Delikatessen Atelier    |     March 2026

Before a Shirt Meets Water

Before any cutting begins, before a single seam is sewn, we test the fabric.

It is a simple step, but an important one. Natural materials are not always predictable. Linen, cotton, fine poplin — each behaves in its own way when it meets water for the first time. Some shrink in length. Some pull in at the width. Some do both. A few barely change at all. We cannot know in advance, and we would rather not guess. Understanding how a cloth moves — before the shirt is made — is what allows us to make a shirt you can rely on.

A small square of each fabric is cut and washed — under the same conditions a shirt would face in real use. Once dry, we measure how much the cloth has shrunk, both in length and in width. This gives us an exact percentage for each direction. That number is then used to adjust the pattern before cutting begins.

This work happens in Poland, with the people who know our garments best — our pattern maker, our washing specialists, and Kasia, who oversees production.

Once we know how a fabric moves, we adjust the pattern to meet it. The pieces are cut slightly larger where the cloth will pull inward, compensating in advance for what the wash will bring. When the finished shirt is then washed before it reaches you, it arrives at its final proportions — already settled, already itself. 

This means that every pattern is unique. Not just to a style, but to a specific cloth. Because no two fabrics behave in exactly the same way, and we believe a shirt deserves to be made with exactly that in mind.

Many people have experienced it — the quiet disappointment of a shirt that comes back from the first wash a little shorter, a little tighter, a little changed. We prefer to spare you that. The shirt you receive from us has already been through its first journey with water. It has already found its shape. What arrives in your hands is not a promise of what the shirt will become. It is already exactly what it should be.

The collections are conceived at our atelier in Burgundy, and brought to life with our partners in Poland. Two places, one shared intention: to make something you can trust.