Most denim shirts fail in the same way. They start well, survive a few washes, and then go baggy at the chest, boxy at the hem, and generally shapeless in a way that makes you look like you’ve borrowed the shirt rather than chosen it. The fabric is usually the issue. Cheap denim has no real structure to return to once the heat and water have finished with it.

What we’ve been looking for are shirts where the weave is tight enough and the weight is right enough that the shirt holds its lines after repeated wear. The chambray end of the spectrum is too lightweight for this. We mean proper indigo denim, with a cut that works both tucked into trousers and left out over chinos. Shirts that look better at six months than they do on day one. Worth treating like a wardrobe piece rather than a gap filler, because the right denim shirt absolutely is one.