Mistakes were made.

The Henley tee.

The name alone is one of the great triumphs in branding, evoking with subtlety the elegant grace and casual sophistication embodied by English rowers dating back to the 1800s. These otherwise humble shirts bring to mind almost subconsciously the breezy classiness of fancy hats on the Thames and the refined air of prestigious competition where the taunts are polite and the beers are shotgunned with pinkies up.

Timeless. Inspiring, even.

“We’ll call it the Henley tee! It will be our principal garment embodying the spirit of the Henley Royal Regatta—all the class of a day on the Thames and versatile enough for serious sporting!!”

“Great stuff, Mortimer! And this special material of which it is made?”

“For fuck’s sake, do I have to think of everything around here? Just go with whatever the cotton is called and let me get some rest.”

And so was born the Henley… (Elegant trumpet sounds!)

…slub tee. (Sad horn.)

Yeah.

Sorry about that.

It is what it is.

The Henley part does indeed date back to fancy English rowing races in the 1830s and continues today. So that’s all good.

But slub. Slub is a textured cotton that makes for a great shirt fabric but is really one of the worst names for anything clothing-related ever.

If Henley brings to mind a light breeze off the Thames, slub sounds like…slub.

Grub.

Shlub.

Slob.

Slug.

It’s pretty bad.

But whatever, just call it a Henley tee. You get five of them and you’ll look really sharp.