Favorites Series: OCBDs - Topic of the day 4/7/24
The oxford cloth button down has been a MFA favorite for years. What are your favorite OCBDs? Favorite brands at low medium and high price points? What do you look for in one of these shirts? What brands have been great for them and what brands have really let you down? Feel free to share a few of your favorite fits or inspo that feature OCBDs, too. (Note: the Favorites Series will be running ~weekly as a new way of doing the "Best X for $X" threads from a few years ago on MFA.)
71 Replies
Oh see BDeez nuts
secondhand brooks and polo are generally the recommendation here unless you can't find those in your collar size
spier & mackay at a medium price point for me, but it seems like their OCBDs are slighlty more divisive than others because the cloth is thiiiick
would always make sure any ocbd you get isn't non iron
ralph lauren "big shirt" on ebay, they fit like a tent and cost like $12. perfect
@Shrimp my Ride what do you know about beams plus OCBDs if you don't mind me asking?
i saw on the webstore they're like $60 but they don't seem to sell them in the US at least
oh wait i do actually see some but not in collar sizes
Anything beams I would proxy
Beams+ OCBDs are kinda mid
(Like a lot of stuff from that brand tbh……)
They’re ok but they fit small and slim and the collar is small like a mall brand ocbd
thank you, that was the info i was looking for
i'd like OCBDs that fit like on Seinfeld lol but are my collar size
have starting like second hand Gitman Bros that go for pretty cheap on ebay often
You could say I’m a fan of the ocbd
O’Connells OCBD is very good and very slept on
What on earth…
there is a reason i paid full price on a j.press flap pocket OCBD and it's not just the friend bonus
What use do you have for two candy stripe OCBDs??
in more affordable options i like vintage PRL (custom fit and yarmouth) and BB, though the latter is more difficult for me to find the right sizing because long arms
a sneaky option from j.crew - they re-released their garment dyed ocbds early this year and the quality and fit are better than expected, especially if you find it on sale
Proper cloth is great in the mid-to-high price point if you need to customize the size
(Am lanky)
there's a difference 👍
I meant the rainbow stripe ones my bad
Squilly’s
I don’t think I own a single OCBD I just looked in my closet
Mods??
They’re BB pride stripe
They were a June/early July exclusive last year, have to see if they return
I have a question, are the striped shirts considered OCBDs I have been actively googling this
And apparently it needs to be made of Oxford cloth to be considered an OCBD or has that been relaxed
Although imo the new Friday shirt ocbds kinda suck compared to the last model
Still pretty strict
The stripes are still Oxford cloth, so they’re still kosher
Yeah then I have 0 OCBDs lol
Second Proper Cloth.
Picked up the Wythe OCBD this season. Great fit and fabric. They are pricey, but on sale would be a good deal.
G. Inglese a $$$ option. More formal option, no front pocket, no box pleat. Great collar roll, the buttons and hand stich work are great.
Been so curious about these. The photos look like my deal but $160 is steep
Time for the ivy folks to shine!
IMO, Spier’s classic fit and the more recent alpha sized brooks brothers ocbds are the best bang for your buck if you’re buying new.
Drake’s is one of my favorites for a cleaner fit but the pricing is insane so best to buy at archive sales or second hand.
Vintage PRL yarmouths are great but the collar roll leaves something to be desired
J Press gets you a pocket flap and trad fit
I don’t have personal experience with Mercer but they are supposed to be great if you want that old school brooks brothers trad cut
If you want to spend some money, The Anthology makes my nicest ocbds. great quality, huge sturdy collar, great material
Kamakura also gets a lot of love but sizing is a hassle.
Luxire is excellent for MTM but a lot of people swear by proper cloth
Vintage MiUSA LL bean are also fantastic and worth looking for second hand and at thrift stores
Kamkura was GOATed when they had an NYC store. $88 for a made in Japan shirt, getting sized in store was key.
I'm getting jealous of all the nice options for ivy style available in the US. Will need to look at Kamakura and other good vintage options soon. I do really love the look of oxford cloth in particular it seems like a nice casual option which fits in with my lifestyle
I love them. Still wearing the sized up BBRF OCBDS that Chuck recommended back in the day.
