Down on the farm, yesteryear, there were no button-down shirts existing for the country boys I knew. When I learned about button-downs, little did I know that the style originated with polo players in the 1800’s.
Seems that the shirt collars of the polo aficionados in England were always flapping in the wind and bringing about frustrating distraction. Hence, button down shirts. John Brooks, of the fine clothier, Brooks Brothers, took a liking to the style and popularized it in the U. S.
I thought that button down shirts originated with Dick Ferguson’s Men’s Store on Clayton Street in Athens.