This shirt caught my eye first because of the pattern, and second because I have never owned a madras shirt. So I thought I would give it a go, as I live in a state that is nearly always decently warm.

Let’s dive into this shirt, because I do like it quite a bit…

Material

So first, madras itself is an entire thing, not just the material or pattern. It’s like a combination of the two, so I am not going to refer to this as madras cloth. Rather this is a lightweight Taylor Stitch fabric. And, in that case it is an open weave, 4-oz. 55% Organic Cotton, 45% Linen.

The translation here is that it is super breathable and light weight — not see through at all. It’s soft, not super wrinkly, but more rumply. The hand feel is fantastic.

Fit & Style

This shirt is all about style and in fact there is an entire history of it. The pattern — the feel — of this shirt is sublime. The fit is the same as all other Taylor Stitch button-up/downs I have tried.

Which is to say the fit is very trim, with slightly shorter sleeves than you might like. But the biggest issue with the fit is the cuffs, which are generally too narrow to fit most watches under them, and I think that is criminal.

So the style, and design of the shirt is on point, but the cut remains problematic for Taylor Stitch — they need to relax their cuts more.

Performance

Here is what Taylor Stitch says about the performance of this shirt: “…incredibly comfortable, breathable, and rugged shirt”. I can get behind that, the cotton gives you the comfort, and the weave and linen give you the rest of it.

Overall I think it generally stands up to those claims, as air passes through it nicely and it is too thin to stay wet for long. It’s not going to break any records on performance, but it will generally be comfortable in much of the heat you might experience. There are things that perform better, but I am not sure there are many that do it with the style of this shirt.

Overall

So, this is a good lightweight shirt — it’s a good light layer, or comfortable shirt for the evenings. This is a really hard shirt for me to review, because I do really like it, but I have a hard time saying it is on par with most of the performance minded shirts I review here.

So, I’ll sum this shirt up like this: it feels like a late summer sunset — warm, cozy, and something you want to stay in for a little longer.

They are on last call here.

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