The Oxford shirt
65€ for a shirt isn't exactly cheap. But if you take a closer look, you'll see that it has features you rarely find all in one place:
- Truly made in Europe: the shirt is made in Portugal, as is the fabric, while most brands have both manufactured in countries where wages are too low to live with dignity.
- Use of organic cotton: It’s the only way to avoid contributing to the mass extinction of biodiversity and to avoid putting farmers at risk. This commitment comes at a price: organic cotton costs 50% more than conventional cotton.
- Quality: In addition to what you can read on this page, all our clothing is pre-washed so it won’t shrink when you wash it at home, guaranteed to be free of substances toxic to your health, and covered in the event of a defect… And this commitment also comes at a cost.
In fact, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a shirt like this at that price. If we’re able to sell it at that price, it’s because we cut costs on a lot of things we consider unnecessary: we don’t run ads, we don’t do sales, we don’t have collections… and we don’t have greedy shareholders demanding ever-higher profits.
Learn more.
Released in April 2016
Released in August 2019
- New GOTS-certified organic cotton fabric.
- New, more fitted cut.
- Larger resin buttons, making them easier to thread through the buttonhole.
- Buttons secured with Ascolite to prevent them from coming undone.
- Removal of the reinforcement swallows (once we realized that they provide... no reinforcement at all).
- Removal of the ease pleat at the back and the second button on the sleeves.
We've shared the story behind all these improvements and simplifications in this article
Coming out in January 2023
- Removal of the chest pocket so the shirt can also be worn on more formal occasions.
We use organic cotton because so-called “conventional” cotton is a disaster for insects, birds, and farmers. Read more in this article.
Oxford weave is a naturally very strong twill weave because the threads are doubled. With its medium weight of 150 g/m², it strikes the perfect balance between flexibility and durability.
Semi-fitted cut: It follows the contours of the bust without being tight.
This shirt is made in Portugal at the Supercorte factory, with which we have been working since 2017.
Worn, tested, and approved by thousands of customers, this shirt is the result of several years of continuous improvement. We’ve refined it over time to achieve a balance of quality, ethics, and price that we now consider optimal. For example, we could make it wrinkle-resistant (or “easy-iron”) by applying a chemical treatment, but that wouldn’t be good for your health or the environment.
Techniques That Ensure Quality
Double-twisted
The weft thread (running horizontally across the fabric) consists of two strands twisted together (like a cable) to make it stronger.
Double-twisted
Thick buttons
Ascolite® Fastener
Pre-wash
Thick buttons
We chose thick resin buttons that won’t break in the washing machine, unlike those made of wood or mother-of-pearl.
Just in case, a spare button is sewn onto the care label.
Double-twisted
Thick buttons
Ascolite® Fastener
Pre-wash
Ascolite® Fastener
To ensure that the buttons don't come undone, we've reinforced their attachment using Ascolite technology, a process that involves wrapping the base of the button with a heat-sealed thread.
Double-twisted
Thick buttons
Ascolite® Fastener
Pre-wash
Pre-wash
This shirt has been stabilized and pre-washed at the factory to prevent it from shrinking when you wash it at home (with cotton clothing, most of the shrinkage occurs during the first wash).
Double-twisted
Thick buttons
Ascolite® Fastener
Pre-wash
Simplified for Durability
Some shirts have design details that appeal to purists, but—between you and me—they don’t really serve much purpose. To make sure you don’t have to pay for them, we’ve removed them: goodbye to reinforcement gussets, mother-of-pearl buttons, 8-stitches-per-centimeter seams, and the second button on the sleeve. The result: a simple, sturdy shirt at a great price.
In detail
Oxford fabric
This weave gives the fabric a slight texture.
American collar
Also known as a "button-down": the collar points are fastened with buttons (which keeps them from flipping up).
Rounded cuffs
The sleeve cuff is curved: this means it wears less over time and with repeated washings.
Horizontal buttonhole
On the bottom button, to allow for some room around the waist.
How to Wear It
A few ideas if you're stuck
Composition
100% cotton
Origin and Certifications
- Garment manufacturing, weaving, dyeing, and spinning: Portugal
- Cotton: Turkey
...manufacture in Portugal instead of France? Of course, manufacturing in Portugal allows us to sell at lower prices. But it’s also easier to produce high-quality items there: in the 1980s, when France outsourced its manufacturing, Portugal strengthened its own. That said, other companies besides ours manage to make shirts that are 100% made in France, such as Le Slip Français and Montlimart.
... does cotton come from so far away? In reality, it doesn’t get much closer than that. While a few die-hard Gauls manage to grow it in their fields, cotton cultivation is marginal in Europe. The closest places to source it are Egypt, Turkey, and Greece.
How This Product Will Age
How do we know this? We ask our customers for their feedback on the product one year after purchase. And if the product is less than a year old, we provide our predictions based on some unsolicited feedback and our experience with similar products.
An Oxford shirt will hardly wear out at all.
As with all light-colored shirts, you may notice some yellowing caused by sweat and deodorant (with the white version, our customers have been able to fix this every time using sodium percorbanate; see the tutorial here).
