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Travel Dress Shirts - Mizzen & Main Alternatives

Travel Dress Shirts - Mizzen & Main Alternatives

Old Oct 31, 2017, 6:02 am
  #1  
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Travel Dress Shirts - Mizzen & Main Alternatives

The one clothing item (other than jeans) I travel with that I can't self-launder at night is the dress shirt. I love Charles Tyrwhitt shirts, and usually wear one on flights and pack a few for meetings. If I'm on a longer trip (I've done 20 days of biz travel in a roll-aboard), I'll have the hotel launder a shirt or two as needed. But, if you are changing hotels daily or have odd check-in/out schedules, that can get tricky.

So, Mizzen & Main shirts seemed like a solution. Synthetic, stretchy, comfortable, but dressy enough for many business situations. Fine with a blazer. I really like how the shirts look and feel. I imagined wearing one for a day (and/or night) of airports and planes, getting to the hotel, washing it out, putting it on a hangar, and having it ready to go in the morning.

One small problem - I only wear shirts with a chest pocket when I travel. It's super-convenient to stash a passport, boarding pass, driver's license, even a cell phone for a short time when juggling your way through immigration, security, boarding, etc. It's a habit I've become used to.

The M&M shirts I found, sadly, had no such pocket. Does anyone have a suggestion for another brand to check out? I do own a few merino wool shirts that are great for travel, but are too casual for business. And a lot of "travel" shirts look more like expedition gear than business wear.
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Old Oct 31, 2017, 8:12 am
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I've used Wool & Prince, https://woolandprince.com/, although some of their claims about how long you can go without washing one of their shirts tend to rest on experiences in San Francisco, which is generally cooler and less humid than my base in southeast Virginia.
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Old Oct 31, 2017, 3:11 pm
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Bluffworks just came out with a new travel shirt. I received an advance copy and it's very nice (and has a front pocket)
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Old Nov 3, 2017, 10:39 am
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Originally Posted by bthotugigem05
Bluffworks just came out with a new travel shirt. I received an advance copy and it's very nice (and has a front pocket)
This has me excited! I was backer number 7 for their blazer, which I love. I missed that they were making shirts!
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Old Nov 3, 2017, 6:16 pm
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Thanks for the Wool and Prince suggestion, I'll check it out. And, I hope the Bluffworks shirt turns out well.

I actually found an alternative: Port Authority. (http://www.portauthorityclothing.com/) Their website seems to be only partly functional at the moment, but I got a knit dress shirt via an eBay seller that is not bad. And, the price was about $24 vs. $125 for Mizzen & Main. Not as stylish, for sure, but it appears quite acceptable. It seems like it would be presentable with a blazer and even a tie.

I'm about to embark on a trip - I'll wear it on the plane, self-wash it upon arrival, and see if it still looks good enough to wear a day or two later.

I'm still a fan of a crisp, high quality, cotton shirt (preferably with cufflinks) for serious business. But, I'll report back on the Port Authority option for more casual but still business-y use.
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Old Nov 3, 2017, 6:27 pm
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Great suggestion on the Wool & Prince, lwildernorva, I just ordered one!
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Old Nov 12, 2017, 8:09 am
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I took both the Port Authority and Mizzen & Main shirts on a trip, here are the results of my "field test."

Port Authority:
I wore it for a day of travel. It was very comfortable, like wearing a golf shirt only with a dressier appearance. Tails are short enough to wear untucked if that's your thing. Very little wrinkling after a day of planes and airports. Did my typical wash-in-hotel-sink thing, and it dried quickly and looking like new. Wore it on the flights back. Conclusion: Great travel shirt, build quality just OK, good compromise between dressy (sort of), comfortable, and convenient.

Mizzen & Main: At 5x the price of the PA shirt, this solid white shirt looks crisp and dressy. It doesn't look like a knit shirt, it has a very fine weave. It emerged from my suiter with no more wrinkles than it had when I got it at Nordstrom. I wore it for a long day of meetings and here's where it really performed. At the end of the day, it looked no different than at the start - still crisp and ready to go. (My cotton Tyrwhitt shirts start off looking great, but at the end of the day show more wrinkling and look like they've been worn.) Hotel washing of the M&M shirt produced an OK result with some fine wrinkling from the wringing process. Wearable, but I think I'll try a different water extraction process next time. If it didn't get soiled or sweaty, this shirt could go for more than one day without laundering.

