The origins of B.D Baggies, the American button-down shirt brand, is so singular as to seem almost destined. We are in 1919 and the founder of the brand, Bradford Dexter Bagg, then a young college student, was rummaging through the closets of his house when he found a veritable treasure chest – a trunk full of his father’s old shirts. Made according to the Made in USA tradition, meticulous, elegant and hard-wearing, over time they had taken on a worn look. The fabric had softened, making the shape supple and the texture dense, in stark contrast to the stiff, formal apparel of the day. When worn by Bradford, the shirts’ lived-in look, combined with the innate coolness typical of those who do not take themselves too seriously, were an instant hit with his friends and fellow students. The affectionate nickname they were given – B.D. Baggies – a play on words between the adjective “baggy” and Bradford’s surname, immediately became synonymous with a style that has never gone out of fashion.