As with all slightly stiff shirts, you may notice a crease in the collar: repeated friction from wearing the shirt or from washing it in the machine causes the crease to set. To minimize this wear, be sure to smooth out the collar thoroughly before putting the shirt in the washing machine.
Care Instructions
It's 100% cotton, so it's machine-washable at 40 degrees and can be tumble-dried. But it’s better to wash it at 30°C and let it air dry: it’s just as effective, much more eco-friendly, and it will extend the shirt’s lifespan. And be sure to unbutton the collar and cuffs to minimize friction and prevent them from wearing out over time (like here) or the buttons from coming off (like there).
Our best tip to prevent your Oxford shirt from getting too wrinkled and to make ironing easier: spin-dry on low speed (600 rpm max) and hang it on a hanger while it’s still damp. By the way, ironing is an art we can’t teach you in just a few lines: here’s a good three-minute video demonstration. Don’t forget to always iron your shirts inside out and at a low temperature to minimize damage.
Finally, let’s talk about yellow underarm stains. Unfortunately, they happen: they’re the result of an unfortunate chemical reaction between your sweat, the aluminum salts in your deodorant, and the surfactants in your laundry detergent. The best solution is prevention: switch to an aluminum-free deodorant. And if it’s too late? Your best friend (for white shirts) will be sodium percarbonate—we’ve put together a tutorial on how to use it right here.
Environmental Cost
This environmental cost is calculated using the official methodology of the French environmental labeling system (to be rolled out starting October 1, 2025).
The label above shows the product’s environmental cost according to the official French environmental labeling methodology. This represents what its production “costs” nature when considering its impact on climate change, ocean acidification, its toxicity to freshwater, and so on. Currently in use in the textile sector, this label should soon appear on many everyday consumer products (food, cosmetics, furniture, etc.) to help you make more eco-friendly purchasing decisions.
The Oxford shirt therefore has an environmental cost of 516 impact points*.
By comparison, a garment of equivalent weight—made of 100% conventional cotton, manufactured in Bangladesh, and sold by a fast-fashion brand—has an environmental cost of 2,153 points*.
Why is there this difference? Here are the main reasons:
- Countries of origin: Manufacturing in Portugal or France requires less fossil fuel energy than in Bangladesh (one of the leading producers of low-cost clothing). As a result, this more local manufacturing reduces the impacts on climate change, ocean acidification, and resource depletion.
- The material: Organic cotton has a relatively low environmental impact compared to conventional cotton, particularly because it uses few pesticides (and thus poses a low risk of toxicity to freshwater) and is biodegradable (and thus causes fewer issues related to microfibers or end-of-life waste).
- Sustainability: Fast-fashion retailers encourage purchasing—in particular by rapidly refreshing their collections and offering a vast number of styles—and they discourage repairs by charging rock-bottom prices. This, in turn, increases the number of garments sold per person and reduces the number of times a garment is worn. In contrast, at Loom, we’ve chosen to adopt business practices that encourage our customers to keep their clothes for as long as possible.
Even though we've done everything we can to minimize it, this product's environmental impact is not insignificant. So before you buy, make sure to get the most use out of your clothes.
*Calculations performed by Loom on August 24, 2026. Click on the links to access the simulations from the official Ecobalyse tool and get more details on the assumptions used. Please note: The number of points is not always exactly the same on Ecobalyse (whose methodology changes regularly) as on the official environmental label (based on Ecobalyse version 7.0).
Reviews of this product
The standard practice is to send review request emails a few days after the purchase. We wait a month—the minimum amount of time needed to form an informed opinion.
Customer Review Policy
When do you ask customers for reviews?
We’ll send you a review request one month after we receive your order. We believe this is the minimum amount of time needed to have worn and washed an item several times and to form a truly informed opinion. After that, all your reviews are published within a week, whether they’re positive or negative.
Do you request reviews for 100% of the products ordered by customers?
We used to do that at first, but then we realized we were starting to send way too many emails to certain customers who shop with us regularly. In short, we were spamming them a bit. Plus, it was starting to take the team way too much time to respond to reviews—since we want to reply individually and privately to almost everyone who leaves us a review. Today, we no longer ask for reviews on products that meet the following two criteria: 1/ There are enough reviews posted on the site for potential buyers to form an informed opinion about the product. 2/ We on the Loom team have read enough reviews to understand how to evolve the product into the next generation.
Just a quick thought: What proof is there that we aren't manipulating reviews by giving 5-star ratings to everything?
Honestly: nothing—we’re just giving you our word. Just like with everything else, actually: where we manufacture our products, where our wool comes from, our lab test results, and so on. The only times we might edit what you write is if your message contains spelling mistakes (and even then, quite a few slip past us) or if it’s racist, homophobic, etc. (but that’s never happened so far).
Asking for feedback after just one month isn't enough to know if the clothes are really durable, is it?
You're right—that's why we send you another email asking for a review one year after your purchase—we even ask for a photo to see how your garment has aged. We use the responses to improve our clothing and to provide information on “how this product will age” on our product pages. To avoid unnecessarily bothering our customers, we don’t ask for reviews on 100% of the products ordered: as soon as we have enough data to understand where we can improve, we stop asking for reviews after one year.