Banana Republic: Classy and Comfortable 't-shirts'
Steve Jobs had some great ideas, but it could be argued that one of his best ideas was wearing those iconic black mock turtleneck shirts on repeat. He realized that looking sharp doesn’t always mean having to be uncomfortable or wasting your precious grind time hunched over an ironing board. As you might expect, Steve’s turtlenecks were custom made by a fashion designer in Japan (Issey Miyake). The clean lines of his legendary shirt worked with the tailored fit to make it classy enough to command a presence on stage, but also wearable enough to look like he might actually get his hands dirty in the design studio with Jony Ive from time to time.
Thankfully you don’t need your own bespoke custom shirts tailored in Japan to change the world. Banana Republic offers a couple lines of shirts that sport all of the benefits of Steve’s iconic mainstay while keeping the costs reasonable and the style a bit more casual. No need to travel to Japan for fitting, your purchase is just a click away and the shirts run true to size.
One line of those shirts is the more substantial Luxury Touch, and the other is the lighter weight Silky-Cotton shirts. My go-to is the black long sleeve Luxury Touch shirt, which I wear with a white undershirt when the weather is cool enough. These shirts are as comfortable as a soft cotton long-sleeve t-shirt, because that’s what they are. But they give off a classier vibe. You can wear it on its own, with a contrasting undershirt, or you can actually pair it with a sport coat or blazer (especially the darker colors). For warmer climates, the Silky-Cotton t-shirts are great, while I prefer the Luxury Touch polos for stepping it up if I'm going out when the temperatures start to drop.
Since the cotton fabric is wrinkle resistant thanks to a clever weave, you don’t have to think twice about wearing a backpack or slinging your laptop bag over your shoulder. And you definitely don’t need to be concerned about your seatbelt leaving wrinkles. You can wear the shirt on the car ride and not have to suffer through the embarrassment of having an audience watch you get changed in the parking lot. The fabric usually doesn't wrinkle unless it is exceptionally hot and humid or unless you have done something alarmingly abnormal. I wore a backpack on a trek across town in Budapest last summer, and I was pleasantly surprised when I arrived at the cafe with the shirt still looking perfectly presentable (despite having worked up a bit of a sweat).
The weight of the Luxury Touch fabric is what I would consider 'medium plus'. It drapes nicely and has an upscale feel and appearance. The fabric is a bit thicker than a normal shirt (which is part of what dresses it up in addition to the French seams), but the weave allows it to breathe better than you might expect.
Which reminds me, the fabric lends well to travel with the Luxury Touch traveling particularly well. These shirts hardly wrinkle in my packing cubes. Any wrinkles I get from overpacking usually release a few minutes after putting the shirt on, and the fabric retains its wrinkle-resistant property over several years (especially if you wash and dry on the cool side of the dial). I took a couple Luxury Touch shirts on my last business trip to London, and I was able to put them on without having to iron them in my hotel room. This is what I look for in all the shirts I travel with. I much prefer spending my free time exploring the city to laboring over a squeaky ironing board with a calcified subpar hotel iron.
As a guy, the worst part about finding something you really like to wear is when it wears out, because that means you have shop. Worse still is finding out you can’t buy the same shirt anymore (because ‘fashion trends’). The good news here is that not only do these shirts last a long time, but the design is timeless so it isn't affected by the whims of the fashionistas. Which is why Banana Republic has been making this shirt non-stop for years (possibly even decades). I always buy a few just to be on the safe side, but they have kept these shirts coming without skipping a single beat (which has probably saved me dozens of hours of clothes shopping).
The fit has been consistent over the years which is also a big plus since I already know these shirts me well, so I can order it without thinking. It should be noted that the Luxury Touch shirts are known to shrink a bit (especially in length) in a hot wash cycle or a hot dryer, so be sure to keep things cool. I nuked one of mine once, and while it remained wearable, I only wore it when the others were waiting patiently in my laundry basket. Banana Republic does offer 'tall' cuts in some of the styles if you're fortunate enough to have that sort of problem in life (or if you're worried it might be borderline too short if it shrinks a bit).
Steve Jobs once said that he had accumulated somewhere around a hundred of those Issey Miyake mock turtlenecks. While that may be a bit extreme, I'll admit to always purchasing my Banana Republic shirts in bulk. If an unexpected meeting pops up and I don’t have a button-up shirt ironed and ready, my trusty black long sleeve Luxury Touch shirt is always my fallback. That is unless I had a couple other unexpected meetings since my last laundry day. Which is exactly why I don't buy one or two, I buy several. That way I always have at least one hanging in the closet and ready. I usually end up wearing them more than planned since ironing is not my favorite pastime (and the shirt also looks great on camera).
One last thing. Just because Steve’s iconic look was stolen by Elizabeth Holmes, it doesn't mean you're a psycho if you choose to dress easy like he did. The shirts didn't make her crazy, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that she was that way long before she started wearing the shirts. And Steve Jobs openly embraced stealing great ideas, famously quoting Pablo Picasso: “Good artists copy; great artists steal”. He would be flattered that you emulated what was possibly one of the best decisions he ever made.
Sometimes I wonder if the iPhone would have been invented at all had it not been for Steve's trusty stockpile of shirts. The exact moment he came up with the idea of the iPhone, what if he had been distracted shopping for random shirts at the mall instead? It could be argued that Steve's iconic turtlenecks may have played a role in shaping our modern world. We will never know for sure. But I do know that you will have more time and energy to change the course of history if you buy a few of these shirts right now.
