The Rite Record-Journal — history

Lately I've been thinking more deeply about chambray fabric, so I decided to put some thoughts down first. When I first started The Rite Stuff, a colleague asked me "Why a chambray shirt as the first product?" I had to think about this for a second, but only to put into words. Instinctively, I knew the answer. A chambray work shirt is my "desert island shirt," as I've mentioned here before.  But why? One reason is that blue goes with a lot of different styles. Blue chambray is where the "blue collar" comes from as well. It doesn't stain as...

Henleys: usually when we see them, we think of pioneers and prospectors, toiling and sweating in the Wild West, their buttoned-up undershirt stained with blood, coal, or worse. Your average miner in the 1890s did wear a button-up under his clothes in cold weather, but instead of a henley shirt it was more likely a one-piece "union suit," or what we call "long underwear" these days: I'm sexy and I know it. However, in the late 1890s we find examples of standalone henley shirts with a shorter placket worn as underwear: Ecru undershirt with pearl buttons - Sears-Roebuck 1897 Underwear...