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Hello! I'm Sang Hee Lee
Today we will be talking about how to choose fabrics for dress shirts
Today we will be focusing on common dress shirts such as
white, blue, and solid-colored shirts
shirts with no patterns
can you see? shirts like these
we will be starting off by talking about shirts with no patterns
Since suits require more detail to cover, I will be talking about them later
today we will be only focusing on dress shirts
These tips can also be applied to off-the-rack clothes
since you see as much as you know
truthfully, even if you do now know this information,
it is not that difficult to buy a shirt
the truth is, even I only looked at the design or color when choosing my shirts
I didn't really think about what percentage of fabrics were mixed
But if you do know this information it will probably be very helpful
we will start by talking about mix ratios
Usually when we are talking about dress shirts
we see a lot of shirts made from thin fabric that can be worn in all four seasons
usually these shirts are made from 100% cotton, polyester, or a mixture of different fabrics
which do you think is better?
it seems as though 100% cotton would be good,
but that is not always the case because
there are pros and cons
you can think of it like this
we like gold
but to wear 100% pure gold
as a ring would be sort of difficult
because 100% gold is very malleable
so in order to make it stronger
we mix in different metals
to make things like 18 karat or 14 karat gold
just like that, shirts are also the same
if a shirt is made from 100% cotton,
the texture is very nice and soft
and because it is a natural material, it absorbs sweat very well
but one detriment is that it can turn or transform quickly
but if there is a bit of polyester mixed in,
the fabric will be stronger and last longer
and the shape will change less
but one con is that it is not good as absorbing sweat
for people who sweat a lot
i think that going for a shirt made of cotton and natural material would be best
but if you are looking for something that is cheap and will last a long time
shirts that are mixed with polyester may be a better option
either way, if polyester is mixed in, then the price goes down
if you are looking for such shirts you may be able to save more money
typically shirts made of cotton
you've probably heard a lot of shirts made from oxford fabric
it's a thicker cotton shirt
a lot of students wear those shirts
and the name oxford actually came from oxford university
it's a bit thick, absorbs sweat well, and is made from 100% cotton
but to be honest, today there is some synthetic material mixed in
due to the con that I mentioned earlier
Next, we will move onto thread count
Thread count is the length of a string pulled out from one pound of cotton
the higher the number, the longer and thinner it is
so when the threads are woven together, the texture is very soft and shiny
we often talk about how much thread count a dress shirt or a suit has
such as 120, 150, or up to 200 thread count
but thread count is not such a big deal when it comes to dress shirts
the thread count for dress shirts typically ranges from about 10 to 50
for suits, as I've been working at my shop
the thread count can go up to 200
but typically it ranges from 120 to 150
and those are great quality suits
one more thing I want to mention is that
it seems that the higher the thread count the better the product
but just because it is high does not mean that it is always good
because if you compare clothes that you wear on an every day basis with clothes that are made of silk for example,
how is it?
silk is a good fabric
but it is a bit hard to care for
we have to worry about it getting stained or wrinkled
it is higher maintenance
so it's not the most comfortable every-day wear
for example, if you compare the fabric used to make tuxedos
and suits that we wear every day
we can't use the same fabric for both
so you have to keep those differences in mind
just because the thread count is a little bit higher does not always mean that it's good
you have to choose according to the situation and what you need
and even if the thread count is not as high, if the quality of the fabric is good
that can also be a good shirt
so you don't have to worry as much about that
Next, there is something called ply
Ply refers to the number of folds
when the thread is woven together like this
it can be one, two, or three folds
typically one or two folds are done
but if the fabric is higher quality, it can have three folds
you can't really see a difference with your eyes
but if you lay several out and compare
and you feel them, they are completely different
they are very soft and shiny
you can really tell that they are good quality
but the price is very high
about 4X the price of a regular shirt
usually they are more than $600
even more than typical suits
so if you have no need for something that expensive
you don't really need a shirt with a high thread count or ply
you can just choose according to your needs
Next we will look at functionality
Between the same white fabrics, there are functional fabrics
those are domestic fabrics
as you can see here, these are all white fabrics
the camera quality is not that great so you probably can't distinguish the differences
you can't really tell the difference with the naked eye
but amongst men, there are also people who get cold easily or hot easily
in those cases,
aerocool would be for people who get hot easily
aerowarm would be for those who get cold easily
these types of fabrics would be great
regardless of the season or according to it
and Askin fabric has a cooling effect
it cools you off during the summer
and the best thing about Askin is that it is not sheer
because some men want to cover up certain embarrassing areas
they wear an undershirt underneath
but as I've mentioned before
wearing an undershirt is not correct
it's best to not wear one
but if you wear a fabric like this, that is less likely to happen
as you can see i've put my finger underneath and it does not show through
compared to something like this
it is way less sheer
because there are fabrics that are not sheer,
people who are looking to cover themselves more should look for fabrics like this
and aerosilver is a fabric that is antibacterial
cotna is made from cotton and absorbs sweat
xanadu has spandex so it is very stretchy
it's a bit hard for me to show you but it's stretchy because it's made from spandex
for people who want a slim fit
they wear a lot of shirts made with spandex
but as i've mentioned before, spandex is mixed with synthetic material
so it is not considered a high quality fabric
but you can use it according to your needs
Amongst white fabrics
there are fabrics with patterns
you probably can't see well
there are grid patterns
I don't know if you can see
there is also a Herringbone pattern that looks like fish bones
so there are shirts with patterns
and personally I am a fan of this style
because from far away it may look like just a regular white shirt
but if you look at it up close there is detail and pattern
if a shirt has a pattern, you can tell that the person is very detailed
and the person looks different
The fabric can also change according to the season
we wear a lot of linen in the summertime
lately there's been a commercial with Jung Woo Sung
for Well Made and he's wearing a blue linen shirt
and he says something like "handsome men's shirts don't wrinkle"
"My looks don't wrinkle"
I don't know if you've seen this commercial
there are linen fabrics
and during the winter, you may not know them when I say the name
but if you see them you'll know
such as flannel, tweed
you've probably heard of these
thicker fabrics are worn more casually during the winter
denim is also used a lot in all four seasons like with denim shirts
I personally really like that item
people wear those a lot
What I've learned after coming to America
is that I think a lot of my preconceived notions have been broken down
for example as I've said earlier linen is worn a lot during the summer
and tweed in the winter
but I learned that that's not always the case
in Chicago it's very cold in the winter
so there was one couple who did not want to have their wedding here
they wanted to have their wedding in Cancun in Mexico
so they requested summer fabrics even though it was winter
they wanted a tuxedo made from summer fabrics for the groom
there are some people who request that
and oppositely, the wedding may be during the summer
but they may want a thicker fabric like tweed to match their theme
so at first I was like "what??" but if that's what the customer wants then that's what we have to do
so I learned that there is no need to have such preconceived notions
I hope that this week you will also be able to break free from your preconceived notions
and challenge towards something new
Thank you for joining me again this week
and I will see you next week. Thank you!