Shirts are a passion of mine, probably because I've been a businessman most of my life and I always like to look my best by wearing the best clothes I could when meeting potential partners or dealing with hard nosed bosses and working to secure contracts etc.

You simply have to be wearing clothes that make you look like you're totally serious to have the credibility to go forward and clinch that deal. So when I was thinking about what topic to make my second hub page on, it made perfect sense to write something about what I knew best. I advocate buying and wearing the best shirts your money can buy, so this is a hun page all about shirts!

Which brings me to the reason for this hub page, that is it's not just all about shirts, but it's about the reason why you wear a particular shirt for a particular occasion and make real sure that you choose the right shirt for it.

Expensive Shirts

So I always spent a lot of dollars on the right clothes for the job. The best tailored suits, expensive shoes, expensive shirts and ties. You know, even if you're struggling to keep your business afloat, when you get a shot at making a deal with a potential partner, you simply have to turn up looking like your company is the best thing since sliced bread by looking like you can casually spend a small fortune on your clothes.

Believe me, the kind of people I wanted to do deals with could all spot a cheap suit at a hundred paces! I learned that lesson when I was young and inexperienced. Turning up in a cheap suit cost me an important deal because I didn't look like I was serious enough. Lucky for me, the guy that turned me down was big enough to take me to one side and give me that one piece of advice that turned out to be solid gold.

The next time I had a shot at a deal with another company, I borrowed money from everyone I knew and went out and had an expensive, top quality suit made to measure by the top tailor in my town. It cost me an absolute fortune, more than I could make in a couple months. Then I went and bought a really good quality white shirt (In those days I didn't know you could have them made as well) and a conservative silk tie. I got expensive shoes too. Well all together that outfit cost me a hundred bucks! Remember I'm talking early 1960s when a hundred bucks was a lot of money to go spending on clothes.

When I turned up for that meeting, not only did I look like I meant business, but being in one change of clothes that had cost me over a hundred dollars, I actually felt more confident than I'd ever been. I clinched the deal and it set me up for life. I made the money back the suit cost me in a week and after I paid everyone back, I set upon the road to my success.

Designer Shirts

Designer shirts eh... What's my take on them?

Well, in general, I'm all for designer shirt labels as they also give the impression that a person is prepared to spend money on improving their appearance via the clothes they wear. That in my opinion is a good thing.

Some of the more expensive designer labels out there, such as Lacoste dress shirts produce some very nice looking shirts, I will admit. The problem I see with designer shirt labels is that you are paying mainly for the label and not the garment. What I mean by that is you can spend $200 on a good shirt or you can spend $200 on a designer brand shirt, but they will not be of the same quality. The $200 quality but non-designer label shirt may even look a little plainer to the untrained eye, but believe me if you are intent on using clothes to improve your appearance and overall air of authority in order to forward your business dealings, then always, always, always, spend money on the best quality shirt you can afford and that will almost certainly NOT be a designer label shirt.

You might be scratching your head over that last statement, but think about it logically and you'll see where I'm coming from.

Dress Shirts

Your business dealings will put you in the presence of some potentially high caliber businessmen who will be subconsciously looking at your appearance. They will know the difference between a shirt you spent a lot of money on being tailored for you and an off-the-shelf designer label shirt!

That's why its important to have a few hand tailored shirts in your wardrobe for those high power business meetings, because your rivals and competitors will be dressed accordingly in order to clinch the deal, but most think that a $200 designer label shirt will win the directors of other companies over. Well when you walk in wearing a quality, hand tailored shirt that may have cost you little more than your rivals' designer shirts, those company directors are going to notice. Trust me, they'll know the difference straight away and you'll be seen in a much better light as someone who goes the extra mile!

That tactic won me more deals than I ever lost, so I know from experience that the kind of shirt you wear says a lot about you!

Try it sometime. You'll be amazed at the results it can bring you.

It also pays to have some good quality dress shirts in your wardrobe for those occasions that call for a tuxedo where you may be brought into contact with potential business partners. Again, you may be introduced to one person that could potentially change your life, so you had better be real sure you're wearing the best dress shirt money can buy!

Cheap shirts? My take on these clothing bargain basement offerings!

Well, as you might a already guessed from the articles above that my stance on cheap shirts is that they are really fit for nothing more than wearing to clean the car or dig the garden! Personally, I wouldn't be seen dead in a cheap shirt. Hell, when I leave this mortal realm if my family so much as try to bury me in a cheap shirt I swear I'll come back and haunt them for the rest of their days! Ha!

Cheap shirts are false economy no matter which way you look at it.

Why? I'll tell you why!

When you buy a cheap shirt, or more often they come in bundles of two or more, you may be paying only a few dollars each, but what you're getting are little more than dishcloths! The finishing on cheap shirts is usually horrible, there are loose stitches everywhere, the collar and cuff stitching is often crooked or badly finished and when they hang on your body they either look like tents billowing in the wind or crazed kaftans creasing in all directions!

I don't like to wear anything that makes me look cheap, because I have a lot of healthy self respect for myself. I wear what I believe I deserve to wear, which is top quality garments and that includes a top quality shirt. Now I put it to you:

• How highly do you think of yourself?
• How do you rate yourself?
• Do you believe you are worth the best?
• Do you believe you deserve to wear the best clothes money can buy?

Now I know myself and I am quite sure that I rate myself very highly and I truly believe that I am worth the best. I've worked hard all my life and run successful businesses because I always believed I was worthy and deserved my success.

So if you feel the same about yourself, then it must be quite clear to you that cheap shirts are for cleaning cars in while expensive shirts are for being seen in!

No contest.