And, I got the Wool & Prince shirt. Gorgeous packaging - a nice rigid shipping box, tissue paper lining. The shirt itself looks great, fine for business at any level. I'll report back on that one, I have a few more trips in the offing.
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Old Nov 12, 2017, 6:44 pm
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Update on the Wool & Prince shirt... very nice - crisp and professional. This all-white shirt is half wool, half synthetic. It doesn't feel stretchy, it's quite conventional in that way. The care instructions are a bit troubling: "Let the wool do the work. Dry clean only." Not sure if they imply multiple wearings are possible due to wool odor-resistance? Worried what self-laundering in a hotel sink might do to this shirt. But, it looks great. And, there's a pocket. I'll experiment with it... what's the worst that could happen?
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Old Nov 14, 2017, 11:56 am
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Originally Posted by txirish
Update on the Wool & Prince shirt... very nice - crisp and professional. This all-white shirt is half wool, half synthetic. It doesn't feel stretchy, it's quite conventional in that way. The care instructions are a bit troubling: "Let the wool do the work. Dry clean only." Not sure if they imply multiple wearings are possible due to wool odor-resistance? Worried what self-laundering in a hotel sink might do to this shirt. But, it looks great. And, there's a pocket. I'll experiment with it... what's the worst that could happen?
I believe that's exactly what they imply. I remember when Wool & Prince came out on Kickstarter (I started a thread about a news story I saw... The Ultimate Travel Shirt?) and they were talking about wearing the same shirt for 100 days straight.

Unfortunately the original story is gone. But I still wouldn't recommend duplicating the experiment.
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Old Nov 14, 2017, 3:24 pm
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Originally Posted by Boogie711
I believe that's exactly what they imply. I remember when Wool & Prince came out on Kickstarter (I started a thread about a news story I saw... The Ultimate Travel Shirt?) and they were talking about wearing the same shirt for 100 days straight.

Unfortunately the original story is gone. But I still wouldn't recommend duplicating the experiment.
As mentioned upthread, I think their "experiment" occurred under pretty ideal conditions in San Francisco. I have found that their shirts will stand up to multiple wearings, like five to ten, before dry cleaning is necessary.
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Old Nov 14, 2017, 6:00 pm
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I don't care if you spend all your time in the arctic without a parka - don't wear your shirt for 100 days straight. For everyone's sake.
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Old Apr 29, 2018, 9:14 am
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I've done more traveling with these shirts - here's an update, and also a new one I haven't tried...

Wool & Prince - great looking, crisp, and apparently really can tolerate multiple wearings before dry cleaning. I've gone about 6 (with a couple of lengthy rest periods in the closet), and people aren't avoiding me yet. At least, more than usual. Still looks almost like new, mild wrinkling at the elbows and tails.

Mizzen & Main - Very nice shirt other than the lack of a chest pocket. Watch out for different materials/weaves. One of mine (fine blue/white pattern) is very stretchy, doesn't wrinkle, washes and dries very quickly. The other (solid white) is a finer weave, slightly less stretchy, and seems to have some persistent fine wrinkles. Not very noticeable, still fine to wear, but unexpected.

Port Authority - I bought a couple more of these, and they are my go-to shirts for long-haul flights. Stretchy, comfortable, and wrinkle resistant. The darker colors like black and dark gray look a little better than the light blue, IMO. Easy to wash in the hotel, dry quickly. Not as formal as a starched cotton dress shirt (or the Wool & Prince), but will get you by in many, if not most, business situations. I'm tempted to round out my collection with a white one. A steal at $24. (Amazon -
Amazon Amazon
)

And, here's a new one I haven't tested yet: a long-sleeve from Arcteryx. (Amazon -
Amazon Amazon
) Looks sharp, very good reviews... Moisture wicking, quick dry, UPF-rated. The flap pocket and odd yoke construction make it more casual looking, though. Perhaps OK for casual business wear.
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Old May 2, 2018, 5:00 pm
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Update - I just got a couple of the Bluffworks Meridian Dress shirts in...

I love, love, love this company. OMG they make great stuff. Definitely 'dressy casual.' I wouldn't want to match it with a tie, for example. But I threw it under my Bluffworks Navy Blazer, and either a pair of khaki or grey Bluffworks pants, and I'm golden.

I'll update after I've put some mileage on them.
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Old May 5, 2018, 8:48 am
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>>Bluffworks Meridian Dress shirts
Those look like a good option. I wish they had something other than the rather bold check patterns - e.g., solids, or a fine check that wasn't as obvious. Their blazer looks pretty nice as well - when I decide to replace my Travelsmith blazer (many-pocketed as well, but rather heavy and non-stretchy) that might be an option. The key requirement for a travel blazer, IMO, is the ability to be stuffed in overhead compartments and to be treated poorly in general but not look like it. The fine weave on the TS blazer also makes simple cleanup easy - minor soiling incurred on the road generally cleans up with a damp towel.

I've rethought my "use case" for the Wool & Prince shirts. Because of their dry cleaning requirement, I don't think they are the best choice for long-haul flying. A dozen or two hours of jogging through hot airports, sitting in cramped seats, or even enjoying a lay-flat snooze in the front cabin might be too much to expect. But, I'm packing one as a go-to shirt for meetings, etc., where I can wear it for part of a day and then hang it up in the hotel to, as they say, "let the wool do its work."
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Old May 5, 2018, 1:43 pm
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Ministry

i can recommend to check out Ministr of Supply. The buid quality is great but the shirts have very different fits. You have to try a couple of models.
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