Nicholas Daley Raglan Embroidery Shirt

A raglan sleeve is cut in one piece running from the collar to the cuff, so the seam travels diagonally from the underarm to the neck and there is no seam sitting on top of the shoulder at all. It was devised for a man who had lost an arm and needed a coat he could get into, and it survived because it turns out to be the most comfortable sleeve construction there is: nothing binds across the shoulder and the garment moves with the wearer rather than pivoting against them.

On a boxy, oversized shirt the raglan does something else as well. Without a shoulder seam there is no line telling the eye where the wearer’s shoulder ends, so the garment reads as a shape in its own right rather than as a shirt draped on a body. That is the correct ground for embroidery. The work here is Japanese, intricate, and run across the shirt rather than placed as a badge on a pocket, and it needs an uninterrupted field to be read on. The raglan supplies it.

Why we selected it

We took this for the embroidery, which is dense enough to be the reason the shirt exists rather than a decoration applied to one that already did. The raglan cut was the second reason and it is the one customers notice after a day of wearing it.

Nicholas Daley’s Japanese production is where his most labour-intensive surface work is done, and this shirt is one of the clearest examples of it he has made.

Materials and construction

Body one hundred percent cotton, embroidery one hundred percent polyester. Made in Japan. Raglan sleeve, oversized boxy cut. Colours: beige and navy.

Fit notes

Cut boxy and oversized on purpose, sitting away from the body rather than following it, with the raglan giving unusual freedom across the shoulder. It layers over a tee comfortably and will go under a coat but not under a close jacket. Take your usual size; the volume is drafted in and sizing up will overwhelm the neckline.

Styling

Over a plain tee with the Pleated Trouser in black. The embroidery is the event, so nothing else patterned and nothing else textured. Beige and navy will sit against almost any plain trouser he cuts.

Care

Wash cool and inside out, and dry flat away from heat. Embroidery is the vulnerable part of any garment: it catches, it pulls, and a hot iron flattens the stitch permanently, so press around it rather than over it, on the reverse, if at all. Our fabric care guidance covers the rest.

Related pieces

The Military Overshirt carries hand-work of a different kind, and the Field Shirt the woven check. The Beach Shirt is the short-sleeved cotton and the Classic Two Pocket Shirt in beige the plain corduroy shirt. Everything we carry from Nicholas Daley is listed together.