1933 in a cloth he called jersey petit piqué.

Piqué is the part that matters. It is a knit rather than a weave, constructed so the face carries a raised waffle of small geometric cells instead of lying flat. That texture does three things at once. It holds a layer of air against the skin. It keeps the cloth from clinging when it is damp, because only the raised points make contact. And it gives the fabric enough body to hold a collar up. A polo shirt in plain jersey has gone limp by lunchtime. In piqué it has not.

Nearly everyone owns a polo shirt and very few people own a good one, and the difference is almost entirely in the knit. This is the right cloth, in the colour that has nowhere to hide.

One hundred percent cotton piqué, made in the USA. Colour: White.

A knit follows the body more than a woven shirt does. Piqué has give in both directions and good recovery, so it moves and comes back, and it will relax and soften across a season. The collar and the placket are the only structure in the garment.

With the Sailor Pant in olive. With the Officer Pant in dark navy. Under the Trucker Jacket, which is the version that carries it into an evening.

Wash cool and dry flat or on a hanger rather than in a hot dryer, which is what shrinks a knit and cooks the waffle out of a piqué. Avoid chlorine bleach on a white cotton: it yellows the fibre over time. Our cotton care guidance covers the rest.

The Rounded Collar Shirt in white is the woven white shirt beside this knitted one. The Sailor Pant in olive and the Officer Pant in dark navy are the trousers, and the Square Neck Shirt is the sleeveless cut. There is more on the house on the Engineered Garments designer page. Everything we carry from Engineered Garments is listed together.