They've been on my radar for years, but maybe due to the New York/Tokyo fits I'd never paid much interest (and we all have enough shirts, right?).
But picking up the green long sleeve madras and green uni stripe Graham Marsh ivy shirts I've been really impressed!
Good fabrics, 6 button, no ridiculously oversized collars, back collar button, loads of options.....a real hit.
In my experience the only challenge with Kamakura is getting the fit just right.
Over the years I have had a few of their shirts and I've found the fit variable.
Also the Japanese appear to have longer arms and narrower necks. The end result is a perfect body fit but too loose across the neck.
But you can't fault the quality, Ivy correct details, size of the collars and more importantly value for money.
I can't think of anyone who comes close to them based on the above criteria.
Long arms and narrow neck also applies to Lands End. I am wearing one of their excellent flannel shirts, from the years when they had great colour pattern options.
I sized down as I never button the neck. On the old shirts I now use elasticated arm bands which I previously thought were only for very short lads.
If you are not obsessive about collar size Lands End are unbeatable in the value stakes.
Fair point about fit - I found the sleeves on the 16.5 neck madras to be really long, and had to do some pretty hot washes/tumble dries to shrink the length a bit...
...which caught me by surprise given sleeves tend to be too short for me!
But a solidly priced, well made shirt, with great details and lots of fabrics and colour options.
I bought a couple of New York fits when the Graham Marsh Vintage Ivy line first came out and they were superb.
However I bought some more recently (from All Blues in Leeds) and I found that the cut had altered and gone towards slim fit, so I sent them back.