Oxford Cloth

[rodes]

I read in Manton's excellent book,"The Suit", that oxford cloth is too warm for summer shirts. This is perhaps the only thing in the entire book that I question. True,the cloth is heavy but it seems to permit air flow better than standard broadcloth. Like fresco for suiting,I find that royal oxford wears cool for shirting. What is the experience of others?

[arkirshner]

For me, given modern air conditioning, with respect to comfort, there is little difference in shirt cloths. On the other hand, IMO, the weave of oxford cloth is too heavy in appearance to be paired with the fabrics used for wool summer suitings.

[couch]

The more heavily textured oxford cloths, such as the royal oxfords, often have the additional characteristic (shared with seersucker and pique knit) of touching the skin at fewer points per square inch than a smoother weave, such as broadcloth, would do. This is not exactly porosity, but it does allow the skin to breathe a bit more freely. My experience, like yours, is that these wear cooler as a result. I'd see no reason to avoid them with frescos or linens, or cotton twill or seersucker suits, all of which have enough texture to hold their own with the oxford cloth. With tropical worsteds, it might be more of an issue. Pinpoint oxford can work with these lighter suitings; while it may be only marginally cooler (if any) than a broadcloth, in my experience it is less prone to adhere to the skin in sticky weather.

[Costi]

The more heavily textured oxford cloths, such as the royal oxfords, often have the additional characteristic (shared with seersucker and pique knit) of touching the skin at fewer points per square inch than a smoother weave, such as broadcloth, would do. This is not exactly porosity, but it does allow the skin to breathe a bit more freely.

Great point! Never thought about in these terms, but it's true!

[rewozz]

I have two OCBDs woven in 80s that are quite heavy and warm compared to my other shirtings. I find it strange that the weave gets mentioned so much in the AA/Esquire articles as a summer alternative. I believe I read on Will´s blog some year ago that Oxford weave is in fact not a summer alternative. Then quite recently he interviewed Alexander Kabbaz who said that Oxford weave is in fact good in the summer because it's more loose in the fabric—I suppose Will was too polite to have an argument about it. Then again, I believe Kabbaz writes in his long shirt fabric article that Oxford weave traps pockets of air.

I'm a bit confused, but my own qualitative analysis tells me Oxford weave is usually hotter than the rest of my shirtings.

[Merc]

I have two OCBDs woven in 80s that are quite heavy and warm compared to my other shirtings. I find it strange that the weave gets mentioned so much in the AA/Esquire articles as a summer alternative. I believe I read on Will´s blog some year ago that Oxford weave is in fact not a summer alternative. Then quite recently he interviewed Alexander Kabbaz who said that Oxford weave is in fact good in the summer because it's more loose in the fabric—I suppose Will was too polite to have an argument about it. Then again, I believe Kabbaz writes in his long shirt fabric article that Oxford weave traps pockets of air.

I'm a bit confused, but my own qualitative analysis tells me Oxford weave is usually hotter than the rest of my shirtings.

i have about 1/2 doz different oxfords made by myshirtmaker.one was a mason royal oxford, the rest were an odd lot

first: the weight of the fabric matters greatly. there are lighterweight fabrics in an oxford weave (although i know of no super light-weight ones) but there are lighter and heavier
2nd: i have two oxfords where the weave is looser and they are cooler than the others. Theyre quite comfy in summer-but they also have less body and rumple easier and even when ironed they never look as crisp. that's the trade-off. (also these are not as opaque looking when you hold em up to the light)

Finally, as a general tendency most oxfords i've seen are fairly substantial in weight (grams/m; oz per yd) and are pretty tightly woven, hence most of them are warm