From the rivers of England to the heart of the modern wardrobe.
The Henley shirt has lived several lives.
It began as workwear for rowers on a stretch of the Thames. It became a uniform for early 20th-century labourers, then a piece of military issue, then a Hollywood favourite. Today, it sits quietly in the wardrobes of well-dressed men around the world — a garment that solves a problem most of them didn't know they had.
The problem is this: not every moment calls for a T-shirt, and not every moment calls for a polo. There is space between the two — a register of dressing that is neither fully casual nor fully formal. The Henley shirt fills it perfectly, and has done so for nearly two centuries.
The origin of the Henley shirt: Henley-on-Thames
The shirt takes its name from a town.
Henley-on-Thames, a small market town in Oxfordshire, England, has been the home of competitive rowing since the early 19th century. The Henley Royal Regatta, founded in 1839, became the most prestigious amateur rowing event in the world — a tradition still observed every June, with crews from across the globe racing on the same stretch of water.
The rowers who competed at Henley wore a particular kind of shirt: a pullover top in soft cotton or wool, with a buttoned placket at the throat. The placket was practical. It allowed the shirt to be pulled over the head easily, and it gave the rower freedom of movement at the neck and shoulders — essential when the body is at full extension on every stroke.
The shirt had no formal name at first. It was simply what the men at Henley wore. By the late 19th century, the term "Henley shirt" had stuck, and the garment had begun to travel beyond the river.
The Henley in Hollywood
Steve McQueen wore Henleys on and off set throughout the 1960s and 1970s — often in cream, often pushed up the forearms, always with the buttons undone. Paul Newman wore them. Robert Redford wore them. The shirt became part of the visual vocabulary of a certain kind of American masculinity: capable, understated, slightly rough around the edges.
What made it work, on those men, was the same thing that had made it work on the rowers. The Henley flatters the shoulders, opens at the throat, and reveals just enough to feel relaxed without ever feeling careless. It is the shirt of someone who has finished doing something — or is about to start.
Why the Henley shirt endures
Most garments that survive nearly two centuries do so because they solve a permanent problem.
The Henley shirt solves the problem of in-between. The moments when a T-shirt feels too casual but a button-down feels too dressed. When a polo would read as office-wear, but a turtleneck is too much. The Henley sits exactly in the middle — knit fabric for comfort, a placket for structure, sleeves long or short depending on the season.
A good Henley works under a suit jacket on a Saturday evening, under a Harrington on a Sunday afternoon, and on its own with jeans on every weekday in between. It is, in the truest sense of the word, a foundation piece.
How to wear a Henley shirt
The rules are forgiving, but a few principles hold.
Wear it close to the body. A Henley should skim, not hang. The placket is the focal point of the shirt — if the fabric is loose around the chest, the placket loses its line and the shirt reads as sleepwear.
Leave the top button undone. Always. The shirt was designed for an open throat, and that is where its quiet confidence lives.
Layer it. Under a jacket — Harrington, suede, leather, wool — the Henley does what a T-shirt cannot. It adds texture and structure at the neckline. It looks intentional.
Mind the colour. Black, white, grey, navy, and earth tones are where the Henley does its best work. Loud colours fight the garment's nature, which is quiet.
The Anovair Henley Collection
Our Henley shirts are built on the same principles as the originals: a ribbed knit cotton with a substantial hand, a placket that holds its shape, a collar that doesn't stretch out after a wash.
We make them in long sleeve, in the colours men actually wear: black, white, grey, dark brown, smoke, burgundy. Not loud. Not trying. Just the kind of shirt you reach for without thinking about it.
Explore the Anovair Henley Collection →
The men at Henley-on-Thames didn't know they were inventing anything. They were just dressing for the work in front of them — getting in a boat, pulling an oar, crossing a finish line.
The best garments tend to be born that way. Not designed for fashion, but discovered by it. Worn first by men who needed them, then by men who admired the first kind, then by everyone else.
The Henley shirt has been on that journey for almost two hundred years. We don't expect it to slow down.
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