I just checked a bunch of shirts in my closet. All button-downs
Land’s End – all have the horizontal bottom buttonhole.
Brooks Brothers – all have a vertical bottom buttonhole.
Macy’s – all have a vertical bottom buttonhole.
Eddie Bauer – vertical bottom buttonhole.
Come to think of it, I’ve only ever seen the horizontal buttonhole on Land’s End shirts.
I agree, it’s not a particularly good branding idea. Too easily copied.
Despite having previously read this thread, my cursory look at my list of topics with activity appeared momentarily to say… something about men with a horizontal butthole. Need more caffeine.
That is one of the stranger occupations I have come across.
Well, she doesn’t sell just vintage Hawaiian shirts. She sells vintage muumuus too.
Back in the good old days, therefore before my time, shirts were given horizontal buttonholes. My mother told me that horizontal buttonholes are much less likely to come undone. However, she went on to say, they take too much time to bother with in mass production where time is money, so companies switched to vertical buttonholes to speed up production. She, a woman of wisdom, insisted that all quality shirts have horizontal holes. Mind you, she said this to me back in about 1970. Obviously, not much has changed.
It would have to be a long way before your time. I’ve seen and worn fabulous hand-sewn vintage dress shirts, and the only horizontal button holes are at top (where the collar is fitted) and at the bottom.
I didn’t post how long before my time. But Mom was a clothesmaking whiz, her grandmother a fitter and designer of corsets and bras. She learned from the best.
Lots of good theories here, but curious critter as I am, I decided to look it up. Here’s what valetmag.com says:
The bottom buttonhole, along with the top button at the collar, are usually sewn horizontally to allow the button to take more stress from pulling and movement without stretching out the shirt or the hole itself. It’s also why they can often have reinforced stitching with thicker thread. Traditionally, this was done with a thread of a different color. The thread color has stuck around more as a stylistic choice. But the horizontal buttonholes remain imperative to reduce the chance of a popped button.