Depending on whose history you want to believe, rugby shirts took themselves off the beaten track way before the game for posh brutes went pro here in the UK. Few garments with such a tie to the establishment ever become truly cool and with rugby being the traditional game of public schools, it could be surprising to see it become such a wardrobe staple. But as ever, it was when the rugby shirt went rogue that it acquired its real cool points.
The story goes that Patagonia’s visionary leader Yvon Chouinard found an Umbro rugby shirt while climbing in Scotland and found it ideal for his outdoor pursuits. He can’t have been the only advocate, however. The rugby shirt also found favour in stateside preppy circles, possibly sharing the same sporty formality characteristics which made polo shirts similarly revered.
It’s the rock climbing angle that feels the most relevant here though. Hippy types with a special kind of fearlessness pioneered the use of rugby shirts on the wall. The twill collar most trad rugby shirts possess is an ideal guard against rope burns to the neck and the overall durability of a rugby shirt made it perfect for the bumps and scrapes a climber would experience on their ascent. In fact, this classic garment has long since transcended rugby, almost to the point where the rugby connotations probably need to be shelved forever. As a profoundly anti-rugby person, I might start a campaign for this to happen. And if I do, at the heart of such a campaign would be the type of rugby shirts Withernot make.
They take all of those hardy characteristics that popularised this beautifully rugged garment and construct new versions, with that same timeless aesthetic. Plenty of American and Japanese brands do a sterling job of preserving sartorial history with remakes of archival workwear, and Withernot feel very much in a similar vein, albeit with the rugby shirt at their core.
Like all the best items in your wardrobe, these rugby shirts will age more gracefully than you will, taking on years of wear and somehow getting better with every outing.
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