I have one OCBD, from nn07. No complaints about the quality or fit at all.
I haven’t gone too far down this rabbit hole but my best OCBDs are MiUSA BB, my favorite one being Black Fleece. It’s a little slim but the fabric feels amazing so I still wear it all the time.
this is a big one, forgot about these
Can find old miusa ones for not that much
Speaking of I just found one of the inported BB ocbds at the thrift for $6
They have it in my collar size but it's like pricey
how do you think the fit compares to kamakura vintage ivy?
i'm reading in the past o'connells did 15% off shirts sometimes which is a lil helpful
Well I don’t fit into Kamakura so I don’t know
does cutter & buck count as OCBD because i have. a dress shirt. and i don’t know where the photos went
of me wearing it anyways i can get a boring pic of it if i yoink it from the closet
Ocbd means a shirt with oxford cloth and a button dollar collar
Not that oxford cloth is particularly standardized but you can have a broadcloth or linen shirt with a button down collar which wouldn't be an ocbd for example
Got a bunch of supreme ones and I wear one nearly every day.
ooh
I've been a big fan of Ralph Lauren OCBDs on eBay. I've had to restrain myself from buying more and more and more, but now that I've seen Squilly's collection I clearly need to buy more.
So real
What if you wanted Japanese clothes but were larger than a US medium (slim fit)
OG-107 repros :nooooo:
that pick is less 8 other shirts too
(i dont have a problem)
You know what you like. That's definitely not a problem.
(i dont have almost 30 pants or 50 shirts)
ebay 🤝 OCD 🤝 stress buying
I have an ocbd from eastlogue that I like a lot, it certainly deviates from a classic OCBD in terms of features but the cut / fabric is there
Nearly all of my OCBDs are PRL Yarmouth shirts from eBay that I got for $15-20ish. They're better when someone else breaks them in for you. One of the white ones has some collar fray that's pretty neat
I also have one from LL Bean and while I really like the color (brown uni stripe), I think the fabric feels quite a bit worse than the PRL ones.
I do like the flap pocket on the J press OCBDs but honestly I'm usually wearing them under something anyway, and they're a lot harder to find (and pricier) on the secondhand market
If I had infinite money maybe I'd get something from Mercer or Drake's but 275 for an OCBD is just silly
Oh and I'm of the opinion that MTM OCBDs are not a good idea. The whole point of ivy is it's OTR. If an OCBD fits kinda big and billowy, that's a feature not a bug
That does look good. Collar looks more substantial than the typical mall brands
I know the feeling
also i know squilley answered already but for everyone else - how many do you own?
i have 6 at last count (2 white, 2 blue, 1 uni stripe and 1 mustard yellow) which feels like a reasonable amount but i cycle through other shirts as well. really curious for those that wear them daily or near daily
2 white 2 blue uni stripe 1 brown uni stripe, and 1 blue that I never wear. I don't really need 2 of the white/blue unis but I feel like I need backups for some reason
I need to put my neck on ozempic
SO REAL
18.5 neck, 17 body
1 white, 1 blue uni stripe, 1 lavender
This is less of an issue with more recent Japanese stuff, but vintage? Yeah..
I prefer classic fit to Yarmouth, which just seems too gigantic.
I have white, blue, 3 uni stripe (blue, pink, green), and one atypical blue with white/gray stripes. I'm on the lookout for other colors and patterns, but I have to be patient because I have all the common ones.
No, I would say it’s still pretty restrictive. Most cap out at 36w, MAYBE 38, Chest generally is a bit better but still usually a 44
Brooks Brothers Red Fleece was so good. I'm still mad they ended that line.
the ocbds had kind of an odd fit though imo
i think cuz they were trying to be slim fit the side seams were like a )(
i do have a lot of nostalgia for RF back in 2014 or so, they were carrying on the legacy of RL rugby but i'm not surprised the ended the line, prep ain't what it used to be
Idk, the oxford fit worked great for me. I have a light blue one I still wear all the time.
I also have an OCBD from Shuttle Notes — not sure if that brand still exists in the US. It's the standard oxford blue color but has 5% silk which gives it a nice bit of slubby texture. Big fan.