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Polo

     Did you know that polo T-shirt was originally made for polo players?
While you may have worn a wholesale polo-shirt before. you may never have wondered how it came to be and how it got the name 'polo-shirt'.

FYI,  Polo is a sport that involving riding on a horseback with a mallet that has a long, flexible handle which is used to drive a wooden ball down a grass field between two goal post.

The exact origin of the polo shirt is unknown, but its widely recorded début came in the late 19th century in the birthplace of Polo in Manipur, India.

The sport grew in popularity with the British Army and British tea planters in India becoming regular players. Attention soon turned to their polo playing kit with traditional attire of the time consisting of thick, long sleeved shirts made of cotton. Unhappy with these uncomfortable shirts, they attached their collars to their shirts with buttons to stop them from flapping while galloping on the field.

The sport was later introduced in England.

At the end of the 19th century, John E. Brooks, grandson of the founder of the Brooks Brothers firm in the US, came to England on a European buying trip. While watching a polo game he noticed something peculiar about the players collars; they were buttoned down so as to prevent them from flapping in the wind.

Impressed, John took the idea back to the Brooks Brothers where they applied button-down collars to dress shirts.

This shirt was introduced in 1896 and became the iconic Button-Down formal shirt, changing the face of menswear forever. The shirt is said to be 'the most imitated item in fashion history' and the Brooks Brothers still call their shirts the original polo-shirt.

  Today Polo-shirt is not only worn by polo player.  It's a universal mode of causal dressing and women have join the league of polo-wears. There is hardly an individual without at least a polo-shirt in his/her wardrobe.
The Polo went from represent warring youth cultures, to being  high-jacked by a brand that made it the choice of Presidents, to the multi – purpose, versatile garment we know it as today.

PHOTO CREDIT: RALPHLauren.com

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