In food, it’s commonly understood that starting with high quality ingredients generally means you’ll get equally high quality dishes. It’s the same with clothing. Since the beginning, Noah has worked with some of the best mills around the world who specialize in making some of the rarest, well-woven fabrics. One of the mills we love working with is Fox Brothers.
It’s a family business founded by Thomas Fox in 1772, and is one of the earliest companies in the wool industry. It earned its provenance through a type of twill fabric called “Taunton serge,” which is lightweight but thick enough to use in hard-wearing items like military uniforms and coats, but elegant enough to make a suit from. Pushing things forward in menswear the right way is more often than not a slight nudge rather than a forceful shove, and that’s exactly how we approach the products we make with companies like Fox Brothers.
Taking one of their signature twill fabrics, we chose to make the ultimate woven shirt. Thick enough to function as a light layer, but thin enough to comfortably wear under a jacket, it’s the kind of shirt you can still wear under a blazer—or instead of one. Applying traditional fabrics in a new context has been a foundational part of the brand, but it comes at a premium. Like high quality ingredients, using fabrics like the signature Fox Khaki means paying up to $150 for one yard. Take into account that it takes about three yards of fabric to make one garment, and the costs add up quick.
Our Fox Brothers twill shirt may not look radically different from run-of-the-mill counterparts in photos, but you can absolutely feel the difference in real life. One of the main reasons we gravitate towards elevated materials is because you can't effectively replicate how they feel, wear, and breathe on the internet. They force you to engage with them offline and make you present in the moment, where the inherent quality becomes self-evident. We also believe in the idea of investment pieces, the kind you don't have to replace every year, but becomes even more personalized as it develops character over time. In the same way Fox Brothers fabric gives us a canvas to make products that speak to our perspective on modern menswear, we hope our shirts are long-loved favorites that will weave themselves into the fabric of your personal style.
