That's easy...

http://johnsmedley.com

Other cotton polos that I once considered soft feel like potato sacks compared to smedley and the fit of their "fitted" range is perfect for me. Line-dry only though (and hand wash encouraged).

I have never been able to notice any appreciable difference between the Target polos and the Ralph Lauren polos except that the Target polos are much cheaper and lack the annoying logo.

As I have gotten older I have not continued to like how my slightly scrawny arms look in a polo shirt.  I have a couple of old (8years or so) Malo ones that are nice, but nothing I can think of off of the top of my head.  Actually, for pique, Hemdeco out of Milan does a lot of the nice private label for good shops in Italy.  They have a sort of circular weave that seems to hold up well to repeated washing.

I love John Smedleys.

For Polo shirts I like basic logo-less stuff like LL Bean & Landsend. I like the ordinary coarse pique - nothing supima or 'soft as an Angel's wing' or whatever it is they say about the finer knit stuff.

I used to love Brooks just for the Brooks logo which you rarely saw in England. I've grown up since then (plus now you can buy them in the UK where's the cachet?).

Grayson ol' chum,

have you seen the shirts at grasscourt.com ?

Just the thing for a bit o' lawn tennis.  They have a USA-made shirts.  One with heavy fabric from England, so-claimed, and one with a lighter fabric from Peru.   I didn't know that pique fabric was still made in England.

Cheers,

H.

No logos, size S, single figure price tag

(sorry, read 'what makes' instead of 'who'...)

Last edited by Moose Maclennan (2007-08-29 06:44:45)

American Apparel do some nice stuff, and they have stores all over NYC.

http://www.americanapparel.net/wholesaleresources/catalog/category.html?cid=5

Regards,
Bolaji

No logo is a must.  That said, I've always liked Lacoste polos.  The banded sleeves are slightly shorter and fitted than most.

I do prefer polos with hemmed, as opposed to banded, sleeves, and pockets.  A pocketed polo is ideal.  Pima or pique.  I think it has a certain retro look about it, although I have been told it resembles an old man polo.

Cordings used to sell these wonderful polos with pockets and hemmed sleeves in a really thin, soft cotton.

The one type of polo I don't like is the one with a contrasting colour at the neck and placket.  K&C used to sell these, and CT still do.

Smedley make the polo worn by Craig in the James Bond film.

I think Allen Solly folded and the machines got acquired by Smedley, or something along those lines. I think they are one and the same for our purposes. Some people gripe about the product not being as good, but I can't really see the difference. They now have some odd designs, but the classic long and short sleeve polos in solid colors are a class act. I also have some V neck all cotton long sleeve sweaters by Smedley, same cloths, and they are far superior to their Italian cousins in finishing, and the cloth is much better than Malo, Avon Celi, etc., in my opinion.