When is a white shirt not just a white shirt?

This may sound like a trick question, but we have a clear answer: when a white shirt has texture.

For natural reasons, white shirts are thought of as being the most plain or “generic” of shirt colors. And that’s not a bad thing: this gives them an element of formality, and allows them to work as a blank canvas for any combination of suit, sportcoat and tie.

But weaving a bit of texture into an otherwise solid white shirt, such as a dimple stitch, honeycomb weave, or diamond weave, differentiates them from the pack without making them any less versatile.

Why wear a textured white shirt?
We’ve already made the case that white shirts with a little texture are more visually and tacitly interesting than their solid cousins. But there are more practical reasons to don a textured white shirt.

The more texture a shirt has, the less prone it will be to wrinkling. You can even think of it as being the original non-iron shirt.