An archive, not a shop. Prowse & Hargood ceased trading and the company behind it was dissolved. This site restores the house's own published writing about its shirts, cloth and craft. Nothing here is for sale, no order can be placed, and no prices, ordering routes or contact details are reproduced. More about this restoration.

Men's Shirts

Prowse & Hargood built its men's offer on two ranges and left it there. One was formal and traditional, one relaxed and fitted; both were cut from two-fold long-staple cotton, and between them they were meant to cover a working week and the evenings around it.

The Tewkesbury Range

The house introduced it with a question. "How do you improve upon a timeless classic? At Prowse & Hargood, we've retained the traditional, distinctive style in our Tewkesbury range, whilst maximising the quality. The result? A shirt that will look as good at the end of your day as it does first thing in the morning."

In practice that meant a classic English cut with a generous body, a non-fused collar with a woven interlining, and a double cuff for use with cufflinks. The range was organised into four families — Plains, Stripes, Checks and Specials — and ran in collar sizes 15 to 18. Full detail is on the Tewkesbury range page.

The Tuscany Range

"The ability of the Italians to wear a shirt without a tie, whilst still appearing smart, is legendary. We've captured the essence of this celebrated style in our Tuscany range. An exclusive cut, along with an Italian collar that sits slightly higher on the neck, makes for an altogether more relaxed look that's just perfect for easygoing evenings and weekends."

The Tuscany is the answer to a specific problem: an open collar on a classic shirt collapses, because the collar was designed to be held up by a knot. A higher, fused collar stands on its own. Paired with a closer body and back darts, it gives a shirt that reads as deliberate rather than undressed. See the Tuscany range page.

Choosing between them

If you want one and not both, the honest test is the collar. Ask whether the shirt will spend most of its life with a knot at the throat. If yes, the softer non-fused Tewkesbury collar sits better under a tie and ages better. If no, a fused collar that stands unaided is the only kind that looks right open.

The cloth underneath both

Everything was two-fold cotton, woven from long-staple fibre — two yarns folded together before weaving. That specification is what separates a shirt that presses flat and stays flat from one that goes limp by lunchtime, and it is why the house quoted it on almost every page. The weaves ran across poplin, oxford and royal oxford, pinpoint, herringbone, twill and end-on-end; each is defined in the glossary.

Cotton staple length is the underlying variable. Longer fibres can be spun into finer, stronger, smoother yarn with fewer protruding ends, which is why long-staple cotton is the standard for good shirting; the Encyclopaedia Britannica entry on cotton gives a clear account of how staple length is classified.

Beyond the two ranges

Anyone whose measurements fell between the standard collar and sleeve pairings, or who wanted a collar style the ranges did not carry, was directed to the bespoke service, with over two hundred fabrics to choose from. A parallel women's range followed in the same cotton, and the accessories — silk ties, cufflinks and socks — were designed to sit alongside both.

Before ordering anything, the house sent customers to its sizing guide, which is restored in full with the original tables.