100 Hands - A Closer Look at the Finest Shirts in the World
- Derek
- Jul 3, 2019
- 4 min read
Perhaps I should begin by explaining the title of this article. Simon Crompton of Permanent Style once stated that ‘100 Hands makes perhaps the finest shirts in the world’.
For those who doesn’t know, 100 Hands is a Dutch shirt maker with their production line based in India, where the family of the brand has over a century of heritage in the hand-embroidered textile industry.
As the name suggests, for each single shirt they make, at least 50 highly expert artisans (i.e. 100 hands in total) are involved in the production process taking up to 2.5 day (for Gold Line shirts, which will be further explained below) of exquisite hand work.
As a result, only a very limited amount of shirts can be produced per year at their atelier in Amritsar, India. Shirts from 100 Hands are mainly divided into two lines in terms of quality of make, namely the Black Line and the Gold Line (a more refined line with more than 30 hand-sewing works and procedures). I managed to get hold of their Gold Line shirts earlier and would like to share with you some of the incredible handworks I find in the pieces.
The Closer Look
[Note: In this article, I intend to look into details the make and finishing of 100 Hands shirt instead of focusing on the fit (as I have yet to own a bespoke/MTM shirt from them)]
First, I have to confess my obsession with those stitches on shirts. Whenever I receive a shirt, I’d start by checking out whether the stitching is clean and immaculate enough as more often than not, it serves a useful indication as to the overall shirt’s quality. After all, it’s one thing to have your shirts ‘hand-made’ by shirtmakers, but another to receive finished shirts with poor and rough hand stitching/sewing.
For the case of 100 Hands, as you would expect from any other top-notch shirtmakers, the stitching is very neat. Beyond the basics, all the buttonholes are in fact embroidered with silk threads, using an ancient method dating back to more than 100 years ago. The method requires artisans to place more than twice the number of stitches you would normally find in other shirts and therefore, it takes almost an hour to finish each buttonhole. This, is truly the crème de la crème one can ask for in the case of shirtmaking. It also goes without saying that the finishing quality of buttonholes is rock solid, no fraying and loose threads whatsoever. Definitely a reflection of precision and pure workmanship.
It goes without saying that the finishing quality of buttonholes is also rock solid, without fraying and loose threads whatsoever. Definitely a reflection of precision and pure workmanship.
Gussets are also hand-sewn at the bottom end of side seams to add extra strength to the high-stress area and the garment as a whole by reinforcing the junction where the front and back of shirttails are bound. Albeit not an absolute hallmark of craftsmanship, nicely finished gussets are certainly delicate detail that classic menswear enthusiasts would expect to see in quality shirts.
The collar, inside and out, is attached to the body of the shirt fully by hand. Function-wise, this allows the collar to achieve a better-looking natural curve (which is a thing of beauty) and retain its shape when worn without collapsing easily.
As for the sleeve plackets and cuffs, one thing I notice is that the stitches are extremely tiny and discreetly placed very close to the edges. The result of such dense and consistent stitching (roughly 25 stitches per inch) is exactly what we meant by the term ‘invisible stitching’.
Gold Line shirts also feature refined 2-3mm French single seams on the sides of the body, where the material is folded over and then hand-sewn very closely. It’s more aesthetic than double seams and functional-wise, the hand-sewing of the side seams allows better movement of the shirt’s body.
The bottom hem is hand-rolled, delicately like what you’d find in scarves and pocket squares, and hand-stitched. This little detail does indeed set 100 Hands apart from other shirtmakers who usually simply just fold over and machine-sew the bottom part of the shirt.
Another thing I really like is the pleated shoulders. This is not easy to make because the last thing you want is having excessive fabric at the sleeve heads which destroys the proper balance and proportions. But as you can see from the photo below, the shirring at the sleeve heads here is carefully gathered and sewn to the shirt’s body, creating a more relaxed and spalla camicia-like style.
Conclusion
For those who share a deep appreciation for craftsmanship, you’d find the level of dedication 100 Hands put into their shirts and their stories behind truly fascinating.
To be honest, one would expect shirts of such high quality and level of details at much higher price points. But for the case of 100 Hands, the company has certainly taken hand-made shirts to the next top level by adding more human touches so that every piece has a character of its own.
With their mindfulness of flawless quality of artisans’ needlework, shirtmaking has now become a work of art (not just in terms of fit, but also the make and finishing of shirts).
コメント