Whether you're into actual rugby or not, somewhere along the way though, the perfect rugby shirt jumped ship to the mainstream and was taken into the hearts and wardrobes of everyone from the U.S President to genre-defining hip-hop artists. Mountaineers were also drawn to the hard wearing heavy cotton fabric which allowed free movement on the peaks while the starchy collar gave additional protection, especially guarding against rope burns. There are well-established tales of Californian climbers heading across the Atlantic to stock up on rugby shirts, much to the bemusement of locals. Another mad fact we've come to hear about is our hometown of Stockport arguably had a hand in popularising the rugby shirt. Richard Sykes was at the forefront of the birth of rugby, and is widely believed to have introduced the sport to the U.S.A and by proxy, perhaps the rugby shirt itself. In the middle of the last century the sweet spot between sport and style was struck, and it stuck. It has been said that things should only exist if they have a purpose or they're beautiful. The rugby shirt has a foot in both camps. It looks great and wears hard. It does the job without ever looking out of place or unsophisticated. Anyway, it made sense for us to do a Hikerdelic Rugby Shirt and luckily for us we found a factory willing to use up small runs of fabrics for our benefit. That means in some cases we only have one per size/colour.