Take one penny collar, neaten its points, and add a tab fastening to brings said points closer together — do that and you get a Kelly collar.

First to feature the Kelly collar are two shirts, made from a striped cotton poplin — the stripes a finer version of a classic Bengal — from a mill in Cumbria. The mill is one of the last remaining makers of cotton shirting in the Isles (whether the number of domestic shirting makers should be counted on one finger or two is a matter of ongoing debate).

The collar differs from similar tab-fastened collars in that its collar piece, lengthways, is longer than the norm, and the fastening pulls the points together. This pushes the collar slightly outwards — in so doing, taking the collar into the unfamiliar third-dimension of shirting, and recreating the effect of a well-deployed collar pin. This means that the Kelly collar is very accommodating of neckties, whose knots can sit below collar but above tab.

The shirt has a narrow and purposely short fit, so that it may quite happily be worn untucked. Two colours are in stock right now — one striped white and ecru, the other white and grey — with off-white corozo buttons, made in the Midlands, completing both.