Massimo Alba Raya Shirt

It is knitted rather than woven, and on a polo that is the construction rather than a detail. A woven cloth gives only what its cut allows for. A knit is loops of yarn holding other loops, so it moves in every direction and returns to where it started, which is why the polo has been a knitted garment since somebody first cut one for a tennis court. It also puts the fibre under a demand a weave never makes of it, because the yarn has to bend around itself at every stitch and then bend back.

Fifty-seven percent is a great deal of linen to ask that of, and it is the whole proposition. Linen moves moisture away from the skin faster than cotton does and dries faster once it has, which is why linen feels dry in heat where cotton feels damp. What linen will not do is stretch or recover, and a knitted collar and placket need both, which is where the cotton comes in. Forty-three percent is enough to give the collar something to spring back with and enough to keep the placket from going wavy after a season. The blend is doing exactly what a blend should do, which is to let each fibre handle what the other is bad at. The mother-of-pearl buttons are the finishing decision: cut from shell, each one slightly different in figure, and the reason the shirt reads as a garment rather than as kit.

The long-sleeved polo is a category almost nobody makes seriously, and most of what exists is a cotton jersey with a collar sewn onto it. Linen at this proportion is somebody taking the garment seriously.

Fifty-seven percent linen, forty-three percent cotton, knitted, made in Italy. Long sleeve, mother-of-pearl buttons, regular fit. Colour: Blue.

Regular fit, meaning it skims rather than holds. A knit this heavy in linen has less recovery than a cotton one, so expect it to relax across a day at the elbow and through the body and to come back with washing. It will crease, and at this proportion of linen the creasing is the cloth rather than a fault. Take your usual size; a polo that is tight at the placket pulls the buttons out of line.

With the Ionio2 in Ferro or the Kevin shorts in high summer. Under the Baglietto with the collar out. With the Winch2 when it cools, which is the version that carries furthest into autumn.

Wash cool and dry it flat rather than on a hanger, because a knit carrying this much linen will lengthen under its own weight if you hang it wet and will not come back. Reshape the collar while it is damp. Keep the iron off the buttons, since mother-of-pearl is brittle and heat will crack it. This is a two-fibre cloth, so treat it as the more delicate of the two would want. Our care guidance for mixed cloths covers the rest.

The Raya LS Polo is the cotton jersey, the Arubaw Polo Shirt is the linen jersey, the Noto2 Classic Shirt is the band collar in the same two fibres, and the Ionio2 Trouser in Ferro is the linen trouser. There is more on the house on the Massimo Alba designer page. Everything we carry from Massimo Alba is listed together.