The Rio Hondo Open-Weave Shirt
Featured in an exhibition at the Museo Textil de Oaxaca as living textile art, the fabric is hand-loomed from more than 2,000 hand-ginned and hand-spun yarns of untreated cotton from Mexico’s Pacific coast.
The artisan’s hand lends each yarn subtle variations in width, tension, and texture. These irregularities create the open structure of the cloth: exceptionally light, naturally breathable, and rich with quiet surface movement. No two yards of fabric are identical.
The silhouette draws from vintage Caribbean dress shirts, reworked with a cleaner, more contemporary line. Cut with a relaxed shape that encourages airflow, the shirt is finished with a generous breast pocket and slightly exaggerated soft collar for easy elegance in coastal climates and long summer evenings.
Hand wash in cold water. Lay flat to dry in the shade. Do not bleach. Do not tumble dry.
Spun and woven by hand
Produced through a rare weaving tradition preserved in the mountain community of San Sebastián Río Hondo, Oaxaca, only a handful of artisan collectives on earth still produce fabric this way.