A Men's Clothing Designer Is Making A Dress Shirt That Feels Like A T-Shirt
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Enter the Reworked shirt - a new piece from men's clothing line, W.R.K hitting stores in June that is meant to make your forget what a dress shirt used to feel like.
The Reworked shirt comes from a philosophy. W.R.K designer Matteo Gottardi creates clothes that are part wardrobe staple, part life hack. From jackets to pants, every item is meant to look good, feel good, and serve a purpose.
Gottardi explained: "The idea here is that they can get a great blazer, look good in it, and when their buddies say 'hey did you get a new blazer', they can say 'yeah, check out this sleeve, it doesn't have a seam. Or, check out this pocket, did you see there was a pocket there?'"
Here's Gottardi's design logic (take the dress shirt for example): When a man wears a dress shirt how does he actually wear it? If he's at work it's often with a blazer over it. Yes? Well then the sleeves can be softer, less starchy. A man, you see, needs to move his elbows freely. The fabric can be more structured around the wrist, and around the collar. The back (where a man sits) should be soft. The front - which the world sees - should be more structured. It makes a man look more structured.
And that's how a t-shirt that feels like a dress shirt is born.
Gottardi, 31, studied at NYU's Stern School of Business and started his own line shortly after that. Now, beyond designing for W.R.K, he is also what the He is the secret force behind brands like Vince Camuto and Nicole Miller.
The guy basically doesn't sleep. He can't. He's got to work on the mission.
"We look at a world now where if a man goes into a store and sees a blazer that is... too 'fashionable' or too expressive, all the sudden they question their own masculinity," said Gottardi. "They question whether this really fits into their lifestyle."
That shouldn't be. An article of clothing should fit seamlessly on a man's body and in a man's life. To achieve that, W.R.K draws inspiration from the Italian military, the WWII British motor corp, naval officers - men that have done things.
"At the end of the day a man will never neglect a product that brings more of a purpose or functionality to his life," said Gottardi. "It relates back to our genetics... it's like when we look at a car. The car could be pink but if its got the right engine in there and it makes the right sound, it's our car. Hell, if we have to we'll spray paint it, at the end of the day we love that car.... In order to get men to start dressing up, we need to show them the purpose of the product. We need to show them that the product has value besides the price tag or the logo that's printed on it."
You can pick up the Reworked Shirt at any of the retailers that sell W.R.K - Neiman Marcus (in stores and online), Saks Fifth Avenue (in stores and online), Nordstrom (in stores and online), Scoop NYC and Amazon.com.
And in case you need more of an example of how W.R.K works, check out the jacket below (The W.R.K Hyde Coat) and then scroll down and see how the pockets multiply.
Open it and BAM! All the pockets.
