What Are Collar Stays? 

Collar Stays, commonly referred to as collar tabs or collar stiffeners, are flat, rigid pieces of plastic or metal , which are inserted into designated pockets on the underside of your dress shirt collars. Collar stays help provide your dress shirt collars with enough weight & crispness, so as to help keep the shirt collar in place. Ultimately, collar stays provide your shirt collars with just the perfect amount of weight, so that it lays flat against your collar bone. 

Why Should You Wear Collar Stays?

With dress shirts, like most things in life, you can truly set yourself apart by paying attention to the details. Few things detract from one’s overall look like flimsy dress shirt collars. Imagine investing all that money into an exquisite suit and tasteful dress shirts, all to have it unraveled by flimsy dress shirt collars! 

Removable Collar Stays vs Sewn In Collar Stays

Collar Stays are either removable or sewn in. Sewn in collar stays are almost always derived from plastic, as manufacturers attempt to straddle a fine balance between providing dress shirt collars with rigidity, against having collar stays damaged in the wash. 

Collar Stays Sizing

Flip over the collar of one of your higher quality dress shirts, and you will find slots sewn in near the collar points, for the insertion of collar stays! Depending on the type of dress shirt collar, the collar stays slot will generally be between 2.5 to 2.75 inches, or under 2.0 inches for narrower collars designed for casual shirts – However, from our research, the most popular collar stays sizes are in the 2.5 to 2.75 inch range. 

The Dark Knot’s Collar Stay Offering

Higher quality collar stays are generally derived from metal, and brass only serves to elevate this further! Hence, The Dark Knot’s Collar Stay offering is a Brass Collar Stay Gift Set. Our most ordered, and recommended combination includes 3 pairs @ 2.5 inches and 3 pairs at 2.75 inches. However, one can choose to have all six pairs at either of the lengths also!