Nicholas Daley Field Shirt

Double-faced cotton is worth understanding before you look at anything else on this shirt. It is a cloth woven with two sets of yarns bound together into a single fabric, so it has two finished faces and no wrong side. The immediate consequence is weight and stability: a double cloth hangs with far more authority than a single one at the same fineness, which is why this shirt reads as a light jacket rather than as a shirt when it is on. The second consequence is that the check is built into the structure of the fabric rather than laid across the surface of it.

Everything else follows from the cloth. The cut is boxy because a heavy cloth wants to hang square. The collar is soft and open because a stiff one would fight it. The pockets are large and flapped because there is enough body in the fabric to carry them without dragging. The fabric is Japanese and the shirt is made in England, which is a division of labour Daley uses often and which usually means the cloth was the starting point.

Why we selected it

We bought this for the cloth. A yarn-dyed double-faced check in a brown this specific is not something you find twice, and it gives an ordinary field shirt pattern a weight and a hang that a shirt does not usually have. It is also the piece that answers the customer who wants a jacket and does not want to wear one.

Nicholas Daley routinely develops his cloth in Japan and makes the garment in England, and this shirt is one of the clearest examples of what that arrangement buys.

Materials and construction

One hundred percent double-faced cotton, made in England from a yarn-dyed check woven in Japan. Boxy cut, soft open collar, oversized flap pockets. Colour: brown check.

Yarn-dyed means the yarn was coloured before weaving rather than the finished cloth printed afterwards, so the pattern goes through the fabric and cannot fade off it.

Fit notes

Cut square and generous, sitting away from the body rather than following it. The cloth’s weight means it holds that shape rather than collapsing. It layers over a tee or a waffle crew comfortably and will go under a coat, though not under a close jacket. Take your usual size; the boxiness is drafted in and sizing up will overwhelm the shoulder.

Styling

Worn open over the Waffle Crew Neck in black with the Pleated Trouser. Worn buttoned it is a shirt with real presence and needs nothing over it. Brown check wants plain trousers, so keep the tartans away from it.

Care

Wash cool and gently or have it cleaned, and dry away from heat. A double cloth takes a long time to dry and will distort if it is hung wet, so dry it flat. Press on the reverse. Our fabric care guidance covers the rest.

Related pieces

The Classic Two Pocket Shirt in madras is a flat yarn-dyed check. The Zip-Through Shirt Jacket and the Military Overshirt are the heavier shirts, and the Wide Leg Cargo Pant in green linen is the trouser under them. Everything we carry from Nicholas Daley is listed together.