What is oxford?
I would like to tell you about a fabric that I particularly like and that I very rarely highlight. It is the oxford.
Our Oxford fabric
Oxford fabric can be worn both during the week and on weekends.
To tell you about the fabric in a little more detail, I will start with its origin.
The story begins at the end 1800 when a Scottish draper makes his discovery and decides to call him Oxford , in recognition to the famous English city who welcomed him following his immigration.
Proud of his magnificent discovery, he goes even further.
He decides to create a collection from this fabric for students of prestigious British universities from Cambridge and Oxford, obviously.
After multiple fabric research and faced with the enthusiasm of the students , he thought of expanding his range by dressing the sportsmen of these two universities.
At the time, the polo is the sport practiced in all universities in the country. He therefore makes it his new market.
You know the rest.
Even back then, polo players wore a long-sleeved shirt with a button-down collar to avoid hindering them in their running. For athletes, the Oxford is ideal because it is a particularly breathable and resistant fabric.
For what?
Oxford fabric has the particularity of being made with threads that intertwine , which we call warp and weft.
A grained fabric
That's what makes it a “grain” fabric. Less precise than poplin, oxford has not only a colored weft thread but also a white warp thread (which makes the grid effect of the weave possible).
Since the time of the discovery of Oxford , many countries (especially Americans and Europeans) have worked this fabric in all its facets.
At the time omnipresent in the wardrobe of students , oxford managed to create a formal side , by its more or less strong fabric grain.
Assembled with the ties and suits of the universities, we also find in the archives the students of the Ivy League (eight most prestigious American universities) wear their oxford shirts with a tweed jacket and flannel pants.
I like to wear it when I travel with flannel pants, a cardigan and sneakers. It hardly creases and has the advantage of being very comfortable.
So this is why we tend to say that “Wearing Oxford is appropriating the style of the English and the Americans.”
And then it was only in 1970 that the oxford has arrived in our country French blouses .