Colin

I have bought both Brooks Brothers Madison fit and a Kama Vintage Ivy chambray shirts and to be honest I'm not 100% happy with either shirt.

The Vintage Ivy is from a few years ago. First the positives - decent shirt buttons, locker loop, third collar button and a flap pocket - like a Press shirt. Negatives - collar could roll a bit more, the 6 button placket comes untucked from my trousers, the collar to body ratio is off.

The Brooks chambray has a great roll, the collar on the medium fits well and it has more buttons, so stays neatly tucked. Down side is the arms on a Madison Fit shirt are quite baggy.

Material wise there's not a lot in it.

I wouldn't pay £100+ for a new shirt from them I don't think

Depending on your financial situation, I think the Kamakura Vintage Ivy for £105-120 is pretty good value considering what's out there (as new BD's go there's hardly anything).
As you've said earlier the days of picking up cheap BB's are a thing of the past and finding a decent one under £25 is like finding the holy grail. If you're after something similar to a BB, then a Mercer & Sons is going to come in at a lot more than £100, and trying to find one of those on eBay is even rarer.
Vintage shirts I try looking for on eBay other than Mercer's and BB's, are usually Norman Shirtmakers, Sero, Geoffrey Scott, Aetna and Yorke Shirtmakers, and I always come up with a big fat zero. So, my laziness tends to always edge towards Kamakura. If and when the Far East Manufacturing are released in the UK and providing, they are not ridiculously priced I will give them a go. I mean I was paying £59 for a Sero from JS in the early 90's.
BTW I too was looking at the Kama Chambray on the Fb Ivy League Group page, thought it was a good price.

Last edited by Runninggeez (2024-07-09 01:55:23)

I just moved on a clutch of vintage/ new shirts myself. I don’t think to post them on here as think they’ll be too small for most on here. One was a barely worn Cable Car Clothiers of SF uni stripe Oxford popover, which fit me in the body but too loose in the neck.

Last edited by Tomiskinky (2024-07-10 06:44:52)

New old Kamakura chambray shirt is wonderful. Flag pocket a nice detail. I think the collar on these shirts are the smallest I'd wear (the John Simons ones being the max), but I rarely wear ties and even less likely with chambray. Lovely colour. Some people must be spending a lot on lots of new Kamakura shirts which seems a bit extravagant, but cheaper than JS and more or less similar quality. That's it for shirt purchases for me, until I've cleared out a lot!

I looked at the jacket but wrong size for me

I think there's a lot to like at AB's. Kamakura, the knitwear, Weston loafers, Sebago, some nice looking sweatshirts and the Belief cotton polos look very good value.

I'd like to visit the store to try a few things on. Theoretically it's close enough from Birmingham. M1 permitting.

My only concern, that has stopped me so far, is there also appears to be a lot of terrace casualwear from Audience and others that isn't really my bag.

On the subject of linen suits I saw on ebay yesterday a JS olive linen suit ( worn once apparently) , for around £170, probably from SS24,
40?? . Jacket 32??  trousers , looks a real bargain ....