A proper fitting, thoughtfully designed show shirt can add a lot of value to your ride. Show shirts have come a long way in the past several years, with a focus on technical fabrics and performance features to help a rider achieve their best. The process of sorting out which one works best for your body can be an expensive and challenging task. This series is aimed at helping riders avoid the pitfalls and tiresome process of show shirt shopping.
Cavalleria Toscana is an Italian riding attire brand that is well recognized across the global equestrian show circuit. Their focus is on creating elegant, but technically functional garments to support top performance during competition and training. The company delivers seasonal updates to their line and offers a wide variety of show shirts in different styles. This review will focus on a recent shirt from a prior season that is still available at a variety of US retailers: the Cavalleria Toscana Outline Piping Competition Shirt.
Cavalleria Toscana Outline Piping Competition Shirt
Overall Rating: A-
Price Range: $150(sale) to $235
Sizing: XS - XL
Technical Design: A-
The Cavalleria Toscana Outline Piping Competition Short Sleeve Shirt has a stylish black piped placket as well as a black embroidered CT logo on the collar. The shirt is made from a technical stretch jersey blend of 72% Polyamide Nylon / 28% Spandex, which offers excellent breathability and freedom of motion. The collar is a snap show collar, and the bib buttons up through the mid-point of the chest. Both the collar and bib are made from cotton poplin, which maintains its shape. The fabric is wicking and dries very quickly, leaving you feeling fresh even after riding. As a bonus, it seems to control odor through its quick dry capability and the stretch fabric allows the shirt to hold a crisp look throughout the day.
Sizing and Fit: B+
As with many European riding attire brands, the sizing of CT shirts runs small. Although we love the way this shirt looks on slim body types, if you are larger in the chest, the piping design starts to feel less flattering, as the square placket draws emphasis to this area of the body. However, CT offers a variety of thoughtfully styled shirts for a wide range of body types, and given the superior technical construction of the brand, it is worth shopping their different styles to find the most appealing fit for your body.
Durability: A+
Show shirts are notoriously difficult to keep clean. They are exposed to the extensive rigors of horse showing, including long hours of grooming, tacking up and riding, as well as a plethora of other planned and unplanned horse show day activities. It is not unusual to start out your competition day in a crisp and spotless white shirt only to have it completely stained by the end of the day, if not by the time you make it to your class.
This CT shirt is made from the aforementioned nylon and spandex blend, and the fabric is incredibly easy to wash on cold water on the delicate cycle. It has also held up well to typical dirt and horse slobber stains, which were easily removed with spray-on laundry stain remover. The shirt has also maintained its crisp white look over several horse shows.
Styling: A
CT shirts are easily recognized around the show ring by their modern design and technical fit. Most of the shirts also bear an easily identified trademark CT logo on the side of the collar. The brand is at the forefront of both technical and fashionable design and is often copied by other brands. The Outline Piping Competition Shirt is no exception to this trend and stands out for its elegant piping and beautiful tailored design.
Under a show coat, the CT logo is visible on the crisp, sharp collar that holds it shape even under the coat. The piping is completely covered by the coat shown here (Equiline Michelle Show Coat).
Where to buy:
The shirt featured in this review was purchased in store at an excellent Portland, Oregon based tack shop called Gallops Saddlery, but it is currently available online at Mary’s Tack and Feed and in a long sleeve version at Sprucewood Tack Shop. For those lucky enough to be a size small, at the time of publication this shirt in a long sleeve version was also on sale for $150 in size small at The Tack Hack. The beauty of the rotating seasonal collections of Cavalleria Toscana is that it creates opportunities to snag deals on sale items from prior seasons, especially from European retailers such as these similar CT on sale at Fundis and Ride EquiSafe.
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