I Finally Tried GRAMMAR’s Sustainable Shirt & It Was Better Than I Could’ve Hoped

This post was sponsored by GRAMMAR and I received product to review. All opinions and editorial direction my own.

One of my favourite things about being an ethical blogger is fostering a strong sense of story. While I find the world of mainstream fashion blogging a little too intimidating and a lot too fast paced for me, the sustainable fashion space is such a beautiful place for building community. Not just with our followers (who are often oh so lovely and keen for a lil chat), but with the brands we work with too. Whilst sponsored content is the thing that helps us, you know, eat and stuff, we also genuinely care about the brands we forge connections with. There are so many amazing stories and ways of working out there, all run by brilliant innovators for social change. It’s enough to give anyone hope in a grim world.

One of my favourites in that case has got to be GRAMMAR. Way back in September I covered their kickstarter campaign, and it’s been lovely to sit back and watch as my internet friends surpassed their fundraising goal by nearly $4000, and subsequently went into production. There’s something so exciting about being there, witnessing the moment a dream starts to turn into reality, so imagine how beautiful it has been for me to now be involved in the next stage of that process: having the real deal in my own hands!

If you didn’t catch my coverage the first time around, GRAMMAR are the ultimate creators when it comes to a cool and conscious collection. Their first curated capsule is a twist on the classic white shirt, both an iconic piece and a staple in most wardrobes, which for some reason seems to be near-impossible to find in a silhouette and quality level that most of us would prefer. As the USA doesn’t currently have the spinning and weaving capability for poplin, they use organic cotton that is 100% made in India (minimising its carbon footprint as cotton can travel all over the place through the stages of its creation), whilst everything in GRAMMAR’s collection is made in New York. Local manufacturing is important for GRAMMAR not only because every company they work with is a mere subway ride away, but also because they’re able to be part of a fashion manufacturing ecosystem that has been around for generations, with a depth of knowledge and history that is invaluable when it comes to creating the perfect shirt.

When I first covered GRAMMAR on the blog, my mum loved them so much that she ordered The Verb Shirt for herself and, I gotta be honest, I was pretty jealous. She was so excited when it came, and the next time I was home for a visit proceeded to model it around the living room. It was her first foray into ethical fashion on her own, something that she decided to purchase as opposed to receiving a gift from me, and it was so cool to see it click for her. She raved about how she could feel the difference in quality, how she could tell that it had been handmade in New York not just because of the superior fabric or design, but because of the quality of the construction. It was all about those tiny details that GRAMMAR had always been so focused on getting right, and she noticed straight away.

So, as much as I was excited for my mum and her new discovery, I was also starting to get a bit annoyed. I’m a complete sucker for a good white shirt, but I’ve really only picked them up from charity shops in days past, and my mother was really making me feel like I was missing out on all the fun. Fortunately GRAMMAR must’ve read my mind because they reached out to me soon after my mum’s mini fashion show and asked if I’d like to review a shirt for myself. Oh how excited I was, both to finally join the GRAMMAR club and to see the product I’d championed now as a real entity out in the world. Since the beginning I’d been behind GRAMMAR as a business and concept, but now I was keen to be able to stand behind the product too.

Luckily for me, my already high expectations were surpassed. I freaking love this shirt.

I decided to review The Preposition Shirt. Each shirt in the GRAMMAR collection is named for a grammar term or phrase (see what they did there!), and a preposition is ‘a word governing, and usually preceding, a noun or pronoun’. Basically, this is the shirt for those of that like to be prepared, which is me in a nutshell. I’m a bit fuller in the booty and thigh department, but this shirt comes with a special curved hemline to subtly skim these areas, while also keeping my chest area under control, which can be a real problem with fitted shirts if you’re a small person who still has boobs. At the same time the sleeves are only 3/4 length, my ideal sleeve length. I know this sounds frivolous, but sleeve length genuinely matters quite a bit for me. During the days when I had to wear a school uniform I would scour the shops to find those rare shirts that came with 3/4 length sleeves, a sign that not only was I cool and chill (I was most certainly *not* these things during my school years and everyone knew it) but it was also a sleeve length that gave me more freedom of movement and self. Even now it’s extremely rare to catch me with sleeves that aren’t rolled up past the wrist, otherwise I just get too claustrophobic, so to have a shirt that is actually tailored to meet my needs perfectly, well that’s just the dream. I also really enjoy the collar extension: it’s actually designed to be fastened into a bow at the neckline, but I enjoy letting it hang free because 1. I am unable to tie a good bow and 2. I can play the whole ‘oh this thing? I just threw this on!’ card, pulling off that vibe of being effortlessly elegant without even trying, when really it’s just because I’m wearing a piece of sustainable luxury that means my true lazy self doesn’t have to do any work to look fabulous. And who doesn’t want a piece that is simultaneously beautiful, sustainable and able to make our life easier.

So on top of being flattering, slimming, carefully constructed, wonderfully sustainable and a true enabler of my lazy styling, is there anything else to say? Well yes, because these no-fuss, minimalist-dream white shirts are also darn comfy. They’re floaty and soft in a way that makes you both feel at ease and ready to take on the world like the girl boss you really are. They’re easy to wear and even easier to style, as those small details mean the shirt can really talk for itself and doesn’t require a lot of hoopla to pull an outfit together. For me this makes them the perfect design as a go to staple item, whether you’re a devotee of the capsule wardrobe or not.

I honestly couldn’t be happier with every encounter I’ve had with GRAMMAR to date. I can’t wait to see what comes next, because I’ll probably be there, fangirling like the devoted internet friend I am. Hooray for brands who make brilliant products!

Photography by Christian Kinde