Sahara Shirt

The Sahara Shirt is easily confused with the Short Sleeved Expedition Shirt. The obvious difference is in the pockets, the Sahara pockets come to a point at the button while the Expedition Shirt has angled corners on the pocket flap. It’s also confused with the Bushman’s Shirt which has pleats in the pockets.

The Sahara is made of cotton twill, slightly smoother and lighter than the Expedition cloth. Introduced Summer 1984 in 4 colors, it ran until Holiday 1985 when there were five colors.

From the 1984 Catalogue: “Our Sahara Shirt, with its short sleeves and classic bush styling, takes us back to shifting sands and bumpy camel rides. Personally, we wouldn’t trade all the snows in Kilimanjaro for a day of trudging over scorching sand, looking forward to a palm tree and a pink gin at sunset. But one gets so dusty out on the desert. Thus, the Sahara Shirt is considerately priced for frequent changes, comes in four earthy colors, all suitable for trudging and sipping.”

We have yet to find Sahara Shirts, which is weird because they were widely sold for several years in many colors at $16 a pop. They should be plentiful….

UPDATE: At long last, we sighted a Sahara Shirt! This one is in “Natural” and is made in Sri Lanka with a tag similar to the Indian made garments.

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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.

2 Comments

  • men shirts qatar on August 4, 2022

    Usually I never comment on blogs but your article is so convincing that I never stop myself to say something about it. Really helpful.

  • Brooke ROberson on November 6, 2023

    Miss this store, still have some of the shirts somewhere

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