Why is the thread in the last button on my shirt a different colour?

July 28, 2011 10:23 AM

Why is the thread in the last button on my shirt a different colour?

I bought a bunch of shirts from AA in may, and in every one the last button is threaded in a different colour (as seen here). Why are they done this way? It's not an extra button, because there's a corresponding eyelet for it.

posted by gadha to Grab Bag (12 answers total)

I think it's a design choice. A little detail to remind you that the shirt didn't come from the Gap.
posted by roger ackroyd at 10:27 AM on July 28, 2011 [1 favorite]

Were these shirts second hand?

The button fell off and someone sewed it back on. They didn't have white thread so they went with magenta. They're also clearly not button menders because of that stray string sticking out.
posted by royalsong at 10:27 AM on July 28, 2011

erm, I assumed AA (as in equals alcohol anon) had some sort of drive and you bought them through that. Is there a store called AA?

If so, then it's possible they do that to make the shirts intentionally look second hand and poorly mended.
posted by royalsong at 10:30 AM on July 28, 2011 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: No, they're new shirts from American Apparel. I bought 6, all 6 are like this.
posted by gadha at 10:31 AM on July 28, 2011 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Sorry, they're from American Eagle outfitters. It says "Made in Vietnam" on the label.
posted by gadha at 10:34 AM on July 28, 2011

Well...evolution-of-dress-shirts-wise, the last buttonhole on a (nice) dress shirt was often a horizontal buttonhole rather than a vertical one like the higher ones (horizontal buttonholes tend to be a little stronger against horizontal strain, and don't gape when pulled) They were sometimes sewn with different, stronger, thread, too. The button thread matched the buttonhole thread—because a (nice) dress shirt is always tucked in and the last button is not visible, it's more important for it to be visually paired with its buttonhole than with the other buttons.

I'm guessing none of this applies to your AA shirt, but that's where contrasting button and buttonhole threads on shirts can come from. On your shirt? It's a cutesy design thing, enjoy it.
posted by peachfuzz at 10:35 AM on July 28, 2011 [2 favorites]

A simple design choice. Some very nice oxford shirts I have bought in the past have had contrast eyelet trim. Often these buttons will be tucked in, so it's one of those things that only you (might) know about, which is kinda cool. Some designers will even rotate the orientation of that last eyelet 90 degrees. Or do both.
posted by makethemost at 10:36 AM on July 28, 2011

Yes, peachfuzz has it. See also this webpage.

On your particular shirts, I'm guessing it's more of a design callback than anything else.
posted by Georgina at 10:39 AM on July 28, 2011

What everyone else says - it's something that no one is (was) supposed to see, since it would be tucked in.
posted by rossination at 10:48 AM on July 28, 2011

To remind you to tuck in your shirt.
posted by thebazilist at 11:11 AM on July 28, 2011 [1 favorite]

If I understand the situation, it's an extra button, unaligned with any buttonhole? I treat them as a self-storing spare button in case one of the others is ripped off.
posted by cairnish at 1:49 PM on July 28, 2011

I have some shirts like this, and i think it's not just to remind you to tuck it in, but to make it quicker to get it buttoned in the first place, don't need to make sure you're starting with the first button and lining it up with the right buttonhole, cause you can just reach for and grab the slightly different button.
posted by jrb223 at 1:25 PM on July 29, 2011