Giza 45 Cotton Shirting
Explore Giza 45 cotton shirting by David & John Anderson, from the Diamonds Collection in 330/4 to the featherlight Cullinan 300/2, at Lapels Bespoke.
Luxury Fabrics
Giza 45 Cotton Shirting by David & John Anderson
Giza 45 Egyptian cotton sits at the pinnacle of textile art, and it is also a statistical anomaly in global agriculture.
It is cultivated exclusively in a mineral rich microclimate and represents around 0.4% of Egypt’s total annual cotton output. Lapels Bespoke holds what it considers the most comprehensive Giza 45 shirting library in the region, built around the exceptional work of David & John Anderson.
From Super 40s to Super 330s
The more affordable Giza cotton shirts found in ready to wear usually start at Super 40s.
From there the counts climb through 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 100s, 120s, 140s, 160s, 180s and 200s, all the way to 300s and 330s. The count describes how far one pound of cotton is drawn out before weaving. At 240, one pound becomes 201,600 yards of thread, at 300 it becomes 252,000 yards, and at 330 it reaches 277,200 yards. The higher the number, the more the cotton has been drawn out until it is microscopically thin, lighter and ultimately rarer.
Cullinan 300/2
Cullinan is named after the largest diamond ever discovered, and Lapels Bespoke considers it the finest and lightest two ply cotton fabric in existence.
It is woven with a two ply 300/2 double twisted yarn and weighs around 60 to 70 grams per square metre. The result feels completely weightless and wears like a second skin, with a crisp, pristine face in white or ice blue.
The Diamonds Collection
The Diamonds Collection is the zenith of Giza 45 shirting.
Its books are structural masterpieces with multi ply configurations, and each fabric carries the name of a celebrated diamond. Golden Jubilee is woven with a four ply 330/4 yarn structure, making it extremely rare, dense and opaque. Millennium Star uses a three ply 330/3 construction, Great Mogul a three ply 300/3 and Sancy a three ply 240/3.
Most shirts are made from two yarns twisted together, known as two ply. David & John Anderson twist three or four microfine yarns into a single strand before weaving. In the case of Super 330s four ply, four fine single threads are twisted into one, creating a thread four times stronger than the single yarn. There is no finer and stronger thread than Super 330s four ply. The result is a robust fabric that holds a sharp shape, with richer colour saturation and a natural lustre, and it feels substantial while remaining light as a breeze. These fabrics are ideal for eveningwear, formal wear, boardroom meetings and black tie.
