What is a Performance Dress Shirt?

The Term "Performance dress shirt" has been around for a few years now and we feel like it’s time to clarify what exactly that means.

Because to truly be a “performance” piece of apparel it has to do more than simply cover your sensitive parts from innocent bystanders.

Just like performance car parts are designed to help the car drive faster, handle better, and brake quicker, a performance dress shirt is designed to help the wearer stay cool, comfortable and clean throughout the myriad of meetings and meals he regularly attends.

If these products didn’t actually increase performance then what we’re saying is that you could simply throw the word "PERFORMANCE" at the beginning of pretty much any product, and claim that it’s a performance product.

Performance Cup, for instance.

Or maybe Performance toilet paper.

How about performance Wheat thins.

You get the point.

When you slap “Performance” at the beginning of anything it must perform better than other comparable non-performance products.

So what then is the difference between a performance dress shirt and a normal dress shirt?

Really, it comes down to 3 specific things:

1. Material

2. Fit

3. Features

Using the Hustle Performance Dress Shirt by Tough Apparel as an example, let’s briefly explain these 3 performance factors.

#1 - Material

Standard dress shirts are most commonly made from the age-old cotton. While Cotton is breathable and durable it’s benefits pretty much stop there. Cotton shrinks quicker than Wayne Szalinski’s kids and wrinkles quicker than a newspaper in a tornado.

In contrast, pretty much all modern performance fabrics are made from different polyester blends. These new age polyester blends breath like cotton, stretch like armstrong, resist wrinkles and can still be machine washed. Tough Apparel Hustle Dress shirt have all of these performance properties.

#2 - Fit

Most plant-based fibers, like cotton, are not naturally stretchy. This is so the plant can grow upright. This is great for plants, not for people. Because unlike plants, people regularly move during the day to do things like walk, sit, scratch their butts backs, etc. Since cotton clothes don’t naturally stretch with you the fit has traditionally been on the baggy side to allow you to do all of the aforementioned things. Otherwise reaching out to engage in a gentleman’s handshake would result in your sleeve tearing off of your shirt. And that's not very Gentlemanly.

BUT, with the advent of stretchy performance fabrics those who desire a tighter fit can achieve it while still completing normal tasks throughout the day. Many performance dress shirts come in a tailored, athletic, modern or slim fit. The latter is what the current Hustle dress shirt comes in, although a regular fit is also in the works.

#3 - Features

The final difference between a standard dress shirt and a performance dress shirt is the additional features that help increase performance. For the Hustle shirt in particular these include features like the liquid repellency that sheds spills, and a collar shield which helps prevent collar yellowing from sweat. These small, yet mighty, features have a massive impact on the people who don’t just sit behind a desk all day, but rather get out there and Hustle to get ish done.