Dress shirt placket

[kolecho]

Should a dress shirt have a front placket?

[mathew]

Would you like for it to have one?
You could have a 1/4"-stitched placket front, plain front, edge-stitched placket front or a fly front which leaves the beautiful MOP buttons concealed.

[AlexanderKabbaz]

Agree with Mathew. What you shouldn't have on your shirt front is selvedge, no matter what kind of center treatment you select. This shoddy construction method is most often seen in conjunction with the plain - oftimes called "French" - center. The reason is that the selvedge is woven to a different yarn count - and often of a different yarn content - which shrinks differently than the body of the cloth.

[kolecho]

Do shirts with front placket hold its shape better than plain front one?

Is the placket there for a functional reason?

[AlexanderKabbaz]

Do shirts with front placket hold its shape better than plain front one?

The front placket is often interlined with a very lightweight interlining whereas the plain center normally uses an interlining made of a similar piece of fabric as the shirt. Therefore, the center placket front is just a wee bit stronger.

It should be noted here that altogether too many makers construct a plain center by merely turning under the selvedge and putting in the buttonholes to hold it in place. This is, as stated elsewhere to the point of ennui, very wrong, and will usually end up in a puckered shirt in very short order.

Is the placket there for a functional reason?

Yes. If it were not, you would see a 1.5" strip of your bare chest from the collar to your trouser waist.

[TVD]

May I add that of the myriad ways to tailor a placket most are obnoxiously wrong. To cite but the most grave of transgressions: fused interlining (stiff as a board - T&A RTW commits this offence for example); double lockstitch grating on your chest on the rear of the placket; unfused interlining bunching up inside, lack of pattern-matching...

No matter what style of shirt one selects, all but a few shirtmakers seem intent on getting it wrong.

[AlexanderKabbaz]

double lockstitch grating on your chest on the rear of the placket

With all due respect ... I believe you mean double chainstitch. The lockstitch is the one which lays flat with the cloth; the chainstitch - usually poly core thread - abrades your chest.

[TVD]

Indeed, I stand corrected. It is the CHAINSTITCH that grates. Actually, it does not grate me that much because the offending item has been consigned to the bin.