The Friday Find: This Warren Chamois Shirt is a Perfect USA-Made Addition to Your Winter Wardrobe

It’s all too easy for a brand to take shortcuts these days, to outsource production or find a cheaper way of doing things, and while it’s certainly not economical for the menswear lovers like you and me, it tends to make a heck of a lot of difference when you find a brand doing precisely the opposite.

It’s quite the heady topic rolling into a new year, and again, it might not be feasible to stock your entire wardrobe with the best USA-made menswear. And yet, if you want to feel a durable difference in every stitch, packed with style points in each piece to boot, you very well might love what’s happening at New England’s Warren, a brand I’ve enjoyed getting to wear and getting to learn about across the past year or so.

The brand centers its sourcing and production around New England in a major change of how plenty of other retailers (albeit larger!) are doing things these days, and the gettin’ gets better from there, so to speak.

From a durable-as-can-be rugged chore coat to a vintage-inspired sweatshirt and a stellar, small-batch run of utterly classic chinos, Warren checks off the proper boxes as far as menswear classics and timeless wardrobe building blocks are concerned.

The brand is a new one on the scene, but ranks up near the very top when it comes to my favorite American-made menswear brands — and if I had to wager, I’d say the Warren Walden Chamois Shirt should only strengthen that feeling.

The Warren Walden Chamois Shirt starts with a sturdy 7.05oz. organic cotton twill fabric from American Woolen (the cotton is grown and spun in the American South, the company notes). Followed by brushing and garment-dying in New Hampshire, you’re left with a near-perfect chamois shirt, one that should prove utterly soft yet dependable out of the box, and entirely ready to make your own.

This dependable winter staple draws its inspiration from Maine winters and coastal shirting that’s proven a must-have in fierce Nor’easters aplenty, and Warren duly notes the Warren Walden Chamois Shirt was “inspired by the practical shirts worn across New England’s backwoods and work yards.”

Whether worn with sturdy chinos or cool-as-can-be corduroy trousers, or else with canvas work pants atop a thermal henley when your to-do list calls, you’ve found the perfect shirt for the occasion in the Warren Walden Chamois Shirt.

The Friday Find: The Warren Barnard Shirt Coat Is a Fresh Twist on the Classic Chore Coat

The quest continues apace as we roll into another fine fall weekend — the quest for some of the best fall menswear, that is, and for rare finds that might have flown under your radar previously (that’s what the Friday Find series is all about, after all).

With its rugged durability, its hybrid nature as both as a work jacket and an adventure layer, and its ability to be dressed up ever so slightly — or dressed down in rugged fashion — the best chore coats for men (like the Warren Barnard Shirt Coat as shown above) are a reliable fall style option we talk about frequently here on this Brooklyn style blog.

But finding one of those ever-useful chore coats being made in the U.S. of A is a difficult task these days, made less so by the good folks at New England upstart Warren. We’ve talked on the blog before about American-made menswear, plus Warren founder Peter Holbien’s commitment to quality, craft and New England-made production, fabrication and design.

It’s enticing stuff, especially if you value high-quality, American-made menswear on all fronts, and the Warren Barnard Shirt Coat just might be the best of the bunch, at least in this writer’s humble opinion. Modeled after classic barn jackets and made with sturdy yet supple fabric from American Woolen, the 21-ounce wool blend should prove durable, warm and yet ready to layer, perhaps over a Warren flannel shirt or one of the brand’s ultra-soft long-sleeve T-shirts.

There’s also a sense of classic style to the Warren Barnard Shirt Coat, which is also outfitted with large patch pockets to store your everyday carry.

The Warren Barnard Shirt Coat also features a grandad collar to finish things off in eye-catching, crisp fashion — this chore jacket/barn coat hybrid should wear more than well with everything from a chambray shirt and tobacco-hued chinos to dark blue jeans and a rugged thermal henley. If expertly made American menswear is your focus as you layer up this season, there’s nothing finer than this chore cjat.