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For most of my life, I’ve treated flannel shirts the same way I treat socks. Socks are something that I either receive as gifts (wool socks at Christmas, dress socks on just about any other occasion) or buy myself as an afterthought (tossing a 12-pack of crew-length into my cart just before checkout). They’re an essential piece of my wardrobe, but I don’t spend any mental energy thinking about them. The same goes for flannels. Instead of being conscious additions to my closet, the half-dozen I own seem to have found their way into my wardrobe by some sort of Midwestern magnetism.
I’m wondering if this is the wrong mindset though, because I love flannels. The problem is that the ones that I do own, from brands like Duluth Trading Co., L.L. Bean, J.Crew and St. John’s Bay, are all great for certain use cases — otherwise they’d be on a plastic hanger in a Goodwill somewhere — but I don’t particularly love any single one of them completely. If the designers behind these flannel shirts were in front of me right now, I’d have notes.
But is there such a thing as the perfect flannel? One that can be an unbuttoned overshirt in the first days of fall and a deep sublayer while braving the arctic night of a Minnesota January? Orvis seems to think so. The heritage outfitter actually sells a layer called the Perfect Flannel Shirt, which is available in 13 — count ’em! 13! — different plaid designs (as well two non-plaid options for good measure). To see if they solved all the issues I have with my current closet of brushed cotton button-ups, I got my hands on one in early September and have been testing it out for about six weeks.
How different can one flannel be from another? As it turns out, a heckuva lot.
Basics of the Orvis Perfect Flannel Shirt
The most important thing to know about the Perfect Flannel Shirt from Orvis is that it’s actually flannel. That is, it’s 100% cotton and brushed on both sides. It’s not the sort of sacrilegious “tech flannel” that’s becoming more common these days, where brands use a blend of plastic and semi-synthetic fabrics to try and create an office-appropriate style out of the axe-swinging staple. I have one of these tech styles from Mizzen and Main. It’s plaid, it’s made of polyester, rayon and spandex, and it does pass muster in the office. (Orvis also sells a few variations on this.) But it’s just not what I consider a real flannel.
The Perfect Flannel is also $98, which is reasonable, but certainly more money than tons of other flannel shirts you can buy. L.L. Bean and Duluth Trading both sell options for around half that price. And from the silhouette to the basic design elements — Orvis offers their flannel with two chest pockets that button, and without a button-down collar — they all look pretty similar on the product page online. So why shell out twice as much for one of these? That becomes clear when you wear it for a few weeks, like I did.
What I Loved
When you’re buying a flannel shirt or some other heavier button-up layer for fall and winter — denim, moleskin, corduroy, canvas, wool, whatever organic cotton magic Outerknown found for their Blanket Shirt — you’ll see a lot of brands boast about its ability to do double duty as a light jacket in mild temperatures. Mostly, I’ve found that to be bogus. There are lots of great jackets and even more great cold-weather shirts, but there are only a few layers that pack the right details that justify calling something outerwear while also being, first and foremost, an under layer.
The Perfect Flannel is one of these Goldilocksian garments, for a few specific reasons. It’s got thicker, heavier buttons that will shut out the cold when buttoned all the way up, which is not the case on my other flannels. It has a locker loop on the back along the yoke seam, which means you can hang it up like a jacket and not mangle the collar. Speaking of, the collar features a faux suede (read: polyester) lining underneath it on the neckband, so you can properly pop that up and it’ll offer some stability and wind protection. And the weight of the cotton was warm enough to keep out the chill on a recent mild apple orchard outing with my family but breathed well this weekend when temperatures dipped into the 40s and I layered it with my flannel-lined trucker jacket. (Yes, flannel-on-flannel. Hey, I’m Minnesotan.)
Now, let’s talk about Orvis’s claim that this is “the softest flannel you will ever find.” That’s obviously unquantifiable marketing hyperbole, but the fabric here is admittedly softer than all my other flannels. That’s a huge selling point, but there is an interesting side effect: at $98 and feeling as plush as it does, this shirt feels almost too precious to take out in the field. I have no doubt it can handle dirt and sweat and walleye guts on your ice-fishing trip, but you might prefer to relegate this one to less taxing outings. That’s up to you, though.
A Guide to Orvis, The Original Outdoor Americana Retailer
The outdoor outfitter does a hell of a lot more than fly fishingWhat You Might Not Love
One of the main differences I’ve noticed in the thousands of flannel shirts on the market, besides the huge range in fabric quality, is the length of the body. Traditional flannels are going to run a little longer so they stay tucked in when you’re chopping wood for a fire or field dressing a deer or — more likely — holding a stein at an Oktoberfest shindig at your local brewery. But lots of brands keep them shorter so you can wear them untucked and still look put together.
Orvis, being a brand that caters to hunters, fishermen and outdoorsmen, opts for the longer shirttail hem on the Perfect Flannel. I prefer that, because come December my flannels are getting tucked, belted and layered underneath sweaters. But you might not like that! As for general sizing, while I have found some Orvis products to run way too big — I fit perfectly into a medium in their Barn Coat, for example, even though I wear a size large for seemingly every other jacket in the world — this flannel runs true to size for me, so I wouldn’t worry about that.
Also, a note on color options: Orvis offers 13 different types of plaid, most of them pretty standard fare, with a few welcome outliers (I had a hard time deciding between black/khaki and the orange/brown bark check, which gives off a fun I run a haunted hayride vibe). But they only offer two non-plaid options. Where are the solids? Where are the other unique patterns, like their camo? Seems to me like they’re missing an opportunity to cater to what I can only assume is a giant cohort of men who wouldn’t be caught dead in plaid.
Final Thoughts
Orvis did not name this the Perfect Flannel Shirt lightly. They perfected the weight of the cotton, the brushed finish, the size of the buttons — just about everything. If I’m nitpicking, the faux suede on the neckband feels fantastic, but it’s polyester — and even though I know they used it so it’s machine washable, I wish it was a different, non-plastic fabric. But other than that, I truly have no complaints. In fact, it’s starting to become a case of other people complaining to me.
“Did you wear that shirt last week?” my brother asked me last Wednesday. Yes, I did, and actually the day before too (but I didn’t need to tell him that). I’ll probably also be wearing this flannel at the time you read this, because we’ve officially entered layering season and if there’s one shirt that can stay in the rotation from October through April, it’s this (near) perfect flannel from Orvis.
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