Decoding Dress Shirt Fabrics

Paul Fredrick offers a wide variety of colors and patterns in all 100% cotton fabrics. These include Pinpoint Oxford Cotton, Broadcloth Cotton, Egyptian Cotton, Non-Iron Pinpoint Cotton, Non-Iron Broadcloth Cotton, and Italian Cotton. You can select the fabric of your choice from the refinements on the left side of our dress shirts page.

Imperial 100’s Cotton and Long Staple Cotton are types of luxury Broadcloth yarns with exceptional softness and durability. These fabrics are a type of broadcloth and are tightly woven so that they have minimal texture as well as a slight sheen.

Egyptian Cotton is our finest, most luxurious yarn. Also a broadcloth fabric, its higher thread count and resulting closeness of weave give it a remarkable luster.

Both Imperial 100’s Cotton and Egyptian Cotton are generally thinner and lighter than other types of material. Broadcloth’s slight sheen and smooth finish makes it a dressier option, so it's best suited for more formal situations.

For all dress shirts, the higher the thread count, the softer and finer the fabric will be, and it will also be thinner and lighter weight.

Pinpoint Oxford Cotton, sometimes known simply as Pinpoint, has a subtle basket-weave texture and a lustrous finish. Pinpoint has a slightly less dressy appearance than broadcloth fabrics, and is also slightly thicker and heavier in weight.

Our Non-Iron collection includes both Non-Iron Pinpoint 100% Cotton and Non-Iron Broadcloth 100% Cotton fabrics; refer to the descriptions of those fabrics for more information on their look and feel.

We also have a collection of Non-Iron Supima 100% Cotton fabric. Supima Cotton is a luxury, trademarked fabric that refers to Cotton grown exclusively in the United States. Supima Cotton, the cashmere of cottons, is stronger, softer and more brilliant white than any other in the world. With the added wrinkle-free benefits, this fabric proves that luxury can indeed be a valuable investment.

The non-iron process still leaves the shirt feeling soft but adds the extra benefit of making the shirt pucker- and wrinkle-free. This treatment also helps prevent shrinkage and resists the pilling of fibers, and generally contributes to the easy care nature of the shirt. Non-iron dress shirts are ideal for traveling because they won't get wrinkled in your bag.