Best Buys for Casual Shirts, How to Style and Where to Buy

The best casual shirt for most men is a mid-weight cotton overshirt or a washed oxford in a neutral colour, cut with a relaxed body and a soft, unstructured collar. Buy it slightly roomier than your formal shirt size. That is the answer, and if you take nothing else from this piece, take that.

Everything else — the fabric, the collar, the brand — is refinement. But get the cut wrong and no amount of refinement saves it. I have watched more men ruin a decent casual shirt by buying it in their business-shirt size than by any other single mistake.

What Actually Makes a Casual Shirt Work

A casual shirt is not a formal shirt with the tie removed. It is a different garment with different rules, and the differences are structural rather than cosmetic.

The collar should collapse, not stand. No fusing, no stiff interlining. If the collar holds its shape with nothing beneath it, the shirt reads as office wear.
Fabric weight matters more than thread count. Look for oxford cloth, brushed cotton, linen-cotton blends, corduroy or Japanese chambray. Anything with a visible texture.
The hem tells you the intent. A straight hem is designed to be worn out. A curved shirt tail is designed to be tucked. Buying a curved-hem shirt and wearing it untucked is why so many men look like they have got dressed in a hurry.
Sleeve length is the tell. Casual shirts should sit at the wrist bone, not past it. Longer and it bunches when you roll the cuff.
Body room, not body-con. You should be able to fit a flat hand between your chest and the fabric. Any less and you have bought a shirt that will pull at the placket the moment you sit down.

I learned the hem lesson the hard way. Years ago I bought a beautiful poplin shirt in Florence, sized down because it was the last one, and wore it untucked to a summer wedding. The curved tail hung to mid-thigh at the back and rode up to the waistband at the sides. In the photographs I look like a man who has borrowed his older brother's nightshirt. It hangs in the back of a wardrobe somewhere as a reminder.

The Four Casual Shirts Worth Owning

1. The washed oxford

The workhorse. Buttoned-down collar, white or pale blue, worn untucked with jeans or tucked into flat-front trousers. Wash it repeatedly before you judge it — oxford cloth only becomes itself after about ten cycles.

2. The overshirt

Somewhere between a shirt and a jacket. Wool, heavy cotton twill or corduroy, worn open over a tee, or buttoned as a light layer. This is the single most useful item in British menswear because it covers the eight months of the year that are neither warm nor properly cold.

3. The camp collar

The one-piece revere collar, worn open, sleeves short or rolled. Best in linen or viscose. Keep the pattern restrained — a subtle stripe or a plain earth tone. The loud printed camp collar has had its moment and is now firmly a holiday-only garment.

4. The brushed flannel

Autumn and winter. Check or plain, worn over a white tee with the top two buttons undone. Buy a size up so it layers.

How to Style Them

Roll the sleeve properly. Two turns above the elbow, letting the cuff sit inside the fold. Never a tight, thin roll — it looks fussy.
Untucked means hitting mid-fly. The hem should cover your belt and stop roughly at the middle of the trouser fly. Longer swamps you. Shorter looks like the shirt shrank.
Two buttons undone, maximum. Three is a decision you are making about yourself.
Layer with contrast in texture, not colour. A corduroy overshirt over a smooth cotton tee. A linen shirt under a merino crew.
Trainers work. Loafers work better. A casual shirt with a leather loafer is the shortcut to looking considered rather than convenient.

Where to Buy: Brands Worth Your Money

High Street

Uniqlo — the flannel and oxford shirts are consistently the best value in Britain. The fabric is honest, the fit is regular rather than slim, and the price point means you can own three.
COS — for the overshirt in particular. Boxy, considered cuts and a colour palette that ages well. Their heavier cotton overshirts punch far above the price.
Arket — the strongest high street option for organic cotton and linen. Their camp collar shirts have a proper unstructured collar, which is rarer than it should be at this level.

Independent and Boutique

Universal Works — Nottingham-based, and nobody in Britain does the utility overshirt better. The Bakers jacket is a modern classic and the shirting is cut with genuine room.
Portuguese Flannel — small, family-run, and the fabrics are outstanding. Their brushed cotton and corduroy shirts feel like garments costing twice as much.
Percival — London, playful, and very good at the camp collar. Choose them when you want a shirt with personality that still knows when to stop.

Designer and Luxury

Drake's — the definitive British answer. Their oxford cloth button-downs are cut generously with an unlined, rolling collar. If you buy one shirt at this level, buy this.
Officine Générale — Parisian, restrained, and the fits are exceptional. The Japanese cotton shirting is worth the premium.
Loro Piana — for linen, nothing else comes close. Genuinely a lifetime purchase, and priced accordingly.

Sizing: Where It All Goes Wrong

Casual shirt sizing is a mess. Uniqlo's medium is not COS's medium, and neither is close to Drake's. Some brands size by collar, some by S/M/L, some by a numbered system that changes between their own product lines. Buying online without checking is how you end up with a wardrobe full of shirts you never wear.

Stop Guessing Your Size

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