Taylor Stitch
San Francisco menswear brand making responsibly built, hardwearing basics and casualwear designed to look better the more you wear them.
- Founded
- 2008
- Founder
- Michael Maher, Barrett Purdum, Mike Armenta
- Country
- United States
- Made In
- China
- Price Range
- Accessible
- Stance
- 7 / 10
- Coverage
- 21 products
Member ratings will fold into this score, coming with Loopwheel membership.
Taylor Stitch launched in 2008 out of a San Francisco apartment with a simple brief: build a better-fitting men's shirt. Co-founders Michael Maher, Barrett Purdum, and Mike Armenta had no background in apparel manufacturing, so they went deep — learning construction, fit, and fabric from the ground up. What started as a shirting label has grown into a full menswear line spanning denim, outerwear, and knitwear, with a sustainability ethos baked in from the beginning. The brand runs a crowdfunding pre-order model called The Workshop, where customers fund upcoming products in advance at a discount — a mechanism that cuts overproduction and keeps inventory lean. Nearly all cotton used is organic, certified to GOTS standards, and the brand has its own repair program to extend garment life. The aesthetic sits squarely in the rugged-but-refined San Francisco tradition: clothes that work chopping wood and heading to the office, without screaming about it.
Founded 2008 by Michael Maher, Barrett Purdum, Mike Armenta.
Products from Taylor Stitch
The Davis Shirt in Indigo Raindrop Sashiko
Reviewed Jun 2026
The Après Short in Coal Hemp
Reviewed Jun 2026
The Stretch Braided Belt in Natural
Reviewed Jun 2026
The Short Sleeve Jack in Vintage Bloom
Reviewed Jun 2026
The Short Sleeve Jack in Dried Palms
Reviewed May 2026
The Monterey Sweater Polo in Deep Sea Geo Crochet
Reviewed Jun 2026
The Conrad Shirt in Heather Chili Pincord
Trim fit runs true; build quality holds up at $128.
Reviewed May 2026
The Pleated Short in Organic Field Khaki Twill
Reviewed May 2026
The Valencia Sweater Polo in Coal Stripe
Reviewed Jun 2026
The Short Sleeve Mechanic Shirt in Atlantic Ripstop
Reviewed Jun 2026
The Short Sleeve Rugby Shirt in Port Stripe
Reviewed Jun 2026
// Within the lineup
Brand average: 7.1/10 · across 12 scored products
Best of the lineup
Below the line
Variance vs the brand’s make-quality average. Outliers sit ≥ 1.5 points above or below the mean — the kind of spread worth knowing before you click buy.
Return policy
21 days from delivery for full refund or store credit on full-price items; domestic returns are free. "Last Call" items are final sale. International orders are final sale; no international returns supported. Per brand Terms of Sale.
Sale cadence
Taylor Stitch runs a predictable calendar of sitewide promos plus a permanent "Last Call" markdown section that's typically 30% off and refreshed regularly. The recurring tentpoles are: a Fourth of July / summer sale running roughly late June through July 5 (20-30% off in-season styles, with Last Call deeper at up to 40-50%); a Labor Day weekend promo in early September (around 20-30% off); and the brand's biggest event, Black Friday / Cyber Monday in late November (typically 20% sitewide on BF stepping up to 30% sitewide on Cyber Monday, often paired with bonus store credit like $20-$30 back on $100+ orders). End-of-season cuts on outerwear and seasonal pieces show up around late winter and late summer at 20-30%. Outside named events, the Last Call collection functions as an always-on clearance, so something is essentially always on sale even if the homepage isn't running a banner.
Next sale (predicted)
June 29, 2026· 7/10 confidence
Is Taylor Stitch Worth It?
Yes, for the most part. Across 17 scored pieces, Taylor Stitch averages 8/10, which is a genuinely strong number, not a participation trophy. The brand does its best work in basics and casualwear: the Short Sleeve Rugby in Port Stripe scored 8.9 and the Hawthorne Shirt in Blue Pin Dot Dobby hit 8.8, both at prices that don't require a moment of silence before checkout. If you're looking for well-made American-designed casualwear that gets better with wear rather than worse, this is a reasonable place to spend money.
Across 17 scored pieces, Taylor Stitch averages 8/10, with the Short Sleeve Rugby Shirt in Port Stripe leading at 8.9.
The guy who wants hardwearing, considered casualwear without paying luxury prices, and doesn't mind that it's made in China.
Made in China, which the brand is transparent about, but worth knowing if provenance matters to your buying decision.
The make
Taylor Stitch started in 2008 with a single question: why doesn't a well-fitting men's shirt exist at a reasonable price? Co-founders Michael Maher, Barrett Purdum, and Mike Armenta had no apparel background, which turned out to be an advantage. They learned construction from scratch rather than inheriting shortcuts. The brand uses nearly all organic cotton and runs a pre-order model called The Workshop, where customers fund upcoming pieces at a discount before production begins. That keeps inventory lean and overproduction low. The construction shows up in the scores: five pieces at 8.4 or above, nothing in the reviewed set falling below the brand average.
The value
The prices sit in a sensible range for what you're getting. The Short Sleeve Rugby at $98 and the Organic Cotton Crew in Faded Black Waffle at $78 are not cheap, but they're not asking you to suspend disbelief either. The Hawthorne Shirt at $148 scored 8.8, which is the kind of number that makes $148 feel like a fair trade rather than a concession. The Workshop discount makes the math even cleaner if you're willing to wait a few weeks for delivery. Nothing in the lineup is priced like a status play.
What to buy
The basics and shirting categories are where Taylor Stitch earns its reputation. The Short Sleeve Rugby in Port Stripe (8.9), the Organic Cotton Crew in Faded Black Waffle (8.8), and the Hawthorne Shirt in Blue Pin Dot Dobby (8.8) are the clearest cases for buying. The Pleated Short in Organic Field Khaki Twill at $98 scored 8.4 and rounds out a solid warm-weather wardrobe. Start there, use The Workshop if timing works, and you'll spend less than you expect for the result you get.
Per the brand's About page and a Working Solutions profile citing CEO Michael Maher, all products are designed in San Francisco and manufactured at factories in the U.S., Mexico, China, and Great Britain. Taylor Stitch operates its own shirting factory in China called Hubo, which employs about 80 sewing machine operators and is GOTS-certified per the brand's Responsibility page. Earlier MR Magazine coverage (2015) noted American-made oxfords and sport shirts, with rugby shirts made in California.
Owns a GOTS-certified shirting factory (Hubo) in China, uses RWS-certified wool and Leather Working Group Gold tanneries, runs a Restitch resale program, and publishes factory-level details; third-party reviewers (Good On You, Ecolife) flag the lack of a public Code of Conduct, supply-chain living-wage verification, and emissions targets.
- 2008Foundedhttps://www.ellicott.co/pages/brands/taylor-stitch
Ranked by archetype overlap, editorial stance, price tier, and ethos — not just “same archetype, three random.”
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