Working hard to reclaim the bragging rights to being the country built on denim, currently held, according to those who follow these things, by Japan, Rugby has introduced some killer limited-edition selvedge jeans.

At $398.00 they are by no means cheap, but this being the world of Ralph Lauren, you also get some outstanding packaging,  a neat booklet and coordinating repp necktie.  The actual denim is manufactured by Cone Denim of Greenville, North Carolina, on 100 year-old shuttle looms.  It takes longer to make, uses more cotton than traditionally manufactured mass market denim and costs a whole lot more.

If you want them, don’t hesitate because Rugby only made 100 pair.

I recently wrote about the irrepressible Ignatious Joseph, shirt maker extraordinaire, and am now, finally, doing a promised follow-up.

Ignatious was kind enough to send me a lovely shirt to test out and I’m darn glad he did.  It’s of course very well made of a luxuriously dense and fluid but lightweight cotton.  It’s also unique, as are all IJ shirts, due to its collar.  Joseph constructs only soft dress shirt collars, meaning there is no stiffness at all around your neck.

This is an expensive and rather complex process but it makes for a genuinely custom and unique fit, unlike any other dress shirt I own.  Overall, the shape is decidedly fitted but not overly slim or binding.  The sleeves are a tad too long on me and I plan to have them shortened.  He also makes fully custom shirts, but, as we are on two separate continents, I opted for a ready-made model so by no means is perfection expected.

Nonetheless, it is a virtually flawless and incredibly comfortable shirt.  It’s also a very sharp shirt, so much so that I wore it to the BeSpeak launch party over the summer.  While at the Custom Shop earlier in the day, the BeSpeak team sat around suggesting ties for my shirt and along the way it was immortalized in my BeSpeak virtual closet.

Now, as you can probably can see in these photos, I chose not to iron the shirt before snapping a few images.  While of course pressed and formal when I head out to the office, today I wanted to highlight the detail, construction and design of this shirt.  No better way to do that than by taking a look at it in its delightfully rumpled state.

Notice the obvious softness of the collar and collar band, the precise stitching, the fabric’s thick but soft hand.  You can also see the exacting matching of pattern and the signature shaping of the shirt, to better fit the wearer.

Clearly, this is  a great shirt.  But more than that, it’s made by a man dedicated to the art and science of shirt making; shirts and only shirts.  The love shows.

Two of OTC’s favorite brands have joined forces to help you look a little more casually cool this summer.  Tucker Blair and Bonobos are hosting their first ever “Win A Weekday Wardrobe” contest, and they want to make sure OTC readers have chance to get in on fun.

Take a few minutes and fill out an entry form at the link below for a chance to win 5 Tucker Blair belts, 5 Bonobos pairs of pants, and 5 Bonobos polo shirts (Valued at $1,500)!

Bonobos pants are legendary for their remarkable fit and comfort and Tucker Blair has quickly established itself as a new leading preppy lifestyle brand – so much so that their outstanding needlepoint belts are highlighted throughout the upcoming True Prep.

Enter Now: http://wildfireapp.com/website/6/contests/48987

So, a couple of weeks ago, OTC received a simple brown envelope.  Inside was an advance copy of the most anticipated book in the world of Prepdom.  True Prep is the highly anticipated, or dreaded, based on your world view, follow-up to the eternally classic The Official Preppy Handbook.

I was genuinely ambivalent about this book.  How you could do a TOPH “Part II?”  so, my inclination was to sit back and see if lightning could again be bottled (in a madras bottle, of course, sitting next to a nice G&T).  My verdict?  Yep, Lisa Birnbach did it.

It’s a fun book that picks up right where the original left off.  She and co-author Chip Kidd happily point out that it’s been 30 years since TOPH first hit the shelves and a lot has changed.  From my black-and-white photocopied pages, I see the familiar lifestyle vignettes updated to reflect the Blackberry toting preps of today and read about the democratization of prep schools.

I’m also happy to see mentioned the importance of “modern” prep brands like J. Crew and Ralph Lauren alongside stalwarts J. Press, Brooks Brothers and L.L. Bean.  In fact L.L. Bean Signature, the newest ‘vintage’ market brand gets brief, favorable nod.

Equally refreshing is the focus on upstarts and small preppy labels that may someday be at retail’s forefront.  So to that end, OTC gives a big hand to Tucker Blair and its founder Taylor Llewellyn.  His needlepoint belts are all over this book and they have a nice write-up on how he started the company.  Very Vineyard Vines (Shep and Ian are also profiled).

What I also like is that I can just open the book to any page and start reading.  That’s always a good sign and something I love about TOPH too.  All in all, I can’t wait to see the finished product.  Cheers.