TAILORED SHIRTS: MADE IN TORONTO, CANADA.

I started making shirts here in Toronto in 2010 after the Eyjafjallajökull volcanic eruption. Flights out of Europe were cancelled for both passengers and freight meaning: NO ETON SHIRTS!!! I needed a high quality shirt I could make up within driving distance of the store.

I developed my logo (thanks JMo!) and then I found a manufacturer whose goals for quality matched mine….a family run factory right here in Toronto.

Like Samuelsohn, another long standing Canadian clothing manufacturer, I feel this place is something special…it survived the great Overseas migration in the 80’s and 90’s and employs almost 100 Torontonians.

It's important you know where your dollars are going and who you are supporting when you buy Bright Black: Canadian families, and that feels good. We can't buy 100% local but we can get our personal percentages up...that's my goal.

…but you can’t buy for nostalgia’s sake alone. The quality needs to be there. After doing my research I’d say this factory produces one of the best, if not the best, high-end men’s shirt in North America. I am very lucky to have them within driving distance of the store.

Now let’s get down to the nitty gritty..

STITCHES PER INCH

The number of stitches per inch directly influences the the seam strength, the stitch appearance and the seam elasticity of a garment. There’s actually a formula that estimates seam strength for various fabrics. I won’t nerd-out on stitches but the long and the short is: The greater number of stitches per inch the greater the strength, durability and luxury of the shirt. Bright Black shirts have 22 stitches per inch, a very good amount for a luxury shirt.

A COMFY YOKE IS NO JOKE.

The yoke is the shirt piece at the back of the shoulders. There are single yokes and spilt yokes. As you can see from the Bright Black shirt pictured, the spilt yoke is made from two pieces of fabric. High quality fabrics don’t stretch much horizontally or vertically; but if you stretch diagonally, you are in business. So the spilt yoke adds stretch via the angle of the fabric. This means you get more comfort doing stuff like bending to lift a heavy case of beer, driving your high performance vehicle, carrying the Stanley Cup around your living room…you get the idea.

BUTTONS

Oooo, aren’t buttons pesky. They fall off, chip, crack, split. Buttons! There will never be a damage proof button but you can minimize issues with a few luxury features. Bright Black shirts have thread shanked buttons meaning the thread is durably secured, and easy to fasten due to the space the shank makes between the button and the fabric. Read: They don’t fall off easily.

The second feature to these Bright Black shirts adds up to: they don’t break easily! See, they are pressure-treated and made with crack-resistant bevelling so they are resistant to the heat of dry cleaning (no!! wash your shirts in the washing machine please!!) And, those are some nice looking buttons.

BRIGHT BLACK STYLE

Finally, the shirts are all styled by me! I am a fabric junkie so you know they are going to have a beautiful hand to them. I also like subtle detailing to set a shirt apart from the pack.