You have probably noticed the small loop on the back of a man’s button-up shirt where the pleat meets the yoke (fancy name for that seam), but you may have never heard exactly why it’s there.
Back in the day, they didn’t have rods and hangers for all their shirts. It just wasn’t convenient. So they had hooks and pegs upon which to hang their shirts, and that’s exactly what the loop is for. You could hang the shirt by the loop and reduce the amount of wrinkles.
They were originally used by sailors who would hang them on ship hooks when changing so they would stay dry and off the deck. Pretty soon, the Brooks Brothers clothing company added the detail to their Oxford cloth button down shirt and a trend was set.
One trend that found its way into the culture of the 60s in Ivy League colleges was that women would tear the loop off a boy’s shirt if they thought the boy was cute. It was a sign that the boys were taken. Thankfully for boys today, this still isn’t a trend.
They call it a “locker loop” in a lot of fashion circles. Makes sense.
Did you already know this?