Simon Skottowe polo shirt
Disclaimer: Simon Skottowe offered to send me the polo shirt free of charge. All opinions are mine.
Not long ago, during Shoegazing Super Trunk Show in London I was approached by a gentleman who introduced himself as Simon Skottowe, brand based in Budapest. Said he followed the blog and would be interested in collaboration. I was intrigued because he represented brand I never heard of before and it is always fun and interesting for the readers to write about new products. As you may also know I am fan of new European brands and obviously wanted to know more.
Simon Skottowe is a brand started in Budapest as a bespoke tailor’s shop. Tailoring is still big part of their business yet recently they decided to offer more in their menswear store. Hungarian customers have now a chance to buy best possible products, not easily available in this country, like Carmina or Drake’s. After further consideration they also came up with an idea of developing their own garments under Simon Skottowe brand, made locally in Hungary. This is what made the deal interesting.
Simon Skottowe polo shirts is their latest project. Inspired by the famous Fred Perry tennis polo shirt featuring beautiful one piece collar it has been made to remind vintage cut with longer (yet still short) sleeves. The collar is actually its most stunning feature. It is the exact reason while I got so many compliments when wearing it for the first time at Anglo-Italian store opening party last month. I have never been given so many good looks and words on anything I ever worn in my life in such a short time. Simon Skottowe polo shirt sits perfectly on a jacket! If anyone is looking for a shirt that has a collar with interlining (fused) yet bends gently on the jacket’s lapel then this is the one. It is quite amazing how a good design makes this polo shirt so unique. In my opinion the front placket is too short to be worn buttoned because the curve to the wide spread collar is too extreme but unbuttoned is when the collar shines.
We have all seen the Eidos polo and rightfully it has become a classic. However many people complained that its collar was too big and stands up very high. It does not look nice when spread over the lapel. Unlike Simon Skottowe’s design which seemed to be made to worn just like that.
Fabric used is a classic pique organic cotton from Italy. Simon Skottowe bought it ready to be dyed and applied the process themselves in Budapest. Colours on offer include white, navy, light grey and mulberry. The fabric has a classic weight to it but is relatively cool to wear due to open weave fabric. It is no different compared to other offerings on the market including famous Permanent Style Friday polo. Buttons are made of Australian mother of pearl and come from Italian producer.
I tested it both with the jacket and without, wearing casually with shorts. Some might argue that short sleeve version shouldn’t be worn with a jacket and it actually feels strange only if you wear a watch. Your hand feels like something is missing, if that makes sense. However when it is 35 degrees in Italy one wouldn’t want to wear anything more than a polo, right?
Simon Skottowe polo shirt is the exact reason I decided to start blogging. It offers you a fantastic looking, classic design, it is made in Hungary from quality materials, it has a classic cut and very interesting collar, it fits me well as RTW and maybe most importantly offers great value for money! I couldn’t ask for more.
Anything I don’t like? Not much really. Obviously you have understand that (visible on some photos) a person with very sloped shoulders would have to live with creases coming from the collar back down to the armhole. Yet this is unavoidable in RTW garments. Oh and the label on the back of the collar came off after the first wash. I do not consider any of this to be very important though but wanted to give you a whole picture in this review.
Polo’s are now available through brand’s facebook profile or via email, both see below. Hope you like it as much as I do and thanks for reading!
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