Harbour Sand Shirt

The Harbour Sand Shirt is a handwoven khadi striped shirt in two colours: narrow bands of denim blue and honey camel, set well apart on a ground of undyed cream cotton. The two colours alternate, so a different one meets the eye every few centimetres, and four fifths of the cloth is left plain.

Handspun, handwoven khadi

Every metre begins as yarn spun by hand and is woven on a handloom. The ground is unbleached cotton in its own oatmeal colour, carrying the slubs and occasional flecks that a handloom leaves and a mill removes. Khadi is woven loosely enough to move air through it, which is why it stays cool in heat that defeats mill cotton, and it softens with every wash instead of wearing thin.

What makes this khadi striped shirt different

Two dyed colours on one warp is roughly twice the loom setup of a single stripe, and the weaver has to keep both in register across the whole length. The blue is a true denim rather than a washed-out slate, the camel is warm and golden rather than muddy, and the cream between them is never dyed at all — so the shirt reads as three colours while only two dye baths were used. Six coconut-shell buttons run down a centre placket, each cut from a shell and no two the same shade of brown.

How it wears

A relaxed straight cut with a point collar, full sleeves and two-button barrel cuffs. There is no chest pocket, so the stripe runs unbroken down the front. The hem is gently curved, so it sits properly untucked over trousers or jeans and tucks cleanly when you want it to. The blue takes it towards denim and navy; the camel takes it towards khaki and olive. If you want something quieter in the same cut, the Wheat Loom Shirt is nearly plain, and the Dune Sage Shirt keeps two colours but drops the blue.

Why khadi

Khadi is spun and woven without electricity, by artisans paid for the hours the cloth actually takes. Buying a khadi striped shirt keeps handloom households working and keeps alive a craft that industrial weaving came close to ending. Both dyes are drawn from plants rather than petrochemicals, so the cloth is gentle on skin and on the water it leaves behind.

Specification

Care

Hand wash separately in cold water for the first few washes — the blue in particular may bleed a little at first, as plant-dyed indigo-family colours do. Machine wash gentle thereafter. Do not bleach. Dry in shade; direct sun fades plant dyes. Warm iron. Expect the cloth to soften over the first season; that is the cloth behaving as it should.