Nigel Cabourn French Pull-Over Shirt

A patch pocket on the back of a shirt is genuinely rare, and it is the kind of thing that only appears on a garment drawn from something somebody actually worked in, because nobody designs a back pocket onto a shirt from first principles. On this one it sits alongside the more conventional front pockets and a classic collar, on a body that pulls over the head rather than buttoning open. The cloth is one hundred percent hemp, which is a demanding choice for a shirt: hemp is stiffer than cotton and coarser in the first weeks, and it takes real wear before it becomes comfortable against the skin. What you get in return is a shirt that outlasts anything cotton, moves air better than linen, and develops a hand that cannot be manufactured. It is bought for its fifth year rather than its first. Made in Japan, in charcoal and in white.

A pure hemp shirt is rare, and it is a harder sell than a hemp jacket because the fiber is against the skin rather than over a layer. We think it is worth the first month.

The French pieces are Cabourn's working-clothes strand rather than his military one, and this shirt is the lightest thing in it.

One hundred percent hemp. Pull-over construction with no front opening, classic collar, patch pockets on the front and on the back. Made in Japan. Offered in Charcoal and in White.

A pull-over shirt has to clear the head, so the collar and the opening are cut with that in mind and it will sit wider at the neck than a buttoned shirt. Sizing runs 44 through 54 on the house's shirt scale, and the two colors do not run the same sizes as each other. Hemp does not stretch and does not bag out; it takes a set and keeps it.

Under the Fireman Jacket or the French Work Jacket, which puts three weights of hemp together in one outfit. The charcoal goes with the French Work Pant, which is nearly the same color in a heavier cloth; the white goes with the Field Pant for contrast.

Cool water, no tumble drying, and press while slightly damp. Hemp shrinks once and then holds, and it softens by being worn more than by being washed. Our care guidance covers linen and hemp in more detail.

The French Pull-On Shirt is the same pullover cut in linen, and the French Work Jacket is hemp and cotton made as outerwear. Everything we carry from Nigel Cabourn is listed together.