Introducing the Ramie shirt (and shorts restocked) – Permanent Style

Our first completely new product for Spring/Summer launches today: the Ramie shirt.

Last summer I found I was wearing my linen shirts quite a bit in casual or casual-chic outfits, but they often felt a little dressy. Fine linens are made to be a little sharper, particularly with a tie and a jacket, but that means they do get a lot of little, sharp folds easily.

In search of an alternative, we worked with 100 Hands on a summer shirt that was made from a cotton/ramie blend. Ramie is a relatively underused fibre, partly because the supply isn’t that big and so prices can be high. But it has a lot of the same properties as linen, plus an extra softness that gives it a more casual feel.

Ramie has high absorbency, like linen and unlike cotton, which makes it good for warm weather. It’s also strong, again like linen, and very breathable. It’s only disadvantage compared to linen is it isn’t quite as cool to the touch.

Mixing the fibre with cotton brings out more of that softer feel. Most of us have worn cotton/linen shirts, and they’re a great alternative to linen for smart looks. But they are quite sharp, and not the kind of thing you’re going to wear casually. With Ramie, the combination is quite different.

I think most readers will think this shirt is made from a nice, white linen when they first put it on. But when they wear it for a bit they’ll feel the difference, and more so during the day as it creases and softens.

We had a little experience of this already actually, as readers who came to the last pop-up shop had a chance to try them on. The shop is a great testing ground, and it was nice to see how interested people were, as well as how much their reactions mapped with my own.

The shirts are made by 100 Hands, like the selvedge chambray, but whoever makes the PS shirts, they have the same fit so if you’re a medium in one, you’ll be a medium in another*.

That fit I’d describe as moderately slim, though so many readers have one of the PS shirts now that I think they know what they’re like and what size they are. There’s also more guidance in the recent size guide article.

The collar is new for the PS range, but it’s probably also the most standard of them – a very straightforward semi-spread. With a tie it sits neatly and conservatively around the knot, and without one the lightly lined construction means it forms a nice S-shape, folding underneath the lapel of the jacket. The point is 7.5cm long.

The shirt has no front placket, which means you can see all the hand-sewing work from 100 Hands easily up either side of the buttons. The buttons are white mother-of-pearl and it has the same curved single cuff as the other shirts.

I think this should be a fairly easy one to understand among the various things in the PS collection, but if not please do ask in the comments. The shirts cost £230 plus VAT and are available now, in sizes S to XL. If they prove popular we will restock with some XXL as well.

The other new thing on the shop this week is the PS Shorts, which perhaps surprisingly were the fastest selling thing last year, and one of the few to completely sell out.

They remain unchanged this year, except the green has been replaced with a new dark olive. That green was discontinued unfortunately, but we took the opportunity to add a really dark shade that works well with more cold-colour pieces.

As shown below, the dark olive is quite dark but not black, and works equally nice with black and brown leathers (always an indicator of versatility). Those are two braided leather belts of mine, one from Rubato and one an old piece from E Tautz.

The shorts are relatively mainstream compared to some PS items: they sit on the hip with a fairly straight leg. The product was designed to be an easy, everyday piece and despite the occasional tweak over the years, that’s what they remain.

More details on the shorts can be found in the 2021 article here.

The other clothes shown with the new dark-olive shorts are:

Ralph Lauren cream popover (2023)
Vintage Ralph Lauren cap
Buddy Optical sunglasses
Castaner espadrilles
Vintage Japanese gold bracelet

With the Ramie shirt the clothes are:

Bespoke trousers from Whitcomb & Shaftesbury in W Bill linen
Brown suede belt from Rubato
Silk jacket from Sartoria Pirozzi
Yellow-gold Reverso watch on black alligator strap
Sunglasses as above

*PS Oxford shirts are cut a little bigger to start with, as they have a little shrinkage. After a couple of washes they are the same size as the other shirts, as the size charts indicate.