The story of the Breton shirt

THE BRETON STRIPED SHIRT, STRIPES ARE IN

When, on 27th March 1858, the official decree listed the new clothing for the French Navy, it described in detail the “common service blue knit” that sailors and quarter-masters should wear under their uniform jacket.

The width of the stripes, their number on the sleeves, the size of the neckline, everything is referenced with standard military rigour.But those who designed this striped knit, which aimed to help locate a man who had fallen overboard or was engaged in dangerous manoeuvres, never
imagined the surprising destiny of those nautical stripes when fashion took them to chic seaside resorts, from Cannes to Deauville.

La marinière devient à l’issue de la première guerre mondiale une icône mode grâce à Coco Chanel, qui l’intègre pour la première fois dans ses collections féminines. Portée par de nombreuses célébrités de la mode et du 7ème art, la marinière devient dans les années 50 une icône chic, géométrique voire même excentrique quand des créateurs de mode se mettent à décliner la rayure. La marinière continue, encore aujourd’hui, d’inspirer les jeunes générations de créateurs.

Ensuring tradition, Armor-Lux continues to manufacture striped knitwear using ancestral expertise. Take a look
behind the scenes...

THE KNIT

The material for your Breton striped shirt is knitted in our ancestral factory in Quimper, in the Finistère region. Our factory has 90 knitting machines, so we can produce our main types of striped knitwear in large quantities. The machine features 72 bobbins (50 bobbins for the base
colour and 22 bobbins for the stripe) for the knitting process. A spool weighs 2 kilos and contains 112 km of wire. 20 to 25 kms of thread are used to knit your Breton striped shirt.

The material is then washed for 2 to 3 hours. This step removes all impurities from the cotton to
ensure maximum softness when you wear it.

THE CUT

The knitted rolls are then sent to our second production site, also located in Quimper. 3 different cuts are made for the Breton striped shirt: the body, the right sleeve and the left sleeve. The knitted fabrics are layered in quantities of 30 to form what is called quilting.
Our striped fabrics are only cut by hand with electric scissors to ensure the stripes to match the seams. Our cuts are specially designed in our research department to fit the whole family, at any age, from 3 months to adult 4XL.

SEWING

The different parts that make up the Breton striped shirt are collected and passed on to be sewn. This workshop houses 140 machines: sewing machines (to assemble the pieces, make collars, slits etc.), hemming machines (to sew hems) and overlockers (for shaving, stitching and overlocking the knitted fabric in a single movement with the integral cutter). A tracking card accompanies each article to ensure quality control during assembly

For the whole family

XS S M L XL XXL 3XL 4XL 5XL

ARMOR-LUX

Breton striped shirt - thick cotton

Available in 4 other colors

79,00€
2XS XS S M L XL XXL
~~3XL~~

~~4XL~~

ARMOR-LUX

Amiral Long sleeve Breton striped shirt - cotton

Available in 4 other colors

79,00€
XS S M L XL XXL 3XL 4XL
~~5XL~~

ARMOR-LUX

Amiral Long-sleeve Breton striped shirt

Available in 4 other colors

79,00€
3 M
~~6 M~~
12 M 18 M 23 M

ARMOR-LUX

Baby's Breton striped shirt - interlock cotton

Available in 7 other colors

39,00€
S M L XL XXL 3XL

ARMOR-LUX

Rempart Breton shirt - heavy cotton

69,00€
2XS XS S M L XL XXL 3XL 4XL

ARMOR-LUX

Breton striped shirt - interlock cotton

Available in 4 other colors

79,00€
3 M
~~6 M~~

~~12 M~~

~~18 M~~

~~2 A~~

~~3 A~~

ARMOR-LUX

-20%

Baby Breton striped shirt My first Breton shirt - thick cotton

Available in 7 other colors

~~39,00€~~

31,20€