Ooh, my favourite item of clothing! I’m not much of a clothes horse to be honest, I’m not very interested in fashion so at first, I thought this topic might be quite hard. However, I’ve thought of one. I’ll tell you what it is, when and why I bought it and why I like it so much.
The item is in itself unremarkable. It is a purple craghoppers’ long-sleeved shirt. It is made of a quick-drying poly cotton blend and the fabric has some stretchy qualities which make it easy to wear. The fabric keeps out the sun, and the design incorporates a couple of pockets, one of which has a zip so you can keep small items securely on your person. It is designed as a travel shirt, and to be honest, was rather expensive compared to clothes I would normally buy.
I bought the shirt online ahead of travelling to South East Asia. It was just coming out of winter in the UK, but I’d be going to a hot climate. I wanted something lightweight and comfortable to take with me. It was the wrong time of year to be browsing shops in England, they were all still full of winter clothes, so I just had to trust the description on the site that this would be a good buy, but I was nervous in case it didn’t fit or wasn’t practical. I shouldn’t have worried.
I LOVE this shirt. It is incredibly comfortable to wear, the colour suits me quite well, and even though it is designed as a travel shirt, it’s actually smart enough to wear for work if you match it with some respectable trousers (or a skirt I suppose, but I never wear skirts!). It washes brilliantly, and if you shake it out and put it on a hanger it dries crease-free within an hour or so. The hidden pocket is handy for carrying emergency cash on your person, and I like to have a hanky with me too – there is a pocket for that as well. Because the shirt is so comfy, and much harder wearing than I expected, I wore it almost all the time on my travels. This means that the shirt is now linked to very many happy memories of places I’ve been, people I’ve met and adventures I’ve had. I wish I’d bought loads of them at the same time. I’ll be heart-broken when it eventually wears out as one day it surely must.
Talking about it has got me thinking – would it really hurt to have another quick look at their travel clothes website once again? You never know, perhaps they’ll have a sale on and it would be a shame to miss out...
