Some Iron Shirts come and go. Here’s the archive.
The Iron Shirt is a HebTroCo classic that has been a best seller in our range for several years.
Made in a variety of cloth types and featuring lots of large pockets, it has the cloth weight and utility usually found only in jackets.
The great thing about the Iron Shirt is that it looks simple but still stands out. The practicality of massive pockets is hidden keeping things unfussy. The cloth weight and design structure give a strong, solid look. It’s simple but at the same time striking.
Designed on our cutting table in Calderdale by Amelia and made exclusively for us in London by our friends at Tower Garments.
Iron Shirt
Jute
Halley Stevensons 15oz twill with a dry wax finish.
Iron Shirt
Selvedge Denim - Indigo
15oz indigo selvedge denim from the Candiani mill. Solid brass press studs. Made in London.
Iron Shirt
Lovat Moleskin
Heavyweight 15oz moleskin that looks like suede and feels softer than a mole’s ear.
The Story
A love of the heavy sounds of Lee “Scratch” Perry gave us the ambition several years ago to make the Iron Shirt. If you don’t know the tune you need to search out ‘Disco Devil’. Back then our idea was a bit of a joke but it turns out that we were deadly serious.
The truth is we sent the wrong denim to our supplier to make this shirt. It was time to restock our Selvedge Denim Overshirt but instead of ordering 8oz shirt denim, we ordered the 16oz that we use for our M16 jeans and jackets. Oh heck.
We knew something was up when the factory said that the denim was a bit stiff and that they were having problems getting the finished shirts into our standard bags. 200 shirts arrived in a courier van that was riding low into its suspension. The boxes were very heavy.
Then bad got worse…
The standard press studs that are perfect for our usual 8oz shirt were not suitable for the heavier cloth. Breathe and the shirts popped open. Despite this apparent tragedy we couldn’t help thinking that the shirt was actually really good.
In this business we’ve got used to dealing with problems. After all we started the company just as the Brexit vote happened followed by Covid and the non stop apocalypse that’s followed. Keep calm and carry on making really good stuff is the mantra. It’s worked so far and fingers crossed the good ship HebTroCo will steer a successful course through the stormy sea that is life.
Anyway….
After a tense session with the pliers it turned out that our amazing factory could swap out the press studs for some heavy weight ones. 2,400 press studs later and we have a shirt made to jacket weight and specification, that we never would have dared to do.
Sometimes you’ve just got to put on your Iron Shirt and dance with the disco devil.
Archive
Iron Shirt
Indigo
The original Iron Shirt that started it all. 16oz dark indigo Candiani selvedge denim.
Iron Shirt
Double Black
16oz Candiani Denim with black poppers. Legendary 2nd model.
Iron Shirt
Grey Moleskin
Special edition made from leftover 12oz heavyweight moleskin previously used for trousers.
Iron Shirt
Brown Moleskin
Special edition made from leftover 12oz heavyweight moleskin previously used for trousers.
Iron Shirt
Khaki Twill
Halley Stevensons 15oz twill with a dry wax finish. Limited run.