Keep Things Cool With the Best Camp Collar Shirts for Men

Embrace the official dog-days uniform

August 21, 2023 9:16 am
a collage of Best Camp Collar Shirts on a bright background
The best camp collar shirts for men are the only way to see out summer.
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Unlike their hefty work shirt cousins, camp collar shirts are basically synonymous with vacation at this point, and seeing as how it is currently August, there’s a good chance you’ve already gone on yours. Here’s the thing: what 19-year-old FashionTokers and r/MFA menswear dorks forget to mention is that the shirt is also a bona fide way to beat the sweat-stain-inducing heat of summer’s end in stylish, laid-back fashion. Your Riveran holiday may be over, but 90-degree days that demand breezy button-ups are not. So instead of packing away all the best camp collar shirts you wore in Amalfi, we urge you to live in them for the foreseeable future.

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What Is a Camp Collar Shirt?

For those uninitiated into the wide world of camp collars, the shirt has two distinct features that separate it from a crowded cohort of OCBDs, sweater polos, trippy madras button-ups and a host of other summertime tops. First and foremost, the style is cut straight, or square, at the bottom — unlike a dress shirt, which sports a rounded hem — specifically with the intention of being worn untucked, making it fundamentally more causal.

The second difference revolves around the nominal feature: the button-up has a wide, open collar meant to be worn as such, often complete with a loop-and-button closure at the neck. It’s a multi-purpose fixture — it’s arguably a more comfortable fit than a tie-accommodating joint — but its main objective is to imbue a breezy, off the neck fit that’ll help you be the beachy, laid-back, not sweaty guy we know you can be.

Camp Collar vs. Cuban: What’s the Difference?

The camp collar is associated with many names — spread collar, Cuban, Guayabera — and, in essence, these all describe the same wide-collar shirt we mentioned before. If we were to get very specific, there are minute differences in certain versions (the Guayabera, for instance, traditionally has four pockets) but for all intents and purposes, you can think of them as the same shirt style.

While they’ve been splashed all over your timeline for the best three months, a dependable CCS is actually quite hard to find. Luckily, we’ve waded through a sea of offerings from the likes of menswear darlings Todd Snyder all the way down to the affordable grails at Uniqlo, and we’ve found a variety of can’t-miss styles that every guy can pull off. Even better, with the season coming to a close, many are on sale. All you have to do is pick one, sit back and crack brewski at your Mojo Dojo Casa House. Below, the best camp collar shirts to see out summer.

Best Camp Collar Shirts:

Could the best camp shirt really come from anyone but Gitman Vintage? The shirting purveyors all but own the camp collar game, with heritage designs inspired by the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s and Japanese-sourced fabrics. They’ve put together yet another collection of premium, made-in-the-USA products that look like a million bucks and feel even better, enough that we’ll suggest they’re worth the price tag.

Camp shirt? Sure. Military-grade workhorse? There’s that, too. Buck Mason brings a whole new meaning to multi-use with its Twill Camp Shirt: built for comfort and constructed like a tank, it should see you through any backcountry escapades for years to come.

Much like their heavenly T-shirts, Sunspel’s meticulously crafted Riviera Camp Shirt is built from a cool cotton mesh directly designed for the heat of the French Riviera. It’s cool to the touch, breathable and makes the pecs pop — that’s probably why it’s Bond’s go-to top.

Yes, camp collar shirts are made with casual intentions, but what if you desperately need to impress a plethora of well-dressed buddies and/or hypnotize a pack of wild dogs? Don’t worry, Americana GOAT Todd Snyder’s thought of everything: his Maze camp collar maintains an air of “PAR-TAY!” while keeping things breezy.

Sure, Everlane’s Camp Shirt has all the hallmarks of a solid summer shirt — lightweight design, clean colorway, relaxed fit — but the real innovation lies in its production. The shirt is part of Everlane’s Good Earth Cotton collection, the world’s only climate-positive, regenerative cotton that is fully traceable from farm to finished product. Rest easy knowing that your dollar went to reducing emissions and making you look like a total G.

As we are wont to say here at InsideHook, this Uniqlo deal literally shouldn’t exist. A high-quality, cotton-rayon blend shirt designed in partnership with elite designer J.W. Anderson and sporting a design you’d surely catch on your favorite tennis mood board for just $20 is ludicrous. Not that we’re complaining — we’re too busy copping up.

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