Chambray Ralph

I've been a fan of chambray shirts for a long time. Back in the mid-1990s I even had a tab-collared dress shirt version. These days you're more likely to find them over in the heritage-Americana wing of menswear, but that doesn't mean you can't wear a workshirt with a tie and jacket—it'll just look better if you choose the right ones.

I tend to confine mine to weekend wear, but I haven't had a "regular" blue chambaray workshirt for a couple of years now. I had one that I'd picked up at the Gap, right before I decided it was no longer worth shopping there. I wore it here and there, but I was never that excited about it; the pockets were too small, and it didn't fit that well—the sleeves were egregiously long.

This fall, Ralph Lauren introduced another sub-brand to its empire: Denim & Supply. Some of you may remember the old Polo Jeans Co. line, which disappeared from department stores about five years ago; this new label sort of fills that gap in the lineup, while also serving as a kind of poorer guy's substitute for the super-nice and super-pricey RRL line (finally available online, by the way). Some of this stuff is a bit costumey, but some of it is basic, simple day-off clothing: flannel shirts, jeans, henleys, and chambray workshirts.

None of it is going to approach the quality you'd have found in Ralph's offerings of, say, two decades ago (Polo Country, anyone?), but on the positive side, the fabrics (like most all of Ralph's stuff) are above-average, the fit is modern without being ridiculous, and since the line is sold in stores like Macy's, it gets marked down, and then marked down again, and then has another 20% taken off.

The other day I picked up this shirt at Macy's (the first time I'd been in the downtown store in maybe three months). Don't even bother with the lighter, faded blue; the darker blue is the way to go. (The Mrs. is kindly going to remove that silly little tag from the pocket, as soon as her semester is finished in a few more days.) They were on a 50% off rack, with an additional 20% discount being offered that particular day without any coupon hassle, for a grand total of $28, or 60% off the original asking price.

I might have been able to get it for even less if I'd been willing to wait a bit longer, but then I'd run the risk of not being able to find my size. (And FYI, even when the Ralph site marks things down, the prices are inevitably going to be higher than the markdowns in a store like Macy's.)