Our men’s shirt convertible cuff is a mystery to some.

It’s always nice to meet new people and as you would expect the conversation inevitably drifts onto what each other does for a living. So it’s especially nice when, in response to me saying that I run a small shirtmaking company called Thin Red Line, that I get: “I’ve got a few of your shirts in my wardrobe”, or even better: “I’m wearing a Thin Red Line shirt now”. We then get on to talking about the various reasons why I consider Thin Red Line shirts to be the best in the UK in terms of quality and how we manage to craft shirts of such quality but still sell them at a price cheaper than M&S (answer – we focus on shirt quality above all else, as well as being as streamlined as possible – passing savings on to our customers: own factory, own fabrics, no shops, we don’t do incredibly wasteful and environmentally unfriendly mass brochure mailings and our operations are based in Leicestershire rather than expensive London or the home counties).

But guess what question I often get asked next?

“Why is there a button on your double cuff shirts? I mean, double cuffs are for use with cuff links so why have you put a button on them?”

Well, we do explain this clearly in the paperwork that is included with every men’s shirt order – however, I’m not surprised that many people miss this – I’m not the best at reading instructions either. The button is featured on the men’s double cuff shirts to allow you to use the shirt like a button cuffed shirt if you happen to have forgotten your cuff links, or if you are wearing a pullover where double cuffs don’t work so well under a tight pullover sleeve. The idea is that it’s helpful – but if you’re not so keen on the presence of a button on your double cuffs, it can be easily removed by simply snipping the button stitching and bingo – you’re back to a standard double cuff shirt with no trace of the button.

What I do know is that we have some serious converts to what we call the ‘convertible cuff’ (excuse the pun), because it means that whatever you’re doing in your shirt – work or play, you know that by buying a Thin Red Line double cuff shirt, you will be able to treat it exactly the same as a button cuffed shirt – which makes them very versatile.

However, if you really don’t get on with cuff links, rest assured that we will be offering most formal shirt fabric designs in both double cuff and button cuff options in our new range – so you’re covered whichever you prefer.