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The Ventilated Shirt

The BR Ventilated Shirt was originally manufactured for the British Army for use in tropical outposts. The cotton shirt is soft and light with an intricate weave to allow breathability. Introduced in 1983 it was sold in both short and long sleeves, with the short sleeved version selling until 1988. Interestingly, the earliest long-sleeved “Authentic British” version was made in the UK, while the short-sleeved version is imported from India.

The Long Sleeved Ventilated Shirt

On Page 108 of Wild Company, Mel and Patricia mention contracting with the manufacturer during their first visit to the U.K. and that story is repeated in the catalog copy:

From the 1984 Catalogue: “We went to the English factory that made the original cellular cotton for British troops and had our fabric specially woven there; then, for tailoring, we traced down the company that manufactures Her Majesty’s army’s shirts to this day. Finally, we had the horn buttons flown in from Canada. A top-hole shirt if we do say so-the finest of it’s kind we’ve ever offered. (Ever even seen, for that matter.)”

The example below from my collection is one of these early U.K versions sold in 1984 . Note the large BR tag. (I believe the other numbered tags in the collar are residual dry cleaning tags.)

An early (83/84) Long Sleeved Ventilated Shirt in khaki

By 1985 the long-sleeved version is also being made in India, though only in WHITE. The Summer 1985 catalogue added a lot of flair and legend to the India-centered copy for the Long Sleeved Ventilated Shirt: “It was 1846 when a Lieutenant named Harry Lumsden, serving her Majesty in the burden of Indoa, noticed his stiff upper lip starting to wilt. He immediately had himself and his soldiers refitted into ventilated shirts made from the finest local cotton. On our last trip to India we came back with an updated version of Harry’s breathable shirt. The ventilated cotton has an average of 195 cooling air chambers per square inch, pus all the amenities of expert tailoring. For sahibs, memsahibs, or Manhattanites touring the hot, damp or duty corners of our Earth.”

By Summer 1985 the long-sleeved version is also being made in India, though only in WHITE.
This sage green Ventilated shirt bears the Travel & Safari tag. Notice it lacks the horn buttons. This is NOT The Cellular Shirt, which lacked epaulets.

The Short Sleeved Ventilated Shirt

Summer 1983

The Summer 1983 catalogue introduced the Short Sleeved Ventilated Shirt as the “Ventilated Bush Shirt”. The shirt appeared again in the Summer 1984 catalogue as the “Ventilated Shirt” and was a regular item in the catalog until Summer 1988, outlasting the long sleeve version by three years.

The catalogue copy laid it on rather thick about the oppressive heat of the India in the era of colonial rule….From the catalogues: “ Some most definitely do NOT like it hot. Englishmen, in particular. You then can imagine, indeed, what a burden it was for His Majesty to maintain the glories of the Empire in such a blistering, dusty, absolutely wretchedly uncivilized, godawful, overbooked, undernourished, misplaced Hades as the Colony of India. For those British subjects attending to His Majesty’s interests in this unspeakable climate came word from Buckingham, find them something decent to wear. And so Britain’s finest textile lords were called upon to develop a special ventilated all-cotton bush cloth that would spare a gentleman India’s worst punishment. We’ve now gone back to India to have it made again into our own ventilated bush shirt. Equally suitable for ladies and gentlemen traveling in the tropics.”

This 1984 catalogue page offers the shirt in khaki, white and navy.
In most cases, the key art for the Short-Sleeved Ventilated Shirt was this highly detailed illustration by freelancer Ellery Knight who captures the texture of the shirt perfectly.
Khaki was the most common color, along with white and sage.
I believe this is a sage ventilated shirt.
This is a navy version as offered in 1984.
A wine version from Summer 1987
Summer 87

About The Author

Robyn Adams
Robyn's fascination with Banana Republic began in 1984 when her Alaskan adventurer father began buying the clothing and giving her the catalogs. She loved the clothes and as an artist she was drawn to the illustrations. She went on to study illustration at art college in BR's hometown of San Francisco and worked for years as a background artist for animation. She is now based in Oakland, CA as a graphic designer and illustrator with Secret Fan Base . She's been collecting and archiving at Abandoned Republic since 2011.

3 Comments

  • JMH on September 7, 2013

    Glad to see the site is getting updated again. Was a big fan of the old Banana Republic stores and bought my share of clothes (including a ventilated shirt or two) in the Houston, Austin and Philadelphia stores. Still have some and they have made it with me to the exotic places I had only read about (safari in Kenya, Angkor Wat, Machu Picchu, etc). Keep up the good work.

    JH

  • jeff on August 27, 2014

    Does anyone know of the availability of the British Ventilated Shirt? I have been searching in vain and can’t find one anywhere. Specifically a long sleeve in large or extra large. Any links or stores would be very helpful. Thanks!

  • jim burrill on March 17, 2016

    The fabric is called Airtex and What Price Glory sells British Army spec replicas – along with a host of other historically authentic pre 1950’s items.

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