The Best Dress Shirts for Men in 2023: Top Brands to Rely On | WERD

Courtesy of ETON

Sure, dress codes have changed in recent years, as has your own wardrobe, but one thing tends to hold true across the years and seasons: there will certainly come a time when you need a quality dress shirt on your back.

Perhaps you’ve felt your closet is a bit out of sorts these days, what with clothes meant to be worn working from home and yet, nothing that quite works when you need to adorn a proper dress shirt and head to the office.

You might need a dress shirt for a long-planned meeting or conference, a fancy date night or one of many tailored shindigs that call for putting your best foot forward. That’s where the best dress shirts can provide a ready and able wardrobe upgrade, particularly if your closet could use a refresh.

When in doubt, it’s best to rely on classic brands that deliver reliable fits, fabrics and styles, and it’s also ideal to find a few brands with a modern, fresh vision.

You’ll find dress shirts that dial things in with neck, sleeve and chest sizing, and others that are somewhat less precise – either way, be sure to know your measurements, and know how you like your shirt to fit.

Bear in mind that the best men’s dress shirts serve as an ideal business casual style pick, whether worn with a tie and blazer or sans tie. And they also serve as ready foil under a cardigan or V-neck sweater.

Find the proper fit and fabric with our picks for top dress shirts, and your wardrobe will have another handy tool for (near) perfect style from day to night.

Courtesy of Brooks Brothers (Oxford cloth fabric)

Popular Men’s Dress Shirt Fabrics Explained

Decades ago, men wore some form of a dress shirt – usually starched in a crisp white color – every single day.

Dress codes might be more casual these days, but there are still plenty of classic, popular dress shirt fabrics that are worth your while to know as you build out a Monday-Friday (and beyond) wardrobe. Here are some you’re apt to encounter out there.

Oxford: Oxford fabric is one of the most widely known fabrics the world over, thanks to its double-weave design that brings two fibers together in a hearty-yet-supple shirt.

Most commonly seen in the aptly named Oxford cloth buttondown (named for its English origins), Oxford fabric makes for an ideal business casual shirt when styled in a design featuring a buttondown collar.

Poplin: Among the best dress shirts for men, you’ll find plenty of different types of woven cotton fabrics, like poplin. The plain-weave, horizontally woven poplin resists wrinkles well, making it a fine choice for an all-day dress shirt, while it should also prove softer than Oxford or twill. It’s also a solid dress shirt choice given the slight amount of luster in the fabric.

Twill: In the same sort of style family tree as poplin rests twill fabric. Twill fabric is more textured and thicker than poplin fabric, and interestingly enough, lots of the best men’s chino pants are made from a variation of cotton twill fabric.

Because of its thicker hand feel and texture, twill is sometimes brushed for softness before being sewn into a stylish dress shirt.

Broadcloth: The dressiest of the most common types of dress shirt fabrics might in fact be broadcloth. Broadcloth delivers a lightweight feel similar to poplin, and it also boasts a smooth weave pattern that’s far less textured than, say, an Oxford cloth shirt.

Oftentimes, the best quality dress shirts made from broadcloth fabric will offer info on a thread count (look for this from brands like Brooks Brothers).

Chambray: Chambray is, at its core, a rugged fabric often found in the best workshirts and other similar styles. But over the past decade-plus, chambray has turned into a popular dress shirt fabric, too.

Chambray dress shirts boast that same characteristic blue-meets-white, warp-and-weft texture, with a more smooth, brushed finish.

Some chambray shirts will use eye-catching details like a spread collar for a more dynamic look that can “dress down” more formal suiting (Think: A chambray dress shirt paired with a charcoal suit).

End-on-End: In a similar fashion to chambray fabric, end-on-end fabric makes use of two different types of thread woven in an interlocking pattern.

The weave delivers texture up close, yet often appears as a solid color from far away. However, end-on-end shirts aren’t as smooth and solid as broadcloth shirts, and they’re commonly found in shades of blue dress shirts.