Lumbershirt

Name: Lumbershirt. Blue edition
Brand: Vollebak
SKU: TPS016CHMXSM
Price: 197.00 USD
Availability: InStock

Blended with Cordura, it’s the lightest and strongest shirt we make.

$395.00 $197.00

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Model is 5ft 11 / 180cm with a 38 inch / 97cm chest, and wears size Medium.

Material blended with Cordura for strength
Triple stitched seams for durability
Two zipped hidden chest pockets

Lumberjacks built modern America. Four hundred years ago, when the first settlers arrived in Jamestown, Virginia – a land of “goodly tall trees” – it was man vs nature on an epic scale. Back then there was no radio-controlled machinery, computer-optimised log cutters or health and safety. It was 200 years before somebody invented the chainsaw. Instead, lumberjacks built the New World’s first settlements by hand. Houses, forts, bridges and churches. And they did it all with some axes, saws and really tough shirts.

170 years since it first appeared we’ve taken the lumberjack’s default uniform and rebuilt our own high-strength version. To make the toughest shirt we’ve ever built, we’ve taken ultra-tough Cordura, and blended it with chambray – the earliest workwear fabric. The Lumbershirt is a hardwearing outer layer built for any adventure in the forest, country or city.

Technical Details

Material made in Japan: 79% cotton, 20% polyamide (Cordura), 1% elastane (polyurethane)

2 zipped hidden chest pockets

2 chest pockets with storm flaps and button closure

Triple stitched seams for durability

High collar with reinforced zig zag stitching

10 shatterproof, heat resistant buttons made from corozo nuts

Shirt weighs 455 grams

Machine wash 30°C

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Woodsmen needed new clothes for dangerous work

Original woodsmen faced the kind of dangers you’d normally only find in nightmares. Falling from 300ft, burning to death, or being crushed by runaway logs. So they needed clothes that were hard-wearing enough to take on life in the forest, but also soft enough to wear sleeping in damp wooden huts for months at a time. Living in isolated camps with little or no access to water, warm meals or fresh clothes, the hours were long, the work itinerant and the accommodation rough. They travelled from camp to camp, working from “can see to can’t see,” risking injury and death on the way.

We’ve built our toughest shirt yet

We already make shirts to cope with the most demanding conditions on Earth. Our Equator Shirt is made with a rare silk-like cotton from the Nile Delta and is designed to keep you cool in the hottest and most humid places on the planet. And our Planet Earth Shirt is built with an engineered cotton blend that’s designed to work everywhere from the jungles to the city – with hidden vents, an anti-mosquito collar, and built-in air-con. But the Lumbershirt is our toughest shirt yet. 170 years since it first appeared we’ve taken the lumberjack’s default uniform and rebuilt our own high-strength version.
We’ve built 2 different types of Lumbershirt

To make the toughest shirt we’ve ever built, we’ve designed two different types of Lumbershirt with two different methods. One is made from a super-tough breed of cotton that was used to make the wings on the Wright Brothers’ planes. The other is built from chambray – the material that gave us the phrase “blue collar worker,” after it was adopted by labourers across the US in the early 20th century. And we’ve blended that with ultra-tough Cordura. Both methods make the Lumbershirt a phenomenally hardwearing outer layer.

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Made from the original workwear material

Chambray is one of the earliest workwear fabrics, dating back 500 years to the French town of Cambrai. But after the US Navy authorised its use for sailors in 1901, chambray was quickly adopted by labourers across the US, and its distinctive blue colour is where the term "blue collar worker" comes from. We’ve recreated our own high-performance version of chambray by blending it with ultra-tough Cordura and a small amount of elastane for stretch. It makes it the lightest of the three Lumbershirts, while remaining incredibly tough and soft.

Blended with Cordura for strength

High strength cotton comes into its own when it’s too hot outside for a jacket, but you still want something really hardwearing. Building the Blue edition of the Lumbershirt from chambray and Cordura is what makes the shirt comfortable and strong at the same time. Each shirt is also put through a pre-washing process to make it feel lived-in from day one. And the more you wear it, the more the material will mould to the shape of your body. It makes the shirt tough enough for any environment, from exploring the four billion hectares of forest on the planet, navigating new cities, or working overtime in the office.
Engineered in Japan to make it even stronger

Lumberjacks needed their uniforms to be hard-wearing enough to take on life in the forest, but also soft enough to wear sleeping in damp wooden huts for months at a time. So we create our own high-performance chambray by blending cotton with Cordura and elastane with the help of an advanced Japanese mill. The result is a lightweight, breathable shirt with a high strength to weight ratio.

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We triple-stitch it

Every Lumbershirt uses over 25 metres of super-thick thread. It’s constructed with triple chain stitched seams in the critical areas of wear and stress like the side and shoulder seams, as well as the arm and yoke seams. Instead of one line of thread you have three lines stitched right next to each other so it won’t snap like a conventional straight stitch can. It’s a technique usually found in heavy vintage denim and chore jacket manufacturing to create stronger clothes. We also use heavy-duty zig zag stitching to strengthen the collar, so it will hold its shape even if it’s drenched.
Four chest pockets

You’ll find four chest pockets to carry essentials like your phone, wallet, passport or keys. There are two concealed pockets that open up at the side. They’re protected by storm flaps and fitted with lockable zippers. And there are two more button up pockets that we’ve built over them.
Impact-resistant buttons made from corozo nuts

Every button on the shirt starts life as a corozo nut buried inside the spiky fruit of the Tagua Palm trees found on the coastal mountain ranges of South America. Corozo is phenomenally strong so can be carved with stunning precision. It’s highly resistant to scratches, extreme temperatures and impact, so won’t crack or splinter.